Comments on: My concerns about switching from Dreamweaver CS3 to Eclipse

By: MarkW

MarkW — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:03:57 +0000

I use both, but it’s taken me a long time to use CFE effectively. I am sure Mylyn, Ant, Subclipse, etc are all good tools, but they’re also something you have to learn and that’s why the steep curve for learning is there for the Eclipse environment. It’s not learning one tool, it’s learning a bunch. Those tools will get you towards better practices, which I think is why people like it, but along the way you’ll struggle with little bugs and issues and re-installs (try Pulse by the way as another way of installing, keep workspace separate). Another thing is, what type of programming you do? CFE might be great for integrating frameworks, and working with components, but what if you mostly do procedural and do not use CFCs? Then it might not be as well worth it – unless you want your IDE to push you towards using CFCs.

By: Thomas Case

Thomas Case — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:35:00 +0000

I am too a dedicated Dreamweaver fan and have used it now for several years (since MX version came out). I have been using CFEclipse (Eclipse J2EE version, with CFEclipse, MxUnit, Subversive, and some other plug-ins) lately for the project I have been working on. I have also worked a little with the (free) Aptana plug-in.

I still prefer Dreamweaver for HTML and CSS editing. Its CF editing also is still superior, partially due to the fact that it keeps up on the latest CF8 syntax. I love the drag-and-point feature for links, and Dreamweaver’s dialog boxes are a lot cleaner.

Where Dreamweaver lacks and CFEclipse is strong are: (1) Subversion support (pre-current release), (2) Cold Fusion Line Debugger Support, (3) Support of unit testing, and (4) Todo/Task tracking. The line debugging and unit testing support are two killer features, to me, that Eclipse/CFEclipse offers.

Also, in thinking about IDE’s, I would also compare both the Microsoft’s Visual Studio. Visual Studio does lack CFML support, and its WSYWIG HTML support is not as good as Dreamweaver. It does have better XML support (like being able to syntax highlight and auto-sense based on XSD and DTD schema’s, like Eclipse). Visual Studio has great debugging support for ASP.NET based applications, and plugins to support external products such as Subversion.

The best of all worlds would be a combination of all three, in my mind, especially where one supports Cold Fusion, IIS, SQL Server, and ASP.NET applications. If Dreamweaver addressed the Unit Testing and Line Debugging, then it would go a long way at addressing the missing pieces that Eclipse provides. It could also support Ant and XML editing based on attached schemas.

By: marc esher

marc esher — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:36:00 +0000

I use eclipse exclusively at work, but at home I use Dreamweaver at least as much as eclipse. At work, I do more design, and I really like Dreamweaver’s super simple FTP and remote site stuff. And, trying to crank out small sites that may or may not use any backend technology, I find Dreamweaver templates work like a charm. In fact, it’s not uncommon for me at home to have both Dreamweaver and Eclipse open… Eclipse for javascript editing, Dreamweaver for everything else.

At work, though, I have no such needs. It’s all CF, Java, and Javascript. I’ve become dependent on certain plugins: Subclipse, QuickRex for Regex, the CFEclipse Methods and Snippets Views, the ANT View, MXUnit, VisualJQuery view, scribble pad, Integrated JUnit and TestNG, Mylyn (for integration with our Jira issue tracker) and a big handful of shortcuts that make me a lot more productive coder. In fact… I’d be miserable at work without the power of Eclipse. But I don’t believe I’d be as successful on small side jobs at home without Dreamweaver.

I think it’s great that each tool has different strengths and that I get to avail myself of these differences depending on context. I’m glad Eclipse doesn’t try to be Dreamweaver, and I’m glad Dreamweaver doesn’t try to be Eclipse.

By: Joshua Rountree

Joshua Rountree — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:46:00 +0000

I’m kind of agreeing with you Chris… and CS4 SVN integration = golden!
Yeah, I’ve tried all that crap such as Framework Explorer… no point!

By: Chris Dawes

Chris Dawes — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:44:00 +0000

The truth is, eclipse only better for coldfusion development if you use the features dreamweaver doesn’t have, and vice-versa.

A new plus is that DW CS4 has Subversion access built in and to be honest, I’m yet to work in an environment that actually uses eclipse in a way that dreamweaver can’t. People say "yay – it’s the beez neez – frameworks etc, but I’m not convinced. There’s the argument for framework stuff… but only one of the companies I have contracted for over the last ten years has used one of the ‘big-name’ ones. I love aptana, but to be honest, it’s not really commercial quality interface wise. It can also be thinstalled for usb just like eclipse-based engines.

+1 vote for sticking with what you know.

By: Jim Priest

Jim Priest — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Site Manager in DW = Projects in CFEclipse. Don’t use the "Explorer". Eclipse does force you to change your development a bit but once you do it’s a very powerful tool.

Ant. MXUnit. Mylyn.

Once you start using these tools and how they all integrate within the IDE DW starts to look less impressive.

I’d suggest trying CFEclipse + Aptana again and hop on the CFE mailing list if you run into any stumbling blocks.