The current project I'm working on includes a display page where users can see a list of messages generated for them by the system. Each message consists of an <li> element containing the text of the message followed by a hyperlink labeled "Delete". I wanted to make it such that you could delete each message without refreshing the page, but still accommodate users who had JavaScript turned off, and without a lot of extra work. How did I do it?

One of the "themes" that I took away from cf.Objective() was the shortcomings of ColdFusion when it comes to generating a collection of objects. Most everyone agrees on the fact that there is a performance penalty when a CFC is translated into a Java class (or, usually, a series of Java classes) because ColdFusion is a dynamically typed language and Java is not, and reconciling that difference takes processing power. But not everyone agrees on what the solution to this issue should be.

The latest version of the ColdFusion Weekly podcast was released yesterday. In this episode, Matt and Peter talk with Andy Powell about using native Java objects as the basis for your model when building your ColdFusion applications using the model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern. Andy gave a presentation on this topic at cf.Objective(). As always, you can get it by either subscribing to the podcast via ITunes or by downloading it from the ColdFusion Weekly web site.

Thought I should share this so no one else ends up learning it the hard way like I did yesterday. In Transfer, you use an XML configuration file to describe your database tables and the relationships between them. You can define three types of relationships: one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many. The many-to-many relationship is used when one table is related to another table through the use of a linking table.

One of the sessions I attended at cf.Objective() was Maxim Porges' presentation on developing in Flex without using a Flex framework. I visited his blog this morning because I wanted to find his e-mail address and send him a question. In doing so, I stumbled upon a post he wrote while at the conference about a conversation he had with several people following the Birds-of-a-Feather discussion between the Adobe folks and the community about the next version of ColdFusion 9.

Like I said in my comment on his blog post, I don't think I can top Ben Nadel's description of the experience of being at cf.Objective(). Still, there are a few things I want to say for myself. First of all, a big thank-you to everyone involved in the planning and execution of the conference. You all did a remarkable job. Same goes for the speakers. I think everyone learned a lot at the conference.

...And not a moment too soon! I've been in a bit of a rut lately, so I'm hoping the conference and my fellow conference-goers will help re-energize my enthusiasm a bit. I doubt I'll be blogging much from the conference: I tend to write slowly and with the MXNA blog aggregator still down for the most part, I'm not sure that anyone would "hear" me anyway.

"...I correctly write a recursive algorithm involving nested arrays on the first try." What about you? When do you know you're in a coding groove such that it feels like you're coding by feel/intuition?

Matt and Peter discuss the various Flex application frameworks out there with several guests. As always, you can get it by either subscribing to the podcast via ITunes or by downloading it from the ColdFusion Weekly web site.

Bobby Hartsfield posted a link to a test version of his ColdFusion-based message board system, CF4em, on the CF-Talk list yesterday. I just checked it out this morning. It's very similar to the high-end PHP-powered message boards and looks very promising. I encourage folks to go register on the site, try it out, and provide Bobby with feedback. Here's the URL: http://www.cf4em.