A Tour of the Coldfusion Studio "Stage" Now that you're finally seeing the Studio interface, it may seem a bit overwhelming. The initial screen is split between several windows and toolbars . We'll walk through them to get an idea of their functions. In this task, we won't be producing a specific output; rather, we'll just be getting familiar with the environment.  -
Look at the editor window at the right side of the screen. The editor window is the large right-hand panel of the Studio interface. All your coding will take place in this window.  -
At the left edge of the editor window, you'll see the editor toolbar. The editor toolbar allows you to toggle on and off tag validation, tag completion, and tag insight. Tag validation validates your ColdFusion tags as you develop the code. Tag completion inserts end tags as you finish typing a ColdFusion tag. Tag insight shows a scrollable list of available attributes for a tag as you are working within that tag. The editor toolbar also allows you to indent and unindent groupings of code; show the Open Documents list; make the editor window full screen; show hidden characters ; show line numbers in the gutter; toggle the gutter and word wrap; split the current document in two; and close the current document. -
Further toward the left you will see the Resource tab.  This tab serves several purposes. The default windows are the primary and secondary file windows. Both of these windows show what directory you are currently in and allow you to browse to other directories, as well as show you all the files in your current directory. This allows you to have different directories loaded in each window, which saves you the time and effort of changing directories back and forth as often as you would with only one window. Following is a list, and brief descriptions, of the other windows in the Resource tab: Database window: Here you can view information from all databases currently available to ColdFusion, and build queries to those databases, if desired. Snippets window: Allows you access to saved pieces of code. NOTE Snippets are pieces of code that you may use frequently and want easy access to. They save you from having to write the same piece of code over and over again. Site View window: builds maps to show you how your site links together.  Help window: contains all of the ColdFusion documentation as well as a very good HTML reference. Tag Inspector window: shows all of the attributes available for a tag when it's active in the editor window.  -
Look to the top right of the Studio screen to see the quickbar.  The quickbar allows you quick access to some common HTML and ColdFusion tags. There are also tabs for CF Graph, ColdFusion's graphing engine; CF Form, ColdFusion's table controls; and CFML Flow for conditional processing. These tabs in the quickbar can help when you are just getting started or even when you are an old pro. They can help cut down on development time by preventing you from having to do all the typing. NOTE The tags on the quickbar include ones for tables, lists, and fonts, as well as some basic ColdFusion tags such as <cfoutput> , <cfquery> , and <cfset> , and also more advanced ColdFusion tags, such as < cfcookie > , < cfmail > , and < cfftp > . -
But wait, there's more! The rich feature set of ColdFusion Studio merits an entire book; this brief tour hardly does it justice . However, you now have a basic understanding of Studio and some of its main features. Now you'll kick the tires and test it out by writing your first ColdFusion page. |
