ColdFusion Builder Beta Impressions From a CFEclipse User

So I have been using the beta of ColdFusion Builder for around 3 weeks now, just thought I would blog some impressions. Keep in mind, these are my opinions and are based on the Beta version of ColdFusion Builder. These are also based on CFEclipse and ColdFusion Builder out of the box with some tweaks to both for performance.

Just to give a little background, I have been using CFEclipse for ColdFusion programming since March 2006, which is also when I learned ColdFusion. I was very excited to hear about Bolt from Adobe, so naturally when ColdFusion Builder came out, I started using it. In the time I have been using it, I have come to realize there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

There are lots of good things about ColdFusion Builder in terms of features:

• The ability to manage servers from the IDE is good. But currently, with most of my development being done local I don't see the big need for it for me.
• The RDS capabilities, especially the RDS Data View for me is a big plus. At work, I can find myself constantly working with different database and different database engines (Access, SQL Server, Oracle).
• The outline view is very good too, similar to what CFEclipse has. It would have been nice to have just a Methods view for CFCs, but the outline view can be configured to show you just specific tags which also works out well.
• The TailView which allows us to watch the log files for new entries is another good feature. Although I have not used it personally, I can definitely see its usefulness down the road.
• In built JavaScript, CSS, HTML Support. More importantly its lightweight. I had tried Aptana for the same with CFEclipse and had to uninstall if within 2 months (I believe CF Builder implements Aptana too, but this is working out much better). Also, the toolbars for all these technologies available with the editor - very useful for all old and new developers. Oh, did I mention support for jQuery is in built too? That is awesome.
• Code Assist/Syntax Checking - One expects Adobe's Code Assist and Syntax Checking to be up to task for ColdFusion and it is.

So, thats just a short summary of the good things. But theres also a few things I did not like about ColdFusion Builder.

• Closing Tags - CFEclipse gives me a lot more control over closing quotes, pound signs, different brackets. CF Builder doesn't have the same control. Currently, CF Builder doesn't close the very common < brackets for me like CFEclipse does. CFEclipse Options. CF Builder Options. Maybe, eventually I can get used to tag brackets not closing, but I do think its better to give users that option than take it away from them completely. Its also possible this is something that will be fixed in the final version.
• SQL Syntax Highlighting. CF Builder does have this present under HTML Editors Preferences, but it doesn't seem to be working currently. At work, I work with SQL a lot, so SQL syntax highlighting is a big must for me. Potentially, this will change with the final version.
• Parser speed/Highlight Reset. Working on CFCs that have more than 1000 lines in them, I frequently saw the Editor losing all syntax highlighting when I would finish writing a piece of new code. More than anything, losing the normal view of the CFC for even those few seconds was very distracting. I don't know if its the parser going through everything again or something else, I do know I haven't seen that happen to me on CFEclipse.
• Speed. At times I have found CF Builder slower to respond than CFEclipse. I have tweaked the settings for it to use 512 RAM by modifying the ini file. But the main culprit is still at startup, I have found CF Builder slower to respond compared to CFEclipse.

Currently, I find myself working with CFEclipse at work, where a lot more ColdFusion code is written, while working on CF Builder at home where I use HTML, JavaScript and CSS a lot more. Eventually as I get more used to it maybe I can make the switch for hardcore ColdFusion coding too, or maybe the issues I am experiencing are all bugs (big possiblity) and are fixed by final release. Which would be awesome.