O’Reilly’s ONLamp.com site has the first part in a new series documenting The Power of Google Gears. Part one outlines the database portion of the Google Gears API while future tutorials will show you how to use the WorkerPool and LocalServer API’s.
Here is a quick guide to connecting ColdFusion to a local instance of SQL Server 2005 Express.
My first attempt to do this seemingly simple task resulted in an “Error establishing socket. Connection refused: connect” error when trying to create a new data source. The cause of this error is that by default, SQL Server Express does not allow for connections over TCP/IP ports. To create the data source, we first need to configure SQL Server and enable connections over TPC/IP. The process is pretty easy, so lets get started!
First, you want to open the SQL Server Configuration Manger by choosing Start » All Programs » Microsoft SQL Server 2005 » Configuration Tools » SQL Server Configuration Manger. Next, in the left sidebar of the Configuration Manager, expand the SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration node. Now click on the Protocols for SQLEXPRESS node. Now in the right hand pane, double-click on the TCP/IP item. This will open the TCP/IP Properties window.
In the TCP/IP Properties window, choose Yes from the dropdown list in the Enabled row. Next we need to configure the IP addresses that are to receive connections on, so click on the IP Address tab. Look for the section named IPAll and enter in the port that SQL Server will listen for connections on. In the TCP Port row, type in 1433 (or any other port number you wish to use). Now click the OK button. You will be prompted to Restart the SQL Server (do this using either the Services control panel applet or by using SLQ Server Management Studio Express).
Now you should be able to connect your ColdFusion to SQL Server 2005 Express!
Tag this one as cool - Data Generator is a simple web-based tool that lets you create large volumes of random, custom data for use in testing software. You can have your data formatted in HTML tables, CSV or SQL statements. They also offer a free desktop application that will generate larger sets of data. Check it out next time your in need of sample data.
UPDATE : Vincent’s site is now by invitation only. I have written my own solution and it can be found here.
Vincent McCurley just saved me a bunch of time. After spending a good part of 30 minutes trying to setup Coldfusion to hook up to a local instance of SQL Server 2005 Exress, a desparate Google search came up with his excellent tutorial - Vincent McCurley: Connecting ColdFusion to SQL Server 2005 Express. Worked like a charm! Now onto some Flex/CF goodness!
Your new Mac makes an excellent web application development system and a great database to power that web app is MySQL. O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter has an article that will help you with Managing MySQL on Mac OS X. Their coverage includeds installing mySQL then getting a GUI based tool to manage your databases.
If you have developed a web application with a database back-end, you should check out this article titled SQL Injection Attacks by Example. It clearly explains what a SQL injection attack is and shows you how defend against such attacks.
Pascal Opitz from the Content with Style blog has a fantastic tutorial on creating : Database-driven tree structures with XML and XSLT. The technique uses the preordered tree traversal method on the database, then uses PHP to create the XML that is then styled with XSLT.
DBEdit is a plugin for the Eclipse Workbench that can be used to explore databases, edit tables directly with a spreadsheet like editor, and edit SQL queries. Dan Switzer recently posted his installation notes that should get you up and running with this nice Eclipse plugin and SQL Server 2000.
[link via DopeFly]
