I downloaded and installed the trial version of DW 8. My 30-day trial ran out before I purchased the upgrade so I had to revert back to DW MX 2004. I ran into a DB connectivity snag while working on a site originally created in DW MX 04, then worked on with the new DW 8, and then further worked on back in the old version of DW.

The problem is that DW MX 04 no longer introspected the database. But when I tested the connection, it was just fine. What gives?

I traced the problem to the files in the _mmServerScripts folder. When I installed DW 8, new versions of the files were placed in this folder. When I reverted back to DW MX 04, the new versions of the files no longer did a part of their job. Namely, to introspect the database.

The fix is to delete the files in the _mmServerScripts folder, then retest your connection. The act of testing the connection discovers that the files are missing and replaces them. However, since the test is done in DW MX 04, the correct version of the files is placed in the folder.

So, if you find that DW no longer knows about the tables, stored procedures, and views in your database but testing the connection is successful, AND you've loaded DW 8 and reverted back to DW MX 04, there's your solution!

MarketWatch is reporting that the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe has won US Antitrust clearance. It appears if things continue as planned, Macromedia will no longer "be", as we know it, by the fall.

The article goes on to show Adobe in "a graphics light" and Macromedia in "a web light." Of course, this is fairly accurate -- but the fact that the DOJ didn't force either company to divest itself of their nearly matching graphics programs doesn't speak well (to me) about the future health of Fireworks and Freehand.

I've read articles giving us hope that Adobe, with all its money and muscle, will develop our favorite products even further. For me, of course, that's Dreamweaver (and Fireworks), and I'm not really fearful about DW's continued existence. What I'm most saddened by is losing "the spirit of Macromedia" ... or is it the Macromedia experience? I've heard the reports about how Adobe wants to keep the open communication MM has with their users. About how they value the community Macromedia has built. And I believe they mean it. It rocks! But what remains to be seen is whether a company of that size can actually do it.

Will they really value and foster the input of the community in the earliest alpha/beta stages. If the input is still sought after, will it actually hold the same kind of weight it has with Macromedia. Will they reopen closed issues because the community says it's important to them -- that they want their tool to have some particular ability or for some legacy bug to be fixed? Will they keep their wits about them when developers criticize something they've worked hard on -- and then try to make it right?

All these traits are strong in the people that are Macromedia. Macromedia listens and reacts. It's almost as if, by using their products, we are a part of Macromedia. In fact, some days, they almost feel like family. Adobe -- are you listening? You may be a giant, but you've got some big shoes to fill. I truly hope you're up to the task.

For now, I remain optimistic -- maybe we're just increasing the size of the family. But I can't help but get those twinges that feel like I'm "losing a friend." A company is its people and the people that comprise Macromedia are truly some of the best. Now before I choke myself up, I've got to go pack. I've got a whole lotta friends to see at MAX.

There are several upcoming events in the next week that those of you in the Los Angeles area should be aware of. On Saturday, October 15th is a day of events at the LA Flash Factory (Venice, CA) which includes:

• MiniMAX3 - 4p-6p, put on by the New Orleans User Group
  Speakers include: Adam Bell, R Blank, Tom Green, Jesse Rodgers, Kevin Schmidt and Stephanie Sullivan.
• LAFlashapaloozastock - 6p-8p, put on by the combined three LA-based Flash User Groups
  Speakers include: Grant Skinner and Jennifer Shiman.
• Pre-MAX Shindig - 8p-12a - music, networking, relaxation and refreshments

All events are free but registration IS required. Go to the appropriate sites above to register.

And of course, beginning the next day, Oct 16-19 is Macromedia's MAX Conference. Three days of learning and fun -- and a wave goodbye to Macromedia as we know it (that part chokes me up). It's not too late to register for MAX now. And if you come, stop by one of my sessions on Advanced CSS. I hope to meet you at one of the events.

I wrote a simple ColdFusion custom tag last night that you might find useful. The tag will generate an RSS feed. You pass a recordset/query to the tag and it will spit out an RSS feed. It is based partly on the RSS feeds I built for this site and Tom-Muck.com, and also based on the custom tags I built for generating dynamic tables and csv files. Like the others, it is a rudimentary tag that you can build on.

Use the custom tag like this:

1. Put it in a directory where custom tags are stored. I usually just create a folder called tags and put all my tags inside. Save it as rss.cfm.

2. On the page that will become your RSS fed, add an import statement to the top of the file:

<cfimport prefix="mytag" taglib="tags">

3. Create your query:

<cfquery name="blah" datasource="#mydsn#">
SELECT NewsID, NewsDate, NewsTitle, NewsItem FROM MyTable
</cfquery>

4. Put the tag on the page, passing in the results of the query:

<mytag:rss rs=#blah#>

If you browse the page, the RSS should be visible.

There are several optional attributes, which are outlined below:

Attributes:

rs: Recordset/query to use for the RSS file (default: new query)

title: title tag in channel (default: RSS)
link: link tag in channel (default: http://#cgi.SERVER_NAME#)
description: description tag in channel (default: RSS feed for #attributes.link#)
webmaster: webmaster tag in channel (default: nobody@notavaliddomain.com)

items: Struct of item field names (default: structnew())
items.title: Field name for title of RSS item (default: title)
items.description: Field name for descriptionof RSS item (default: description)
items.link: Field name for link of RSS item (default: link)
items.pubdate: Field name for pubdate of RSS item (default: pubdate)

items.permalink: http address for link with ID from database (default: http://#cgi.SERVER_NAME#/?id=)
items.id: Primary key for picking record

striphtml: strip the html tags from the item (true/false, default: false)
wordcount: truncate item to number of words (default: empty string for no truncation)
maxrows: show x number of rows (default: empty string for all records)
debug: true/false value for debugging the feed (true turns of text/xml content type)
xslt: name of an XSL transformation file (default: empty string for no transformations)

If the query has the proper field names for an rss file (title, description, pubdate, link, and id for the primary key) you don't need to pass in field names. If your blog or news query uses completely different fieldnames, simply set them up in a struct before calling the tag, like this:

<cfsilent>
<!--- Create the query --->
<cfquery name="rsNews" datasource="#request.dsn#">
SELECT NewsID, NewsDate, NewsTitle, NewsItem FROM Blog
ORDER BY NewsDate DESC
</cfquery>

<!--- Set up the field name mapping --->
<cfset fieldmappings = StructNew()>
<cfset fieldmappings.pubdate = "NewsDate">
<cfset fieldmappings.id = "NewsID">
<cfset fieldmappings.title = "NewsTitle">
<cfset fieldmappings.description = "NewsItem">
</cfsilent>
<!--- Call the cf_rss tag --->
<mytag:rss rs=#rsNews# items=#fieldmappings#>

Alternatively, you can avoid the import statement and use old-style cf_ syntax:

<cf_rss rs=#blah#>

You can also pass in the name of an XSL transformation file. A sample file is included in the zip:

<mytag:rss rs=#rsNews# items=#fieldmappings# xslt="rss.xslt" >

I hope you find it useful. See it in action here. View the source here or download it here.

Cross posted at http://www.tom-muck.com/blog/

I found this to be rather odd. I have a realtor client that is finally, after I advised it over two years ago, ready to try using Google Adwords. My recommendation would have put him ahead of his competitors instead of playing catch up -- but better late than never -- I guess.

Strangely, the same day I was hooking him up with the company I recommended he use, Page Zero Media, he got a call from a sales rep at Google offering to, "Help him take his business to the next level." Huh?

Call me naive, but I had no idea Google was in the habit of contacting people directly. Thus, doubting the call, I asked my client to let me check it out more thoroughly. Of course you know what I did -- I googled the guy. ;) Sure enough, he was in the Google listings (in the Sponsored Links, no less) with a link to a page about him. He's an industry expert in real estate and local. OK, so he's real. There's even a picture.

But my goodness, does this bother anyone besides me? I mean, Google is a search engine (and of course lately, lots of other things) -- but I think of it as having more to do with algorithms and engineering than sales. Thus, we have a whole culture of consultants and agencies that create and manage campaigns as their business. The create, tweak and measure -- and many of them know their stuff. I've watched clients that didn't want to spend the money on a specialist use "a web person who can do adwords," and the campaign was a flop. All their click-through money was wasted since it didn't convert into sales.

So we now have Google doing cold calls. Are they going to create and tweak a campaign? Are they going to measure the results and advise on the copywriting and landing pages? Will they continue to optimize the account to make it more effective? Who do they favor when they're creating campaigns for several clients in the same industry competing for the top spots/click-throughs? For you as a client, is your effectiveness simply the luck of the draw based on which account rep you get? Does that decide who wins the top spot/best copy and click-throughs? Do you want to hand Google your conversion data on a silver platter? What happened to that neutral person with only your best interests and success in mind?

I'm concerned at some of the recent moves at Google. Are we creating a monster? Am I overreacting? What are your thoughts?

And to answer the question that may be going through your mind -- no, my client is not using the Google Adwords guy. We're going with Andrew Goodman's company. They rock. ;)