BlueDragon
Encyclopedia
BlueDragon is a ColdFusion Markup Language
(CFML) engine comparable to Adobe Systems
's ColdFusion
. It is licensed and distributed by New Atlanta
from TagServlet Ltd based in Scotland. BlueDragon is also distributed and supported by BEA Systems
on their Oracle WebLogic Server
server platform.
BlueDragon applications run on a variety of platforms, including Microsoft Windows
, Linux
, and Mac OS X
. It is mostly compatible with ColdFusion MX 7.
In March, 2008 New Atlanta announced that the future versions of BlueDragon (Java EE editions) will be released as open source products.
The first two editions are standalone servers which run on Windows, Linux, and OS X. With BD J2EE, CFML applications can be deployed on any J2EE server, enabling integration of CFML and J2EE as enabled in ColdFusion MX. BD, BEA WebLogic Edition, is a special edition based on BD J2EE for use with BEA's WebLogic Server. BD.NET extends the Microsoft .NET framework and IIS to permit deployment of CFML applications as native MS .NET web applications, offering integration between CFML and ASP.NET that's not possible with ColdFusion.
The Server JX, J2EE, MS .NET, and BEA WebLogic editions of BlueDragon are commercial products which are available as 30 day unlimited trials which convert to a single-IP developer edition with no expiration.
The Server edition, on the other hand, is free for deployment—though not for hosting, redeployment, or (as of the 6.2 release) commercial use. There are no differences in CFML tags supported in the free Server edition, but it supports only ODBC drivers on MS Windows (and only MySQL or PostgreSQL on Linux and Mac OS X), it supports only IIS on MS Windows or Apache on Linux or Mac OS X, and does not support secured (SSL) connections.
None of the limitations of the free Server edition exist in the commercial Server JX, J2EE, .NET, or BEA WebLogic editions.
The .NET edition of BlueDragon runs on Microsoft's .NET platform, BD.NET enables CFML applications to leverage the .NET platform and allows for integration between CFML and ASP.NET as well as .NET objects.
Open BlueDragon is an open source version of BlueDragon is released under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3). The chief differences between the open source and the J2EE version are the removal of commercial libraries (e.g., for PDF generation), The JTurbo JDBC driver for Microsoft SQL Server, and the BlueDragon Administrator application. It runs on any standard J2EE application server, such as Tomcat, JBoss or Jetty.
The original version of BlueDragon was released in 2002.
, one of the most heavily visited sites on the Internet, uses the .NET version of BlueDragon to power some of its online applications.
ColdFusion Markup Language
ColdFusion Markup Language, more commonly known as CFML, is a scripting language for web development that runs on the JVM, the .NET framework, and Google App Engine...
(CFML) engine comparable to Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
's ColdFusion
ColdFusion
In computing, ColdFusion is the name of a commercial rapid application development platform invented by Jeremy and JJ Allaire in 1995. ColdFusion was originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database, by version 2 it had...
. It is licensed and distributed by New Atlanta
New Atlanta
New Atlanta Communications, LLC is a software company specializing in products to ease creation of Web applications. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, United States, and founded in 1998, the company markets 3 products: ServletExec, JTurbo, and BlueDragon....
from TagServlet Ltd based in Scotland. BlueDragon is also distributed and supported by BEA Systems
BEA Systems
BEA Systems, Inc. specialized in enterprise infrastructure software products known as "middleware", which connect software applications to databases and was acquired by Oracle Corporation on April 29, 2008.- History :...
on their Oracle WebLogic Server
Oracle Weblogic Server
Owned by Oracle Corporation, Oracle WebLogic consists of a Java EE platform product-family that includes:* a Java EE application server, WebLogic Application Server* an enterprise portal, WebLogic Portal* an Enterprise Application Integration platform...
server platform.
BlueDragon applications run on a variety of platforms, including Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. It is mostly compatible with ColdFusion MX 7.
In March, 2008 New Atlanta announced that the future versions of BlueDragon (Java EE editions) will be released as open source products.
Editions
BlueDragon is available in six editions:- BlueDragon Server
- BlueDragon Server JX (similar to ColdFusion standalone editions)
- BlueDragon for J2EE Application Servers (BD J2EE)
- BlueDragon for the Microsoft .NET Framework (BD .NET)
- BlueDragon, BEA WebLogic Edition (sold by BEA as a BEA product)
- Open BlueDragon, an open source version of BlueDragon for J2EE.
The first two editions are standalone servers which run on Windows, Linux, and OS X. With BD J2EE, CFML applications can be deployed on any J2EE server, enabling integration of CFML and J2EE as enabled in ColdFusion MX. BD, BEA WebLogic Edition, is a special edition based on BD J2EE for use with BEA's WebLogic Server. BD.NET extends the Microsoft .NET framework and IIS to permit deployment of CFML applications as native MS .NET web applications, offering integration between CFML and ASP.NET that's not possible with ColdFusion.
The Server JX, J2EE, MS .NET, and BEA WebLogic editions of BlueDragon are commercial products which are available as 30 day unlimited trials which convert to a single-IP developer edition with no expiration.
The Server edition, on the other hand, is free for deployment—though not for hosting, redeployment, or (as of the 6.2 release) commercial use. There are no differences in CFML tags supported in the free Server edition, but it supports only ODBC drivers on MS Windows (and only MySQL or PostgreSQL on Linux and Mac OS X), it supports only IIS on MS Windows or Apache on Linux or Mac OS X, and does not support secured (SSL) connections.
None of the limitations of the free Server edition exist in the commercial Server JX, J2EE, .NET, or BEA WebLogic editions.
The .NET edition of BlueDragon runs on Microsoft's .NET platform, BD.NET enables CFML applications to leverage the .NET platform and allows for integration between CFML and ASP.NET as well as .NET objects.
Open BlueDragon is an open source version of BlueDragon is released under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3). The chief differences between the open source and the J2EE version are the removal of commercial libraries (e.g., for PDF generation), The JTurbo JDBC driver for Microsoft SQL Server, and the BlueDragon Administrator application. It runs on any standard J2EE application server, such as Tomcat, JBoss or Jetty.
The original version of BlueDragon was released in 2002.
Corporate adoption
MySpaceMySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, one of the most heavily visited sites on the Internet, uses the .NET version of BlueDragon to power some of its online applications.
Compatibility
Though BlueDragon 7.0 was designed to be compatible with Adobe ColdFusion MX 7.0.2, there are differences in the two CFML implementations. BlueDragon offers several advantages (tags, functions, and other functionality) not found in ColdFusion. Similarly, there are a few tags and functions found in ColdFusion that are not supported currently in BlueDragon. New Atlanta maintains a complete list of incompatibilities with Adobe ColdFusion MX in the documentation.Notable differences compared to ColdFusion 8
- No support for on-demand presentations
- No built-in AJAX support
- No built-in support for exchange
- BlueDragon's .NET edition can create .NET objects
- No support for PDF Documents and Forms
- No built-in Server Monitoring and Alerts
- No support for AMFAction Message FormatAction Message Format is a binary format used to serialize objects graphs such ActionScript objects and XML, or send messages between an Adobe Flash client and a remote service, usually a Flash Media Server or third party alternatives....
(Flash Remoting protocol) - No support for event gateways
- No built-in stepthrough debugger
- No RDS Connectivity to server
- No Report builder or cfreport tag
- BlueDragon includes a tag for IMAP protocol
- BlueDragon cannot generate Flash movies, neither via CFDOCUMENT nor CFFORM. Version 7 will generate raster documents using CFDOCUMENT.
Framework compatibility
A number of popular ColdFusion frameworks are fully supported on BlueDragon:- ColdSpringColdspringColdspring can refer to:*Coldspring, New York*Coldspring, Texas*Coldspring House, British Columbia, Canada, also known as Coldspring-See also:*Cold Spring *Cold Springs...
- FuseboxFusebox (programming)Fusebox is a web application framework for ColdFusion and PHP. Originally released in 1997, the current version, 5.5, was released in December 2007....
- Model-GlueModel-GlueModel-Glue is an OO web application framework based on the MVC design pattern. Its goal is to simplify development of OO ColdFusion applications...
- Mach-IIMach-IIMach-II is a web-application framework focused on easing software development and maintenance. It was the first Object-Oriented framework for CFML. It is maintained by a group of dedicated open source programmers-References:* * * *...