Adobe launches ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder

Adobe's ColdFusion 9 should enable the creation of richer applications

Rich internet applications provider Adobe Systems has announced a major new version of its ColdFusion application development platform, and a new integrated development environment known as ColdFusion Builder.

ColdFusion is Adobe's attempt to offer developers a tool to build applications with the enterprise power of Java, but which are much easier to construct.

Cutting the number of lines of code needed, for example, means that developers can be more agile and keep bugs under better control, according to Adobe product manager and ColdFusion evangelist Adam Lehmen.

ColdFusion 9 features new enhancements to improve developer productivity, enable the creation of richer applications, and offer greater support for Microsoft products.

On the productivity side, there is deep integration with Hibernate for object relational mapping (ORM), providing developers with database-independent applications.

"Hibernate is a complex thing to tackle, so we wanted to make it easy for developers to use ORM," said Lehmen. "Productivity and keeping things simple are what we're all about."

ColdFusion Builder, with its line-level debugging, remote support and custom code generation, as well as support for apps built with ColdFusion 7 and 8, will also help boost developer productivity, said Lehmen.

There is also a strong focus on integration with Microsoft technologies such as SharePoint and Office with this release, according to Lehmen.

"We've tried to play in the Java world and help bridge the gap to .NET," he said. "We wanted to allow Java developers to extend SharePoint through ColdFusion."

Finally, ColdFusion 9 has been "closely aligned" to Flash to enable richer applications to be built using the framework.

Adobe hopes that the new offerings will encourage developers to get onboard with ColdFusion. Lehman said that the developer community had almost tripled in the past six years, and is on course to reach one million by next year.