Since this is just a proof-of-concept project at this point I can afford to take some risks in choosing technologies. I’ve been following the developments around using graph databases for storing data, especially for Semantic Web applications. One project that kept coming up was Neo4j, a graph database engine built in Java. I figured now was a good time to try it out. My server-side logic is built in ColdFusion, and integrating open source Java projects like Neo4j into CF applications is generally a snap.

Aside from one hiccup, porting Neo4j’s 1-minute Java “Hello World” example to CFML proved to be fairly straightforward. The process I used to get this working is detailed below. I’d suggest that you skim over the Java example before continuing – I’m sure I left out some of the exposition.

First add the Neo4j Jar files to the ColdFusion server:

• Download the Neo4j “Apoc” distribution and unpack it somewhere convenient. I’m using Mac OS X, so I put things like this in ~/lib/neo4j-apoc-1.0
• Add the Neo4j JAR files to the ColdFusion classpath. Log into your ColdFusion Administrator, and select Server Settings -> Java and JVM. Enter the path to the lib folder in your Neo4j distribution in ColdFusion Class Path
  
• Restart your ColdFusion server. If you’re at all nervous, log back in to the ColdFusion Administrator and verify that the Neo4j jars are indeed listed on your classpath.

Once this is complete, you can initialize a new database for your ColdFusion app. Decide where you want the CF server to create the Neo4j data files and pass that to the object’s init() method. I put mine in a folder under /tmp on Mac OS X.

<cfset dbroot = "/tmp/neo4jtest/" />

<cfset graphDb = createObject('java',
                  "org.neo4j.kernel.EmbeddedGraphDatabase") />
<cfset graphDb.init(dbroot & "var/graphdb") />

[Aside for non-ColdFusion folks: CF doesn't instantiate Java objects quite how you'd expect. The call to CreateObject() just gets a handle on the class itself. Calling init() on the resulting handle actually instantiates the class via the appropriate constructor.]

Just as in the Java example, it’s good to surround your connection with a try/catch block that will close your database connection if you throw an error. As I was working with Neo4j I would periodically lock up my database and not be able to connect without restarting CF. Adding a CFTRY/CFCATCH block cleared this right up.

<cftry>
   <cfset tx = graphDb.beginTx() />

   <cfscript>
     tx.success();
     WriteOutput("Success.");
   </cfscript>

   <cfset tx.finish() />

  <cfcatch type="any">
     <cfset graphDb.shutdown() />
     <cfdump var="#cfcatch#">
   </cfcatch>
</cftry>

<cfset graphDb.shutdown() />

Where things got really sticky was the use of Java enumerations to declare the available relationship types for the graph:

 /* Java code */
 public enum  MyRelationshipTypes implements RelationshipType
 {
    KNOWS
 }

To my knowledge there’s no way to declare something like this in standard CFML. I likely could have wrapped this in a Java class of some sort and loaded it through CreateObject(), but that wouldn’t have been true to the spirit of ColdFusion. So I dug around in the Neo4j docs and found an answer: relationships can be created dynamically at runtime from a static method on the class org.neo4j.graphdb.DynamicRelationshipType. I created an instance of DynamicRelationshipType for the “KNOWS” relationship and loaded it into a Struct, anticipating caching them in Application scope for a real application.

 relationship = CreateObject("java",
                             "org.neo4j.graphdb.DynamicRelationshipType");
 MyRelationshipTypes = structNew();
 MyRelationshipTypes.KNOWS = relationship.withName( "KNOWS" );

It might be interesting to see if these relationship enumerations could be generated and compiled by something like JavaLoader. I’m not yet aware of any downsides with dynamic relationships besides the obvious lack of compile-time checking.

The rest of the exercise follows without any real suprises:

 firstNode = graphDb.createNode();
 secondNode = graphDb.createNode();
 relationship = firstNode.createRelationshipTo( secondNode,
                                         MyRelationshipTypes.KNOWS );

 firstNode.setProperty( "message", "Hello, " );
 secondNode.setProperty( "message", "world!" );
 relationship.setProperty( "message", "brave Neo4j " );

 WriteOutput( firstNode.getProperty( "message" ) );
 WriteOutput( relationship.getProperty( "message" ) );
 WriteOutput( secondNode.getProperty( "message" ) );

And there you have it! A quick and dirty Neo4j application built with CFML.

I’ve put a little work into developing a Neo4j helper class that hides some of these warts in a nice clean CFC. As soon as I can get eGit to behave I’ll post the files on GitHub.

Unfortunately, I made a crazy choice in February and started down the path of the Flash CS5 Packager for iPhone rather than commit to the straight-up Apple toolchain I’d been dabbling with for the last year and a half. Why Flash? I was hoping I’d be able to use at least some of my Flex expertise – full-blown Flex components weren’t supported, but ActionScript techniques translate readily back to plain old Flash. This would also give me a chance to experiment with a lightweight AS-only component set (minimalcomps) and an interesting Dependency Injection framework I’d been hearing a lot about (Robotlegs).

Not only was this process awkward, the my first cracks at the app itself was painfully slow. It was obvious that the techniques I’d developed for Web and desktop application development were not going to be enough to make a reasonable iPhone app, even with a good UI concept. I was beginning to see the dark at the end of the tunnel for this pet project of mine.

But then disaster – Apple pulled the rug out from under the entire Packager for iPhone concept, taking their ball and going home. Boy howdy, I loved middle school. It took a few weeks, but yesterday Adobe finally cried uncle and the proprietary software apologist in me died a little. The two companies that saw me through Microsoft’s bungled hegemony over the Web are now taking shots at each other. Can’t mommy and daddy just get along?

So where do I go now? Do I succumb to Apple’s strong arm tactics and commit to the platform in the way they so desperately want? Do I ditch Apple and run careening for Google and Android?  Or do I run to something like PhoneGap, which promises a more open way to develop apps with JavaScript and Web standards.

Anybody wanna buy an iPad, slightly smudged?

To me this is a whole new category of device, and I wanted to get a real feel for what this thing was all about. I already have or use the devices around the niche the iPad appears to be destined for – the MacBook, the iPhone, netbook – but I really did see this as Something Completely Different. I desperately wanted to like the Windows Tablet; I’d been an early Palm user (III/V/m105) and I tried two early generations (a Compaq TC1000 and a Toshiba M205). I  carried them from meeting to class to meeting, but it never clicked. I saw the potential, but the experience was truly lacking for me.

Yes, I am still ticked off that there’s no Flash – I enjoy building apps in Flex and AIR. I’m even more disappointed that Apple appears to have removed the blue brick icon when a missing plugin is needed for page content. I have yet to see one in Safari when browsing Web sites. This was serving as an ensign for the Flash community.  If Apple has indeed removed this emblem, perhaps Flash developers should put that icon in the alternate content area of the embed/object tag. [Update 4/13/10: Someone has done precisely that]

But the real amazing thing to me has been all the vitriol about the iPad – it’s like the usual unsocialized nonsense of Slashdot has exploded all over the Web. It frankly reminds me of the early days of Twitter – “Why would anyone want to know what I had for breakfast?” was the usual slant. And that showed that they didn’t *get it*

I also feel the same sort of guarded optimism as I did with Twitter – something’s different here. Now that folks with an inclination to develop have the actual devices, There Will Be Code. And from that code will come new kinds of applications and uses that we have only begun to consider.

http://www.flexregistration.com/

Interesting things to note:

1. It apparently does apply to staff too (woo!)
2. You can request more than one license if you’re using it for a class or a lab. That will be a real time-saver.
3. You have to scan your ID and submit it with the form. Uhh… scan? paper? I don’t have a scanner hooked up anywhere, so I took a photo of my ID with the iSight on MacBook Pro and tried that, thumb included free of charge.

The action page tells you to allow a few weeks for processing the request, but mine was approved the next day…. that’s service!

That popping sound you heard was sudden obsolescence

Adobe Premiere Pro and Soundbooth are only supported on multicore Intel Macs. So much for our “multimedia lab” of 2GHz Dual G5 PowerMacs.

You want how much RAM and disk space?

Be prepared to clean up your hard disks, especially on notebooks — CS3 Master want’s almost 20GB of disk space to install. Web Premium for Windows also complained on our XP systems, which have only 512MB of RAM. I can’t really fault them for that, though… XP alone takes that much RAM to function.

Blank Popup Window on Mac Pro Install

I fought with installing Master Collection on my Mac Pro for a few days. The install would get to the end of disc 1 and pop up a blank alert box, mutely asking me to put in the second disc. There were no buttons to click on, and nothing I did could get the install to continue. I had to force-quite the Setup app and clean up my system.

I was eventually able to complete the install by copying the contents of all four discs to a single “payload” folder on my hard disk and running the install from there, as described here.

Turns out the culprit may have been the Safari 3 beta.

More information is available on Adobe Labs.