Uh, yah...that was me once again proving the first law of software development which clearly states...
"Any code I wrote six months ago I'd like to officially disown" However, during that presentation I also presented CSS and delimited text-based solutions using CFCONTENT that in many cases achieved the same goals. I also issued the Microsoft disclaimer about using COM and said that I thought it would be OK for small, low-traffic use in specialized instances where you needed to get something done quickly and didn't have time to reverse engineer Microsoft's various file formats (RTF in particular). Under these circumstances, and assuming that you're going to stick with CF 5 for the next six months, you can probably stick it out until office 11 debuts and consider a migration strategy at that point in time...or, you can continue to support a CF 5 server that runs Office through COM. However, if you're writing new code or want to migrate to CFMX earlier, look to the future. Ah yes, on to Microsoft Powerpoint... I don't have a lot of information about it at this time -- it doesn't get nearly as much coverage on MSDN as other MS Office components and my presentation track owner at Devcon (you know who you are!) felt that there wouldn't be any interest in how to create dynamic powerpoint documents from CF....so the example got dropped. Anyway, there is a text-based file format that Powerpoint does support...and like most text-based file formats from Microsoft, it's somewhat complex, but ultimately parseable. The format, believe it or not, is HTML! Now I haven't actually created a production example, but it seems to me that it should be possible to use CF to create a dynamic powerpoint web archive (.mht). You can take a look at the format by saving any pre-existing powerpoint file as a web archive and then inspecting the contents of the generated file. Regards, Steve Drucker CEO Fig Leaf Software > -----Original Message----- > From: Adrocknaphobia Jones [mailto:adrocknatalk@;hotmail.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 11:28 AM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: RE: Urgent : GURU Required: Excel vs COM in CFMX > > Steve, > > Wasn't it you who gave a presentation in June @ CF_Fun2 using a word COM > object to properly print pages? Because, I must blame you for my delve > into Office COM objects. I hadn't thought of using Office through COM > until that speech. > > Ok, what about other Office applications outside of Excel? I've written > an application that utilizes the powerPoint object, to build > presentations, and export them into different formats. > > What option, outside of COM, do I have... until this new version of > Office comes out? I no longer have my MSDN subscription so I know very > little about Office 11. Will Office 11 be open as web services? Is that > why COM is evaporating? > > Adam Wayne Lehman > Web Systems Developer > Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health > Distance Education Division > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Steve Drucker [mailto:sdrucker@;figleaf.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 11:17 AM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: RE: Urgent : GURU Required: Excel vs COM in CFMX > > Don't get me wrong -- I've got a COM sample in my Devcon presentation, > however, working with MS office apps is an art that is clearly in > transition. The various methods that I outlined in my previous email > work > great (assuming you've got a later version of MS office). Microsoft > recently announced broader support for XML within Office and their new > XDOCS > product/initiative due in Office 11 that will hopefully seal the COM > debate. > > So from a practical standpoint, if you want to write code that will work > with future versions of Office and CF without significant modification, > COM-based solutions are certainly a dead end. > > Have you tried any of the solutions that I enumerated in my previous > post? > The embedded excel control is super-cool and Office XP's current support > of > HTML/XML is quite impressive. Exactly what functionality are you trying > to > achieve in Excel through COM that couldn't be replicated using a > different > strategy? I'm curious because Devcon is still a couple days away and > it's > never too late to add material to my presentation <grin>! > > It just doesn't seem reasonable to me to implement an MS office solution > using techniques that have been officially derided by Microsoft. > > Regards, > Steve Drucker > CEO > Fig Leaf Software > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Benjamin S. Rogers [mailto:ben@;c4.net] > > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 10:47 AM > > To: CF-Talk > > Subject: RE: Urgent : GURU Required: Excel vs COM in CFMX > > > > Macromedia breaks COM support in ColdFusion, and now COM is dead? > Sounds > > like spin to me: rather than fix it, we'll just declare it dead and > > deride the use of it. Don't get me wrong, I know you don't work for > > Macromedia, and I know COM is something less than ideal. However, it > > works well for much of what we do, and sometimes it is the only way to > > get the job done. I'd really like to see Macromedia fix COM support in > > ColdFusion than have presenters haranguing the death of COM at Devcon. > > COM is years away from being dead in any practical sense. > > > > Benjamin S. Rogers > > http://www.c4.net/ > > v.508.240.0051 > > f.508.240.0057 > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Steve Drucker [mailto:sdrucker@;figleaf.com] > > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 10:39 AM > > To: CF-Talk > > Subject: RE: Urgent : GURU Required: Excel vs COM in CFMX > > > > > > Yeah, the problem is that you're using COM to connect to Excel. > > > > As has been previously mentioned several times on various boards, COM > is > > dead. Microsoft has abandoned COM, ColdFusion MX doesn't support COM > > particularly well due to its new architecture, and invoking Excel as a > > COM > > object on the server isn't even supported by Microsoft under ASP: > > > > > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q257757&ID=kb;en > > -us; > > Q257757&FR=1 > > > > So, just say no to COM. > > > > I'm actually lecturing about this topic at Devcon in a few days. > > Your viable options are as follows: > > > > 1) Simple data can be sent to Excel as delimited fields > > 2) More complex data can be represented as HTML or XML and loaded > > directly > > into Excel (especially Excel 10/XP) > > 3) Use the Office XP web control to embed MS-excel functionality in > your > > web > > pages (assuming the end user owns a license of XP) > > 4) Use Excel's web query features, or use CF to create a web query > file > > 5) Create a web service in CFMX that is accessible to Excel as a web > > client > > > > Regards, > > Steve Drucker > > CEO > > Fig Leaf Software > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Daryl Fullerton [mailto:Daryl.Fullerton@;biznet-solutions.com] > > > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 7:52 AM > > > To: CF-Talk > > > Subject: Urgent : GURU Required: Excel vs COM in CFMX > > > > > > Folks / Guru's > > > > > > Hi, Wonder if there are any CFMX / Excel COM gurus out there that > > could > > > help. > > > > > > Much appreciated if anyone knows what is causing the below or can > > > recommend a fix. > > > > > > Cheers > > > > > > D > > > ColdFusion Usergroup Ireland Manager > > > > > > E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > W: http://www.cfug.ie > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Eric Zumot > > > Sent: 24 October 2002 11:46 > > > To: CF-Talk > > > Subject: Excel vs COM in CFMX > > > > > > > > > I have been facing big difficulties in using COM Objects to access > > > Excel, (Platform Win2000, Office2000, CFMX). When the same code was > on > > > CF5.0 it worked perfectly without any problems. > > > > > > In the beginning, COM Objects couldn't connect to Excel, after doing > > > several installations of Office2000, it connected successfully. The > > main > > > problem started happening afterwards, which is accessing the Excel > COM > > > Object properties (The main error occurs whenever it tries saving > the > > > file). In brief, below are the main steps of I did so far; > > > > > > 1- I followed all the instructions recommended in Macromedia's > article > > > > (http://www.macromedia.com/v1/Handlers/index.cfm?ID=22922&Method=Full) > > > Followed the steps, and still the same error, no joy. > > > > > > 2- I changed the permissions of ColdFusion in the services Applets > as > > > recommended in cfcomet.com > > > > > > (http://www.cfcomet.com/other/index.cfm?ArticleID=32381637-0922-41CA-BBE > > > 305C2D66A7025#22) Restarted the services and the server and still > the > > > same error. > > > > > > 3- Downloaded and installed the Updater > > > > > > (http://dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/MM/software/trial/hwswrec.jsp?product > > > =cfmx_updater) after showing installation was successful, I > restarted > > > the services and the whole server again. I kept getting the same > > error, > > > except for one trial that was successful, afterwards it returned > back > > to > > > the same problem. > > > > > > > > > Eric (Sael) Zumot, > > > Senior Programmer, > > > > > > BizNet Solutions, > > > 133-137 Lisburn Road, > > > Belfast, > > > Northern Ireland > > > BT09 7AG > > > > > > T:++44 (028) 90223224 > > > F:++44 (028) 90223223 > > > E:[EMAIL PROTECTED] W:http://www.bizNet-solutions.com > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists&body=lists/cf_talk FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting.
