Stefan... There is no need to completely rewrite your tango application in ColdFusion or any other language for that matter. You could always invest a little time up front, and make a very simple converter that takes the basic taf action structure and makes cfml files with code for each action.
I'm not suggesting you spend months on a Jtransit type application that completely converts Tango code to perfect Cold Fusion. Just something that takes the first tedious step out of the process. It could replicate the general structure of the taf file for you, in a flat cfml file, and then your next job would be to go through the generated code and either do a search and replace (for only the simplest conversion tasks), or a porting (by hand) from metatags / action details to cfml. Since the overall logic was preserved by your original conversion tool, the porting task focuses only on small pieces at a time, not having to worry about the big picture. I went through the task once of taking a traditional tango site made up of several hundred taf files, and putting it in a content management system that we wrote in tango (1 taf file serving up pages from a database). I didn't open up each taf indivudually take the code from the results actions and put them in the database. I wrote a program that read the taf xml code, stripped out every results action saved the code to the database. (saved myself weeks of work) Work smarter, not harder. /John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stefan Gonick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Multiple recipients of list witango-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 3:39 PM Subject: RE: Witango-Talk: Conversion to ColdFusion Estimate > Thanks for the feedback so far. I understand that I would have to > rewrite my application in CF. On the other hand, all of the original > design decisions and database structure and program flow and > so on would have been made. I wouldn't be rewriting from scratch. > I would be reimplementing a working program in another language. > That would take less time than if I had started with CF in the beginning. > > My own experience in writing CF applications is that it takes me > about 1.5 times longer than doing it in Witango. In fact, I tended > to use the Witango builders to generate a lot of the html for me, > and then converted the relevant tags and SQL. I got pretty good > at doing that efficiently. So, Witango was still involved in the development > to some extent. :) > > A lot of a site is the results html with the embedded Witango tags, and this > stuff can be reused fairly readily. Obviously, the TAF structure would > have to be reimplemented using a series of files. I haven't learned > the new version of CF with its new more "object oriented" functionality. > I don't know how helpful that new stuff would be. > > At this point, I'm guessing that it would take somewhere between > 50 - 100% of the original development time. Anyone have a different > view about this? > > Stefan > > At 04:28 PM 12/4/2002 -0500, you wrote: > >When I read this I realized that I did not really answer your question, > >Stefan... > > > >I agree with Scott that it would take 2 to 3 times as long to write in CF as > >in Witango. The point I was making before is that it is almost a complete > >re-write. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Scott Cadillac > > > Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 4:17 PM > > > To: Multiple recipients of list witango-talk > > > Subject: Re: Witango-Talk: Conversion to ColdFusion Estimate > > > > > > > > > Hi Stefan, > > > > > > I've used ColdFusion in the past, and had a close look at it > > > recently again > > > with MX. > > > > > > I would say a safe bet is that a ColdFusion job would take 3 > > > times longer to > > > write than writing it in Witango. > > > > > > If the Witango code was already written, and depending on how you > > > developed > > > and integrated the server-side verses client-side code... at a > > > bare minimum, > > > it would still take 2 times as long to convert it to ColdFusion > > > as it did to > > > originally write it in Witango. > > > > > > Even when you factor in the apparently lower cost of the ColdFusion server > > > license, your client will still save money going with Witango. > > > > > > My analysis is not very scientific, but simply based on experience. > > > > > > Hope this helps. Cheers... > > > > > > Scott Cadillac > > > VP, Research and Development > > > Plus International Corp. > > > 403-281-6090 > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://www.plusinternational.com > > > > > > Does your company have an Enterprise Information Portal? Check > > > out Salsa at > > > www.plusinternational.com/flash/salsa.htm > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Stefan Gonick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > To: "Multiple recipients of list witango-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 1:40 PM > > > Subject: Witango-Talk: Conversion to ColdFusion Estimate > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi All, > > > > > > > > I have an interesting question for you all. I have a potential > > > client for > > > > a large project. We have been discussing the merits of using Witango > > > > versus something less risky. I mean risky in the sense that Witango > > > > may not survive as a product in the long run. Of course, I hope that > > > > Witango lives forever. > > > > > > > > My client asked me the question of what it would cost to convert > > > > my large Witango program to ColdFusion in the worst case scenario. > > > > I have learned some ColdFusion, but I have never tried to convert > > > > a large Witango program to CF. I was wondering if anyone has > > > > much experience with that and could give a relative estimate of > > > > how long that would take. In other words, something like: "in my > > > > experience it would take approximately 50% of the original > > > > development time to convert the program to CF." The answer should > > > > assume that I have become proficient in CF. > > > > > > > > Thanks in advance, > > > > Stefan > > > > ======================================================== > > > > Database WebWorks: Dynamic web sites through database integration > > > > http://www.DatabaseWebWorks.com > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > > > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body > > > >________________________________________________________________________ > >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body > > ======================================================== > Database WebWorks: Dynamic web sites through database integration > http://www.DatabaseWebWorks.com > > ________________________________________________________________________ > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body ________________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body
