The title of this article refers to an ancient Zen Buddhist saying, meant – like other non-sense proverbs in this tradition – to startle the student into a new way of looking at things.

eWebEditPro from Ektron is a browser-based WYSIWYG editor that lets your Web site users create HTML content even if they don't know HTML. In this review we discuss why you'd need eWebEditPro, and point out some of its features and limitations.

Ah yes, the almighty database. O highly exalted piece of technology, we worship you and the server rack upon which you are mounted.

This month I've taken the liberty of assembling a small collection of unrelated ideas that I think you might enjoy as ColdFusion appetizers.

Some questions seem to be so obvious that you wonder why they're even asked. Take this one, for example: 'Would you prefer to have a noncertified mechanic work on your car (one who supposedly does excellent work) or a certified mechanic perform the same task?'

First, a confession: I'm a Microsoft SQL Server plebe. Oh, sure, I've written plenty of SQL commands for Access, Foxpro and even an occasional Oracle database, but the needs of more than one client called out for me to tackle SQL Server.

It seems everyone I meet lately wants to set up an online store. 'It would be great if I could sell my handmade Barbie doll dresses or sell ties, direct, on the Web!' The e-store is hot and the fire is spreading.

In his new book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little, Brown), Malcolm Gladwell makes the case for critical stages in the development of an endeavor.

For ColdFusion developers, this really is the best of times. Demand for developers is exploding, taking salaries and consulting rates along with it.

Building rich Web-based software is fun, exciting...and can take too much time. Most clients have the same core software needs: secure, browser-based infrastructure, integration with existing systems and scalability to meet future needs. A Web application platform capable of all this would save developers tens of thousands of coding hours. Many products claim to be the 'we got it all' solution. Is Synergy 2.0 from evolutionB the real thing? It exceeds most developers' core needs out of the box and scales from MS Access to SQL Server/Oracle. Interested in saving time and releasing better software? This is the e-business framework for you.

Shortly after beginning to work with the Fusebox development methodology (see end of article for a brief list of Fusebox resources), I found that I wanted a standardized way of documenting code. What I needed was something easy to learn and adopt, something that could provide important information without being obsessive in its detail. What I came up with is something I call Fusedoc, its name reflecting the fact that it was in large part inspired by Javadoc, the Java language's documentation standard. My column in the January 2000 issue of CFDJ (Vol. 2, issue 1) set out the underlying ideas and discussed implementation of a Fusedoc standard.

I had been working on the architecture of a large, complex e-commerce site when I ran into a situation. 'It's always a situation,' I muttered. What would I do when users requested a service offered on the site, but they needed to register for it first? I could just write code that stops and advises them of the registration requirement, but this seemed to me awkward and annoying. Surely the site should be smarter than that.

Session management is an essential tool for any Web application; however, one crazy coder on a shared server can kill the tool, your session variables - and maybe a sale to a customer. The problem isn't uncommon. Session, application and server-scope variables are stored in server RAM.

Extending ColdFusion to incorporate Microsoft's Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) is a powerful way to expand the capabilities of the application server on the Microsoft platform. We'll view DCOM through ColdFusion and cover some of the features and pitfalls of using these technologies together. The examples here are made in conjunction with Visual Basic's support of the distributed interface. By the end of this article you should be able to start planning the framework for your DCOM-enabled ColdFusion applications.

Who else is sick and tired of hearing Allaire's product evangelist, Ben Forta, touted as the CF god? Ben Forta this, Ben Forta that. All right already! So he and some other CF gurus wrote a couple books about CF and now we can't go anywhere in CF hyperspace without hearing about it.

I recently received an inquiry from a developer about my Guru-on-Call service (www.TeamAllaire. com/hal). He requested help in identifying the fuses he would need for his application.

I'm writing this prior to the turn of the new year, so I trust that somehow civilization bungled through and that you're not reading this by the light of your last candle, alert to the strange sounds outside your door that are growing ever nearer.

There's nothing more annoying (and scary) than putting your credit card information on a Web site and getting a server error...This happened to me when I tried to buy an airline ticket...I entered my information three times...and was charged for three tickets.

When I started using ColdFusion, one of the tags that piqued my curiosity most was . At the time, I had only a vague idea what LDAP was and when I started to write applications that extended beyond single pages, I realized I needed some kind of authentication. I tried the tag but wasn't thrilled with the idea of storing usernames and passwords in a table.

If you're as busy as I am, chances are you seldom have the time to sift through all the support documentation that accompanies your new authoring software - especially if that software is an upgrade to one of your familiar tools. I generally install it and run (we don't need no stinking directions!). In December 1998, I downloaded Allaire's ColdFusion 4.0, the upgrade for one of my favorite and most trusted applications. Fortunately, I actually read the documentation this time.

In the premier issue of CFDJ, Richard Schulze wrote a fine article on several new features of ColdFusion 4.0, part of Allaire's recent upgrade to their entire product line. In this article I'll highlight some additional features of the new release. I'll also expand on his coverage of language features and Studio enhancements. And for those of you who missed Richard's article, I've included another brief review of the key new features.

As I sat down with NetObjects Fusion 4.0 for the first time, I was curious to discover what it could offer a professional Web designer and host like myself. What I found was an impressive product for creating sophisticated business Web sites targeting electronic commerce.

Normal Web browsing is a stateless affair. This means that until you request something from the server, your browser sits idle, like a lump of clay. Ignoring Java-based apps or chat clients, most Internet browsing happens on a very simple basis. You (via your browser) ask the server for a file and the server complies by spitting a page back at you. State can be maintained by the use of cookies or special variables on the URL string, but information still comes only when you request it.

Have you built a custom tag yet? If you haven't, you're missing one of the most exciting features of ColdFusion 3.0. Custom tags are the ability to extend ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) with custom tags. For the first time, developers could encapsulate functions, snippets of code and even entire applications in a portable, modular format. A quick browse through the over 400 custom tags in the Allaire Tag Gallery attests to their popularity and flexibility. But just when you thought it couldn't get any better, it did.

True, it's possible to do just about anything with ColdFusion. But if there's already a solution on the market that's well tested, why reinvent the wheel? Take AbleCommerce Developer 2.6. With AbleCommerce you don't have to spend thousands of hours of programming time to create a sophisticated e-commerce store. In a sense, AbleCommerce gives you the best of both worlds. If you want to customize the store, you can use ColdFusion and not have to learn another scripting language. If you don't want to do much programming, you can use over 300 wizards and templates to create a quick commerce site. You don't have to know ColdFusion at all - or even HTML.