Taking over CFWheels DBMigrate plugin development

The title pretty much says it all. I've taken over as the developer for the DBMigrate plugin used with the ColdFusion on Wheels framework. The previous developer, Ryan Hoppitt, has been really pressed for time in his schedule and hasn't been able to do much with the project. He's been very supportive and helpful in me take over the development.

The project is now hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/talltroym/cfwheels-dbmigrate-plugin along with the documentation, open issues and milestones.

This was a somewhat intimidating decision for me. While I started writing web applications with ColdFusion in 2000, I haven’t been actively developing with it for the entire past 11 years, more like half of that with a few years of not doing any ColdFusion work. Furthermore I’ve only been using the ColdFusion on Wheels framework since February (and I’ll never go back to creating applications without it), so I still consider myself “green” with it. Last I’m not an OO guy, and almost all of this project is multiple CFC’s, not to mention knowing others will be able to see my coding (mistakes). If I were to rate myself on a scale of 0 (what’s ColdFusion) and 10 (the likes of Ray Camden and Sean Corfield) I’d put myself squarely at a 5 1/2.

So why take it on? First, I’m actively developing a new web application and I’m using the DBMigrate plugin to handle all of the database schema interactions. I’ve found a few bugs with it, as well as some features I’d really like it to have. I decided to “tinker” with the code and was able to add/fix a few things.

Second, I think this is a good example to learn ColdFusion object-oriented programming from. I’m impressed with the code of this application and I’ve learned a good deal so far. I feel that in the end this will help me to become a better ColdFusion developer. Both in learning the current code base as well as receive feedback from others that will see the code I’ve written. As the saying goes, “nanos gigantium humeris insidentes”

I’ve taken over as the developer since version 0.6.0 and you can find a complete list of the changes since then in the changelog.