Dreamweaver CS7... not more server behaviors

In next version, Adobe will remove Bindings, Server Behaviors, Components, and Databases panel:
dreamweaver/

I think that Adobe intends move all its customers to Business Catalyst... how do you think?
How will be possible to use Data Bridge with CS7?

  Quote from adobe:
As we have added new features, we have also begun reviewing the features that were integrated during the 15 years since Dreamweaver was released. What we found was that some of the features support web technologies that are no longer relevant for most Dreamweaver customers. We have decided to focus on modernizing Dreamweaver and streamlining the user interface by removing these older features. We have removed the Bindings, Server Behaviors, Components, and Databases panel, as well as Spry, Browser Compatibility Check, and a few others. Some of these items will be available as extensions for customers who still rely on these features. As we move forward we will continue to focus Dreamweaver on modern web standards and technologies including HTML5, jQuery, and more.  

Do they even know who their Dreamweaver customers are?

Apparently DW users do not utilise the server behaviours according to Adobe's data and people like us are in the minority. I find this hard to believe, who uses DW just as a html coding tool as it is a very expensive one if that's the case!

I don't get that at all - surely using databases is a common use for web sites? I don't see why they need to remove them altogether - surely they can just hide them away so that you have to opt in to them?

We will be updating Data Bridge to recreate the Dynamic Functionality that Adobe is removing for DW CS7.

We will be migrating the Database functionality away from the current mysql library that is used to the mysqli library instead.

We will be taking this opportunity to update and improve some of the more outdated server behavior functionality.

We hope to release an update to Data Bridge to replace the dynamic functionality that Adobe will be removing soon after they release DW CS7.

Jason,

why not use PDO which enables connections to many databases not just MySQL ?

That's good to hear Jason - in theory it might be a blessing in disguise, as you guys will be doing both parts as it were, rather than currently making your stuff talk to the Adobe stuff.

Dave,

The draw back to using PDO for us would be that we would need to test and support all of the different RDBMS Systems that PDO can connect to. It's a pretty long list including systems like Oracle and MS SQL. other systems on the list are pretty specialized like 4D.

To be able to support these systems would mean purchasing licenses for them and doing the QA testing. The cost of the licenses alone would be prohibitive.

Originally Said By: Jason Byrnes

  Dave,

The draw back to using PDO for us would be that we would need to test and support all of the different RDBMS Systems that PDO can connect to. It's a pretty long list including systems like Oracle and MS SQL. other systems on the list are pretty specialized like 4D.

To be able to support these systems would mean purchasing licenses for them and doing the QA testing. The cost of the licenses alone would be prohibitive.  

ok that makes sense, I didn't consider that

This is a great opportunity for WA to upgrade to a newer, more secure extension for MySQL.

There are really only 2 options, PDO or MySQLi. After reading many articles on the subject, PDO appears to provide everything that MySQLi does plus the advantage of being portable. However, I have noticed that PDO does not allow you to use the new features available in latest versions of MySQL servers like MySQLi does. In other words, MySQLi is updated regularly, PDO does not.

Is your project going to ever be used on a database engine other than MySQL or MariaDB?

The PHP documentation describes MySQLi as the preferred option.

The Spry framework has also lost the support of Adobe. Although we can continue to use Spry validation, it may be an idea to look for a substitute based on jQuery.

HTML5 is now the norm as is responsive web design. It may be an idea to look at frameworks like Zurb's Foundation 4. Foundation covers all of the modern technologies and makes wire framing of a site a breeze. It also contains a comprehensive CSS and JS libraries.

As a last wish, in this age of mobile devices, we need to look at minimising the band width. When I look at the new webassist-beta site home page, the Yslow grade is 'C' (score 73) and the initial load time is 5 secs.

My latest projects are all 'A' graded with a score in the mid 90's and loading time no more than 2.5 secs

Apart from placing JS at the bottom of the document, it all comes down to combining and minimising JS, CSS and stripping the HTML of white spaces. One or more DW extensions that can perform these tasks would be a welcome addition.