Sorry for the short notice on this one. Snuck up on me again. Following on our recent FW/1 theme, this month's meeting will do a quick recap and then build on what we've learned.

This presentation is intended as a follow-up to Daria's FW/1 presentation that was given back in February. Being inspired by her presentation, I learned FW/1 and we have now standardized on it where I work. I'll demonstrate a couple of things that made life easier for me when learning the framework. We'll start from square one: Downloading and installing the framework. After that, we'll create and discuss the very flexible layouts that FW/1 makes available. Afterward, we'll wrap it up with a data call or two and call it a night. If we have time I'll also demonstrate how to integrate Hyrule to simply form validation within FW/1.

If you are looking for a lighter-weight alternative to the larger/heavier frameworks that are out there then come and join us for an evening of FW/1 discovery.

If you're primarily a developer looking to sharpen your entrepreneurial skills (a "Developer-Entrepreneur", if you will), or an Entrepreneur looking to sharpen your development skills (an "Entrepreneur-Developer", if you will), then this post is for you.

Former Philly CFUG manager Steve Rittler and I are starting a new local Philly conference for, you guessed it, Developer-Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneur-Developers: Philly Merge. The idea is pretty simple: Take these two types of people, put them in a room together, give them some opportunities to learn and network, and let magic happen. Whether you've got no idea where to start, or you're already bootstrapped and just want to get tips from local pro's, join us on July 15th at Wharton to fill in the blanks.

July 15th at Wharton

We've got content lined up from local attorneys, accountants, business consultants -- and yes, software developers. We'll provide lunch and snacks throughout the day. We're even thinking about lining up something social but almost entirely unrelated, like an Eniac tour (no promises!). And what's it going to cost you? $29 bucks.

Tickets are on sale now!

It's going down on Friday, July 15th, at the University of Pennsylvania (Huntsman Hall). I'll be there. Will you?

If you're undecided or just want to get an occasional email when there's news to share, you can subscribe for email updates on our website.

I apologize to anyone who already made arrangements to attend our May meeting on migrating from Verity to Solr, but I need to reschedule.

Instead of meeting on Thursday May 19th, we will meet on Wednesday May 18th. I'm still waiting for confirmation on the room reservation, but I will update all of the appropriate blog posts once it has been confirmed -- as well as tweet it.

Finally, and in case you didn't already know, I would like you to Please RSVP if you plan on attending so that I can try to prevent food over- or under-ordering.

Thanks for your understanding. See you there!

Core Systems at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is hiring a Systems Programmer, primarily to handle systems interface web applications (e.g. Accounts, Email, etc.) for school-wide systems infrastructures. If interested, search for Reference #110430348 at http://jobs.hr.upenn.edu.

Job Duties:
This position will provide system and application support for the Wharton School's central account management and information systems running primarily on Adobe ColdFusion, and MS SQL Server on Windows, and interfacing with Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, and other central systems. Responsibilities include the security and maintenance, installation, and optimization of some of these central systems; maintenance and updating of system tools and applications written in a variety of languages: CF, Perl, .Net, and SQL. Experience with Systems Administration and system security is required. Knowledge of modern programming techniques is expected, and familiarity with .NET, T/SQL, LDAP, ColdFusion, and HTML is preferred. The position includes after-hours on-call rotation schedule. Energy, aptitude, and initiative are encouraged.

Qualifications:
BA/BS in Computer Science or related field, with 2 years’ experience developing and maintaining complex web-based applications; strong technology skills. Experience with Windows Administration, Microsoft SQL Server, ColdFusion, .NET and HTML preferred. Experience with other web development platforms also considered. Experience with system security is required. Knowledge of networking concepts are strongly preferred. Organizational and analytical skills and recent demonstrated experience in requirements gathering and implementation; knowledge of database design and relational technology. Demonstrated ability to multi-task and work effectively within tight turnaround schedules. Excellent verbal and written communication skills and interpersonal skills. Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail is important. Ability to work independently or as part of a team. Drive for excellence and conscientiousness about quality of work.

Women and Minorities are encouraged to apply!

In order to reduce food over-ordering and the occasional under-order, I'm re-instituting RSVPs for meetings. If you're planning to attend the May meeting: Solr Powered - Making the move from Verity, please RSVP here.

Steve Rittler, Philly CFUG regular and reformed uniped, is going to cover a topic specially requested by some of our members: Migrating from Verity to Apache Solr, the new search product built into ColdFusion 9. Here's what he has to say on the subject:

We're all familiar with Verity, the search product built in to ColdFusion that made most search needs much easier for many. But the time has come to move on, as Adobe has announced that Verity will be EOL with the next release of ColdFusion. In its place we now have Solr - an open source package with far greater capabilities and a whole lot of new features we should get acquainted with.

BUT FIRST...we have to get our existing Verity collections ported over. How do we do that? What's different? What do we need to know? Relax...it's actually quite easy!

I'll show you what's the same, what's different, what you may want to tweak "out of the box" and where to look to make your collections more efficient and useful. You'll want to know this - Solr is awesomely powerful and it'll make you look like a genius. And who doesn't like that?

We normally try to meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month, but in May this overlaps with the cf.Objective() conference, so we're pushing our meeting back one week:

Anteo Group, a consulting agency based in Atlanta, is currently looking for three ColdFusion developers for immediate contract positions with a Fortune 500 client. These opportunities are on-site in the Philadelphia area and remote work is not an option at this time.

These individuals will work with product development groups to develop web applications utilizing ColdFusion, Fusebox methodology in all development activities and maintenance of existing products. Implement projects using Test Driven Design, state-of-the-art JAVA/J2EE and ColdFusion Technologies. Design User Interface using CFML and JavaScript; alter existing database schema; develop effective application/system-based queries in order to avoid performance issues; develop reports; integrate third-party vendors for background checks, assessments/testing and various integration projects (as requested); and design, develop, maintain core job posting/job board models.

Desired skills:

• Experience with one or more AJAX frameworks (dojo, jquery, etc.)
• Expertise in ColdFusion 8
• Experience using Fusebox 4+ with CFCs
• Expertise in web services
• Expertise Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Expertise in Oracle 10G
• Expertise in performance optimization of code and SQL
• Expertise in Web application Security
• Expertise in XML and XSLT Knowledge of Object Oriented programming and design patterns

They also have a referral program, so if you know someone who might be a good fit, pass the info along to them and you might be able to make some money too.

If interested, contact Emily Seder: eseder@anteogroup.com or by phone, at 404-897-5152.

Just a quick reminder that our next meeting will be tomorrow, April 7th, at 6pm. See you there!

For our April meeting, Vicky Ryder will be stopping by to present MediaSlurp, which I like to think of as a case study in writing awesome applications.

MediaSlurp is a popular tool that delivers community-driven content to your desktop. The presentation gives an overview of how it was built by three people, in three weeks, leveraging the Adobe stack and community libraries: AIR, airORM, Flex, BlazeDS, ColdFusion 9 ORM, ColdSpring and Swiz. This presentation will give an overview of how the application works and an open Q & A about the tools, process and the MediaSlurp application.

Another job opening in Philly, this one is on Spring Garden:

Experienced ColdFusion Developer, Adobe Certification preferred, with strong understanding and demonstrated use of HTML standards, CSS, JavaScript and data modeling. Extensive experience with SQL Server required. Firm grasp of Object Oriented application development with ColdFusion. Experience with ColdFusion development frameworks such as FuseBox, Mach-II or Model-Glue highly desirable. Experience with Rich Internet Application development with JQuery, ExtJS and/or Adobe Flex a plus.

Send your resume by email to HR@napco.com, by fax to (215) 238-6690, or by mail to:

Human Resources
North American Publishing Company
1500 Spring Garden Street
12th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19130