ColdFusion Muse

Muse Vs. .NET Integration - Part 2

When last we left our story the Muse had put in a 6-7 hour marathon coding session through the night to create a CFC proxy work-around for his .NET problem. This temporary solution allowed the customer to continue working the following day so we could go back to scratching our heads over why .NET integration on our 64bit Multi-server was experiencing a failure to communicate. If you want to catch up on the story read my previous Part 1 post.

To recap, no matter what we tried we could not get CF to communicate with .NET on our production server (CF 8 Enterprise 64bit Multi-instance Install). We had tried installing and de-installing the service a few times to no avail. The first task was to get a successful recompile in 64bit that would run in a test environment. Team member (and all around genius developer) Guy Rish took charge of that effort. In fact, he got the assembly to recompile and he was able to instantiate and access its methods from his local CF8 64bit developer install running on Win7. From this we knew it was possible to get this working. We only needed to tease out the environmental differences to figure out what was blocking us. That task fell to me...

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Muse Vs. .NET Integration - Part 1

When Adobe (then Macromedia) came out with Coldfusion 8 one of the oft touted features was the .NET integration service. The idea was to provide the same easy-to-use accessibility that create object used to give to COM (although COM itself was unstable) and still gives to Java and web services. Just like ColdFusion gives you handy access to the universe of Java, the .NET integration service was designed to give you equally handy access to the world of .NET assemblies and managed code.

In practice however, I found that few developers chose to use it as a solution. Why? I think one reason is likely the emergence of Web Services and SOAP as a practical intermediate middle layer between various technologies - and especially between .NET and Java. When the integration service worked it was an effective painless solution. When it did not work however, it proved difficult to troubleshoot and configure. The fact that it was not a commonly adopted solution meant that fewer developers where asking questions about it or choosing it as solution to .NET-to-Java integration problems.

The Muse and his merry men (and women) were no exception in this regard. As an active ColdFusion shop doing over 1000 hours of ColdFusion consulting each month, we have worked with .NET integration only a handful of times in the years since its release. In each of those cases it was very simple implementation. The .NET service was usually chosen because of the use of client certificates or some other special requirement that included a bit of managed code that was not easy to duplicate in CF. In most cases, however, the web service implementation meant more "pure" CF code and better compatibility. For that reason the Muse never really delved into how this service was set up or how to troubleshoot or configure it. Until recently that is....

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Muse Vs. PayPal: PayPal 1 Muse 0

(Best read in that booming movie trailer guy's voice)
One man determined to get answers. One man, alone against the machine. One man, no backup, no hair and no sense of fashion. Mark Kruger stars as Coldfusion Muse on a quest to talk to an actual, living, breathing, person - at PayPal.com. (queue dramatic music and on screen explosion)

It started with a simple question. Can I elevate my business account to a higher level of service in order to get payments transferred to my bank account faster. I found a number on the merchant services page. Sure, it was tiny and not in a place they expect you to find it. But I'm clever and I spotted it. Or at least I thought I was clever.

The phone was answered by a cheery recorded voice - the same lady who does hooked on phonics (ready.... begin!). Let's call her Sally.

• Sally: Welcome to PayPal customer service. I see you are calling from 555-555-5555. Do you want me to use that number to look up your account?
• Muse [in his terrific, booming, sonorous, made for radio voice]: (ahem) Yes.
• Sally: I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Could you repeat that?
• Muse[in his whiny regular voice]: Yes!
• Sally: Ok one Moment... I see you have a personal and a business account. If you want to use the business account say "business". If you want to use the personal account say "personal". (sally is not big on compound sentences).
• Muse: Business...
• Sally:Ok one moment while I transfer you.
• Sally [No sign of recognition that she just spoke to me]: Welcome to PayPal Customer Service. Please enter your 6 digit web pin now. If you need a moment to look for it say "just a moment", otherwise say "I don't have one" or "I'm not a PayPal member".
• Muse: (Thinking) ..web pin...web pin...not my password, my ATM card is 4 digits... I don't have a web pin. (speaking) I don't have one.
• Sally:Ok one moment while I transfer you. (pause) Welcome to customer service.....

Finally, after 4 trips around this block (Jane... get me off this crazy thing!) on an obscure page I found my "web pin". I entered that thinking I was finally home free. Sure enough something different happened this time. I was transferred to an actual ringing phone, where I received this helpful message :

"We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please try your call again later."

So there's another 20 minutes of living the muse will never get back. I'd rather they just reached through the phone and poked me in the eye with an ice pick and got it over with. Now if you will excuse me I have to call my pharmacy to see if my valium prescription is in yet (... if you are a depressed lunatic say "Babababababa..."... I'm sorry ...ha ha... I did not understand you...).