Simple HTML Preview

Question

I am moving to ColdFusion Builder from Dreamweaver and I am having issues with my html preview. I am trying to set up a project and give it the host header/url to use for html preview, but it keeps telling me that I don't have the ColdFusion server defined for my project. I don't really want to go through all that. I just want to tell it what host header to use. Any thoughts? Am I thinking about this wrong?
I have a project, without CFnature, whatever that is, and under properties->HTML Preview I am telling it to use an absolute URL and append the project relative path. When I try to use the browser preview, I get 'No server is configured. . . Configure a server.'
Any insight would be helpful.
PS - I tried searching for an answer for this, but didn't have any luck. If anyone has any tips on that I am open.

Answer 1

Adam notes the ease of setting up the Server configuration for a project. I would like to share some thoughts on why people may not do it, or why they should be prepared for possible problems if they do.  (And why the previous "set url prefix" may be the preferred option for someone like robliesland who wanted that alone.)
It's true that adding a server connection is relatively simple to do (though not always), and it does to make CFB sing and dance, like showing datasources when you do CFQUERY NAME=", or when invoking methods of a CFC, and all the other cool things, but to get that you must configure the server connection which does change CFB to do potentially a LOT more work in the background (and at startup, and when opening projects, etc.) so that it gathers all the that cool info.
Some have complained of CFB being slow, and often it's because of this very connection to a server, at least in some situations (with a remote server, or one whose files are remote to you on your network, or where the CF server has a huge repository of CFCs pointed to by all its mappings, custom tag paths, a large webroot, etc.)
When you connect it to a server, you're asking it to provide all the powerful features that make it more than "just an editor" (or "just a knock off of CFEclipse"). But those extra (and powerful and vital) features do come at a cost, which some pay more than others, and is why some have chosen not to create server connections from their projects.
Of course, others don't do it because they either just don't notice they can, or choose not to when crating a project because they don't understand what it would give them (then they complain that it's nothing more than a CFEclipse knock off, and round and round we go.) It can also be a challenge to setup the server connection in some instances, like if the CF server is remote to you, etc.
I will note that as far as understanding the performance impact I allude to above, it can be REALLY helpful to turn on the Progress View (View>Show Other>Progress). At least you can see what's happening, and you may be very surprised. (It also tracks other background operations, like FTP processing if you do that.)
And you can also configure CFB to NOT do a refresh of the info from the "server" in several situations, such as when CFB either starts, or when you open a project, etc. See Preferences>ColdFusion>Server Settings. Whether that makes sense to change is dependent of course on how often your server config changes (new DSNs, new CFCs, etc.) Since CFB can't know what's best, it defaults to checking quite often.
Hope all that's helpful.
I point out these things and more in a talk I've given a couple of times, "Hidden Gems in CF Builder", available in both PDF and recorded form at http://www.carehart.org/presentations/.
/charlie