ColdFusion and Fusebox

ColdFusion MX is a web application server sold by Macromedia. It is, in my opinion, the most powerful and rapid web development tool available.

Fusebox is a framework for building web applications. It allows complex applications to be broken down into small, modular components. This makes development and testing easier, and greatly enhances code reusability. To help out, I put together a Fusebox Frequently Asked Questions list at Fusebox.org.

Fusebox 4.1 Bookstore Sample Application - 12/01/2004 - 08:48 PM

I've ported my bookstore application to Fusebox 4.1. Click to download the code and read a description of the application.

Additional Articles at Builder.com - 06/23/2004 - 08:44 AM

I have a few additional articles up at Builder.com. They are undergoing an internal reorganization, which unfortunately means that ColdFusion articles will be less frequent for the near future.

Mach-II Bookstore 1.5 - 07/27/2004 - 03:47 PM

A few people have emailed me to alert me that my bookstore application was breaking. I tracked down the problem to the call to Amazon's web services. I think my developer license might have expired, but until I have time to debug it, I just removed calls to that listener in the XML file. You can get version 1.5 of the bookstore example application here.

New CNET Builder.com Articles - 07/10/2003 - 11:31 PM

In case you haven't seen them, I've had some more ColdFusion articles up at Builder.com recently. Take a look if you're interested.

More CNET Builder.com Articles - 09/22/2003 - 08:59 PM

A few new articles have gone up if anyone is interested:

My First Book! - 09/22/2003 - 09:07 PM

I recently contributed several chapters to a book. Discovering Fusebox 4 just went to press and it covers all the details on the updated Fusebox framework. If anyone is interested please take a look and/or order a copy. Also, look for an article on Fusebox 4 at CNET Builder.com shortly.

You can view my sample code for an MVC Blog and a Fusebox 4 Bookstore at Techspedition. There, you'll also find all the other code from Discovering Fusebox 4 as well as the other books they've published.

Mach-II - 09/22/2003 - 09:10 PM

Even though I'm currently involved with Fusebox 4 quite deeply, I like to try and keep up with other ideas. The Mach-II framework was recently released and I find it very interesting. I'll probably put up a sample Mach-II version of my "poster child" bookstore application in the next week or two.

Mach-II Bookstore Test Application v1.3 - 10/15/2003 - 04:04 PM

I've decided to try my hand at using the Mach-II framework. I converted my "bookstore" sample application over to Mach-II.

Version 1.3 has the following changes:

1. Adopted Sean Corfield's approach for the model by creating Manager, Gateway and DAO CFCs to handle manipulation of Products and their data.

2. Adopted the "Session Façade" pattern to persist the shopping cart.

3. Added querysim() UDF to the CFCs that run queries to alleviate the need to have installed.

4. Removed individual announcements for "buildPage" event at the end of the appropriate request handlers and instead use a postProcess plugin to execute the buildPage event which assembles the final HTML layout.

5. Added more hints to CFC methods for a bit more descriptive introspection.

6. Added a simple caching mechanism to cut down on Amazon.com web service calls in the Amazon CFC. This probably shouldn't be handled in a listener but for the purposes of this app I'm doing it there anyway. machii_config_mode must be 0 or -1 for the cache to operate, because if mode is 1 the cache is reset when the listeners are recreated.

You can download the updated 1.3 code here.

Thanks for your interest!

Mach-II and Fusebox Articles - 12/17/2003 - 11:26 AM

I have a few new articles up on Builder.com:

Unit Testing Article - 01/20/2004 - 06:13 PM

My latest article is up at Builder.com. This one is on unit testing your ColdFusion code. If you're interested, check it out:

Unit Testing Your ColdFusion Code

Example Application w/ FuseQ, MVC, CFCs and CCVs - 07/27/2002 - 11:30 PM

I've created a Viewlet that covers an introduction to a test application I recently put together.

This is the first in a series of viewlets on this example application. It uses FuseQ, the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, ColdFusion Components (CFCs), and the new Content Component Variables available with the latest version of the FuseQ core file.

FuseQ/MVC MindMap - 08/15/2002 - 08:13 PM

I've uploaded the MindManager Mind Map for the example FuseQ/MVC/CFC app. You can view it even without MindManager by using the free MindManager Viewer.

Brewing Updates to the FuseQ Example - 01/23/2003 - 10:53 PM

I'm messing with a few fixes to the example FuseQ app I posted awhile back. The old version doesn't properly use content component variables or layout fuses. In addition to fixing these mistakes, I've been playing with granular error handling with FuseQ. It's quite powerful and flexible, something worth toying with! So stay tuned...

New and Improved FuseQ/CFC/MVC Example Application - 01/29/2003 - 11:16 PM

Version 1.1 of my test/example thingee is available. Take a look at the source code and an explanation of the changes.

Fusebox 4 - 07/10/2003 - 11:22 PM

It's been awhile since I added to the site, but that's about to change. I've been helping with the beta of Fusebox 4 and an accompanying book, "Discovering Fusebox 4". Stay tuned, this new version has some very cool stuff. More info is available at beta.fusebox.org. I'll be posting more about this shortly.

FuseQ Content Component Variables - 07/26/2002 - 02:50 PM

The latest version of FuseQ has a new feature called Content Component Variables (CCVs). This lets you grab the output of certain fuseactions and drop them into your layout later...a pretty cool trick!

I was testing out how these work and I thought other folks might find my tinkering useful. If you are interested, take a look at my CCV Test application.

More on My FuseQ Example Application - 08/01/2002 - 09:59 PM

I've created a second Viewlet on my FuseQ example app that builds on the first one. This time, I break down a request and try to show what's going on under the hood.

FuseQ Example App Source Code - 08/01/2002 - 10:02 PM

I've zipped up the code for my example FuseQ and MVC application. This example requires ColdFusion MX because of the use of CFC's. A readme file is included for a bit more information. Hopefully some folks will find this helpful.

My Recent Fusebox 3 Articles at CNET Builder.com - 08/15/2002 - 08:18 PM

I recently wrote some more articles for CNET on Fusebox 3 and ColdFusion MX. If you are interested, check them out:

Your H.P. Lovecraft Quote of the Moment:

It would be useless to describe the playing of Erich Zann on that dreadful night. It was more horrible than anything I had ever overheard, because I could now see the expression of his face, and could realize that this time the motive was stark fear. He was trying to make a noise; to ward something off or drown something out - what, I could not imagine, awesome though I felt it must be. The playing grew fantastic, delerious, and hysterical, yet kept to the last the qualities of supreme genius which I knew this strange old man possessed.

"The Music of Erich Zann"

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