ColdBox? Mach-II? Model-Glue?

ColdBox? Mach-II?Model-Glue?Sean CorfieldRailo Technologies, Inc.1

Structure offrameworks4

Traditional Applications• Display code• Link to page / form submit to page• Validation / data processing in page or adhoc includes / CFCs• Logic to select next page5

Traditional Applications• • ... process data ...• ... redirect or continue to show errors ...• • • ...• 6

Model-View-Controller• View = display code• Controller = logic to select next page, formvalidation, interaction with Model• Model = all the business logic - validation,data processing etc7

Model-View-Controller• All requests go through the Controller• It writes to the Model and reads data backfrom the Model• It selects the View to render• Views may read from the Model (or dataprovided by the Controller)8

Types of framework• MVC - application frameworks• cfWheels, ColdBox, Fusebox, Mach-II,Model-Glue, onTap etc• ORM - persistence frameworks• DataFaucet, Hibernate (Java), Reactor,Transfer etc9

Types of framework• IoC / DI - management of services (CFCs)• ColdSpring, Lightwire, Spring (Java)• Miscellaneous• Validation frameworks• Event handling frameworks• etc10

What do they all havein common?11

Commonalities• What do ColdBox, Mach-II and Model-Gluehave in common?• More than you might think!12

Commonalities• index.cfm - entry point for Controller (theframework plus your CFCs together)• event-based - focused on "handlers"• event "object"• Contains URL and form data• Provides a data bus for Controller / View13

Commonalities• URL and form scope are blended together• Views are "regular" CFML pages• Controllers are CFCs• Model is a collection of CFCs too14

Configuration vsConvention• Event handlers are specified in XML files• Mach-II, Model-Glue - like Fusebox XML• Event handlers are located by convention• ColdBox - like Fusebox no-XML15

How are they different?16

ColdBox17

ColdBox• Event names look like entity.action• Map to handler entity.cfc, method action(event) - like Fusebox no-XML• Default view would be entity/action.cfm• Handler can set a different view• e.g., user.list -> user.cfc:list() -> user/list.cfm18

ColdBox• Core configuration is via XML file• Just basic properties - no "logic"• Layouts• Default layout for whole app• Default layout for specific views/folders• Can override programmatically19

ColdBox• Interceptors - called automatically duringthe application / request lifecycle• SES URLs, security, tracing, cache advice...• e.g., environment interceptor canoverride configuration for dev, QA, prod20

ColdBox• Plugins - add custom functionality• Create plugins/Stuff.cfc• In view or handler, getMyPlugin("Stuff")• Automatically cached• Lots built-in: i18n, logger, RSS, webservices, timer etc21

ColdBox• Incredible documentation!• It's a very rich framework with a lot offunctionality but it's also very easy to getstarted• I find it a bit verbose and I think somesimple things are harder - sometimes muchharder - than they need to be...22

Mach-II23

Mach-II• Event handlers in XML• Call methods on listener CFCs• Specify views to render• Can publish message for subscribedlisteners• Can map event names• Both decouple listeners from XML24

Mach-II• XML also defines• Modules - to decompose large apps• Subroutines - reusable handler "logic"• Properties - simple and complex• e.g., ColdspringProperty CFC• Can be like plugins in ColdBox25

Mach-II• Plugins - a bit like interceptors in ColdBox• Automatically called during each request• Filters - conditional logic for event handlers• Can change flow of events• Built-in caching, logging (as of 1.6)26

Mach-II• Environment support (as of 1.8)• Conditional configuration based on dev,QA, prod server groups• HTML helper (as of 1.8)• Reduces clutter in views by encapsulatingboilerplate code and common operations27

Mach-II• Reasonable documentation• Strong, consistent architecture• Very "OO" which can be a barrier for some28

Model-Glue29

Model-Glue• Event handlers in XML• Publish messages for subscribed listeners• Specify conditional result / event mapping• Specify views to render30

Model-Glue• Controller CFCs (methods are listeners)• Conditional logic sets "results" to controlthe flow of events (like filters in Mach-II)• A few automatic events during eachrequest (like plugins in Mach-II orinterceptors in ColdBox)31

Model-Glue• Scaffolding (MG2) / code generation (MG3)• Builds XML, controllers and views for youto speed up development• Event types (new in MG3)• Reduces boilerplate layout / resultmapping in event handler XML32

Model-Glue• Integrated ColdSpring• Autowiring of model into controllers• Model-Glue itself is wired together withColdSpring!33

Model-Glue• View formats (new in MG3)• Select different views in single eventhandler to render HTML or XML or ...34

Model-Glue• Very simple, clean architecture• Aimed at CFers (even tho' it is OO)• Documentation is steadily improving andthere is now self-paced online training35

Show & Tell!36

Let's see some code!• I'm going to install each framework andthen we can have a look at a small sampleapplication with each one37

Wrap up...• At a high level, ColdBox, Mach-II andModel-Glue perform similar functions• ColdBox has convention-based approach• Model-Glue is lightweight and simple• Mach-II is very OO and built for extension38

Q&A• sean@corfield.org• sean@getrailo.com• http://corfield.org/• http://getrailo.com/39