A CFML framework for the rest of us - Reclaimed

After taking a look at FW/1 I posed a blog tittled 'A CFML framework for the rest of us'. Shortly afterwards, I got a comment (slightly tongue in cheek) from Chris Peters say that was ColdFusion on Wheels catch phrase / slogan.

I have not looked a cfwheels for a long time; about when the ownership changed hands and I think it may have had some issues with Railo (v2). So I downloaded and installed on Railo 3.1 and got the welcome page up :-) That motivated me to look at the excellent cfwheels documentation and do through the examples. The tutorials are very basic, but give you a good understanding of the philosophy behind cfwheels (which is based on Ruby on Rails).

I also took the opputunity to take a look at Russ Johnson's CMS built on cfwheels call Splash CMS. So far all I can say, besided saying it looks great, is that it does run on Railo 3.1; which will be no surprise to those that know Russ. I am hoping this will be a good project for me to dig into and see how to build applications with cfwheels and will blog about it shortly.

Posted by AJ Mercer at 9:00 am - Categories: CFML | ColdFusion | Railo

Time to get serious with frameworks

I have been taking a look at Framework One and it has motivated me again to learn OO development for ColdFusion. A part of this learning is to investigate Transfer ORM as well.

But like all good projects, it starts off with a bit of procrastination. So I have updated Railo to 3.1.0.26 and MangoBlog to 3.1. Now that is out of the way, time to get stuck in.

Hmmm, maybe some lunch first ...

13:37 Transfer tBlog seems to be running fine

Posted by AJ Mercer at 1:14 pm - Categories: CFML | Railo

A CFML framework for the rest of us

I have been looking at a number of frameworks for awhile but have found them to be either:

• too complex / hard to get my head around
• seem like overkill for the applications I build
• have too much plumbing for my liking

and on some occasions all of the above.

Sean Corfield (Mr Frameworks) is currently working on something that I think is going to suit me nicely - FW/1. Introducing Framework One will tell you all about it.

It is a conventions based framework, like cfWheels, that does not need a lot of configuration to get started. Something that I really like is you can start your site off with just views (and layouts), and then add controllers and services in later. This means you can have a site up and running very quickly; no messing around with plumbing / listeners / general OO headaches.

Conventions and auto-wiring feels a little like black magic at first, but once you understand the rules (FW/1 documentation is really good and there are plenty of example apps), it is a joy to work with.

And for a single file framework (one CFC of about 400 lines), it is no light-weight in terms of functionality; full MVC and hooks to popular bean factories like ColdSpring. It currently runs on ColdFusion, Railo and soon Open BlueDragon.

Posted by AJ Mercer at 5:16 pm - Categories: CFML | ColdFusion | Railo

Setting up Google Mail in Railo

Another one for my notes that may help others. Here are the settings to uses Google mail Server for send emails from Railo.

SMTP: smtp.gmail.com
Username: email@gmail.com
Password: *********
Port: 587
TLS: checked
SSL: not checked

Posted by AJ Mercer at 7:45 pm - Categories: Railo

Railo Express with Virtual Hosts

I wanted to play around with Railo's Extentions without too much messing around. So I thought I would use Railo Express, but I wanted a web site per application, so they could run from the web root. After a bit of Googling (with google cache to the rescure for www.railo-technologies.com/en/index.cfm?treeID=211) I found out how to get this working. This blog is mostly for my personal records, but if it helps others that is great too.

In /contexts directory you will see railo.xml. Make a copy of this file, eg railo-mangoblog.xml, and then edit it.
Find the following
    <Set name="resourceBase">
        <SystemProperty name="jetty.home" default="."/>/webroot/
    </Set>
and change webroot to a new name, eg webroot-mangoblog

In the same file, uncomment the virtual hosts section and add you domain. eg
  <Set name="virtualHosts">
    <Array type="String">
      <Item>mangoblog.railo.org</Item>
    </Array>
  </Set>

Save this file.

Next create the directory you just defined in the same directory as webroot.

(Re)Start Railo using the BAT file(s). You should see a WEB-INF directory being created for you. You can now administor you site for that domain, eg http://mangoblog.railo.org/railo-context/admin/index.cfm

Posted by AJ Mercer at 7:19 pm - Categories: Railo

Railo 3.1 Open Source is here

The beta of Railo 3.1, the Open Source version, was released to day. I will update this blog entry once I have had a little play with this much anticipated release. One of the first things I will be checking out is the Extention Manager - download and install application from the Railo Administrator. Gert has been letting a few sneak peeks slip out that makes me think I will not be getting much sleep tonight (2am release in Perth).

Along with the engine, new web sites too.

• Railo Services and Support
• Railo Community

If you want to know more about Railo, and will be in Sydney in May (21-22), make sure you see Gert Franz at webDU 2009.

I am offcially a Railo Fan - it says so right on their site ;-)

Posted by AJ Mercer at 2:00 am - Categories: CFML | ColdFusion | Railo

webDU 2009

I am all booked in for another trip to Sydney, this time the familiy is coming as well. Fly in Wednesday lunch, check in, then on the ferry to Manly. If there is time will try and swing by Bondi too. We are planning on going to the Aqaurium one night.

Then two days for ColdFusion and web goodness for me while the family hits the Sydney town. Looking foward to catching up with CF buddies and finally get to meet Gert Franz.

After that it is off to the Blue Mountains for the weekend. Then one more look around Sydney before flying home Monday afternoon.

Posted by AJ Mercer at 2:37 pm - Categories: CFML | ColdFusion | Family Life | Railo