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The ColdFusion Podcast Roundup: Wednesday, May 3, 2006

by Charlie Griefer, Fusion Authority Media Reviewer

The ColdFusion Podcast

Episode 23: Fusebox 4

Episode 23 of The ColdFusion Podcast is all about frameworks, with a spotlight on Fusebox 4.

Before delving into the wonderful world of Fusebox, the episode recaps some of the noteworthy ColdFusion-related news items of the week, such as:

• http://www.cfflex.net is a resource to be aware of if you?re working with Flex and ColdFusion.
• In keeping with the theme of this week's episode, http://www.cfframeworks.com is a new site that aims to help people keep familiar with the various ColdFusion frameworks.

A few weeks back (in Episode 20), Michael and Bryan tackled Model-Glue, which is one of the newer ColdFusion frameworks. This week's episode focuses on the oldest of the ColdFusion frameworks, Fusebox (version 4). Having recently discussed Model-Glue, it seems that a comparison of the two is a logical place to begin.

Where Model-Glue is built to assist with abstraction and to keep code modular, Fusebox is geared towards keeping code more maintainable. This leads into the most obvious difference between the two. Using Model-Glue ties you into an object-oriented model. Fusebox does not. (While you can incorporate OO concepts, you aren't forced to do so.)

As someone who's unfamiliar with Fusebox, I'm not quite sure what was meant by the statement that Fusebox helps keep the code more maintainable. Unfortunately, that's never really discussed in greater detail. In fact, it?s almost contradicted later on in the episode when, during an overview of the Fusebox framework, the fact that multiple config (XML) files can be used is mentioned as both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that it makes it easier to export individual pieces of your application to other applications; the disadvantage is that it makes the application more difficult to maintain.

While touching on some of the pros and cons of Fusebox, the episode very wisely stays away from declaring that Fusebox is better or worse than any of the other frameworks. Bryan and Michael feel that because Fusebox is not specifically an OO framework, those with little or no OO experience may find it an easier entry into the world of frameworks.

You won't come away from Episode 23 knowing Fusebox. That isn't what Bryan and Michael have set out to do. They simply give a high level overview of what Fusebox is (and what it is not). Based on that, your choice of framework is entirely up to you. However, if you're new to the world of frameworks, Fusebox is a very logical place to start. It's mature, it's (relatively) straightforward, and it's well supported. To help you get started, you can find some links to various Fusebox related tools at http://www.coldfusionpodcast.com/ under the Episode 23 posting.

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ColdFusion Weekly
Version 1.6 Beta: Version Control

Version 1.6 of ColdFusion Weekly opens with Matt and Peter discussing what they've been up to this week.

Matt has seen a U.I. preview of BoardFusion (an open source ColdFusion forum) released for public comments, and MachBlog, a Mach-II based blog is almost ready for an Alpha release. Peter continues to work on LylaCAPTCHA, an open source CAPTCHA application, and is in the process of integrating ColdFusion with CentOS.

Some corrections and clarifications from last week kick off the CFReport before heading into this week's news items, which include:

• Ray Camden's BlogCFC 5 Beta has been released.
• Though a couple of regular CF bloggers are fed up with spam, Matt confirms that he has received ZERO spam since implementing LylaCAPTCHA.
• ObjectBreeze 1.1, an ORM tool, is available as a beta.

The topic of the week, version control, should be of interest to every software developer, especially those who don?t currently use version control.

In discussing why one should use version control, Matt and Peter make a very important point. We generally think of version control as a way to manage teams. It prevents team members from overwriting one another's code. However, Matt and Peter note that version control is just as important when you are the sole developer on a project. If you've made a number of changes in various locations and find that your application no longer works properly, version control makes it easy to roll back to a previously working version. Of course, in a team environment the advantages of using version control grow exponentially.

With a handful of version control applications available, which ones are worthwhile and which ones are not? Matt and Peter review a few of the more popular applications, and suggest avoiding one at all costs.

The application that gets two enthusiastic thumbs up is Subversion.They mention some of the features that set Subversion apart, such as the ability to incorporate metadata, granular permissions on repositories, and the free price tag. There are also a number of resources available (online information, printed materials, plugins) that assist in the transition to and use of Subversion (list at http://coldfusionweekly.com/index.cfm?event=showArchive under Version 1.6).

The discussion of version control segues nicely into the CFQuery, called in by Andrew Duckett. Andrew asks how to switch your development process to use version control.

The CF_Quiz wraps up this week's version (due to scheduling issues, there was no CF_HotSeat) with the following question:

ColdFusion is supposedly case-insensitive. Why should you be careful when naming your files, especially the extends attribute of the cfcomponent tag or the type attribute in the cfargument tag?

If you'd like to submit an answer, go to http://coldfusionweekly.com/index.cfm?event=showCFQuiz.

Version 1.6 of ColdFusion Weekly should be required listening for all developers. Matt and Peter do a fine job of conveying the importance of version control, whether you work as part of a team or alone. Given the time and effort that a version control system can potentially save you, there's no reason to be working without that safety net.

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Charlie Griefer is a Software Engineer at Vurv Technology (formerly Recruitmax) in Jacksonville, FL, where he spends his days (and on occasion, evenings and nights) developing world-class workforce management, staffing and recruiting software solutions.

In his spare time, he enjoys being a father of two and a husband of one.

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