ColdBox Platform

ColdBox Platform

Original author(s)	Ortus Solutions, Corp
Initial release	June 15, 2006 (2006-06-15)
Stable release	7.3.0 / 2024-05-14[±]
Repository	ColdBox Repository
Written in	CFML, Java
Type	Web application framework
License	Apache License v2
Website	ColdBox.org

ColdBox is a free, open-source, conventions-based, modular web application framework intended for building enterprise applications with ColdFusion (CFML) using a Hierarchical MVC approach.

It is a set of tools and methodologies that can allow a developer to build their web applications in a modern and secure way.  It also provides them with a scaffold on which to base their applications. As a result, they don’t have to reinvent the wheel on most concerns they have to consider when building web applications. The framework gives developers the proper tooling to do their job quickly, securely, modularly, and flexibly.

The source code of ColdBox and its companion libraries are hosted on GitHub and licensed under the terms of the Apache License v2.

History

ColdBox was developed and created by Luis F. Majano in 2006, and it has become the most widely used and maintained MVC framework. Given its speed and scalability, ColdBox evolved into a performant and simple framework that empowered developers. It became a professional open source project in 2008 when professional services were offered by the parent company Ortus Solutions, Corp. Later, in 2011, the Hierarchical Model View Controller was set as its core foundation design pattern. In the last few years, it introduced tight integration to Java's `CompletableFuture` API to support Futures and Promises and asynchronous/parallel programming.

The latest release is version 7.3.0 (May 14, 224).

Release History

The framework authors publish their release history and long term support capabilities here: (https://coldbox.ortusbooks.com/readme/release-history)

ColdBox started offering Long Term Support (LTS) in 2020 with version 6.x. For all ColdBox releases, updates are provided for 12 months and security fixes are provided for 2 years after the next major release.

Version	Release Date	Updates	Security Fixes	CFML/BoxLang Engines
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.x	2006	NA	NA	NA
Old version, no longer maintained: 2.x	2008	NA	NA	NA
Old version, no longer maintained: 3.x	2010	NA	NA	NA
Old version, no longer maintained: 4.x	2015	NA	NA	NA
Old version, no longer maintained: 5.x	2018	NA	NA	NA
Old version, yet still maintained: 6.x LTS	2020	2023	2025	ACF 2016+, Lucee 5+, BoxLang 1+
Current stable version: 7.x	2023	2024	2026	ACF 2018+, Lucee 5+, BoxLang 1+
Future release: 8.x	2024	2025	2027	ACF 2021+, Lucee 5+, BoxLang 1+

Legend:	Old version, not maintained	Old version, still maintained	Current stable version	Latest preview version	Future release

Supported Engines

• ACF = Adobe ColdFusion
• BoxLang (https://www.boxlang.io)
• Lucee (https://lucee.org)

Capabilities

• A HMVC web framework for the ColdFusion platform.
• Modular development platform to provide HMVC architectural patterns
• Conventions over configurations (No XML)
• Integrates with Hibernate ColdFusion ORM
• Offers a consistent framework aiming to reduce confusion and be easy to learn
• Persistence abstraction layers (caching)
• Built-in logging library
• Built-in dependency injection and AOP capabilities
• Internal Domain Specific Languages to define caching, DI/AOP, logging, and mocking
• Ability to do unit and integration testing
• Ajax support which is easy to extend and customize
• RESTful and SOAP web service support
• Adobe Flex/Air integration and monitoring
• Provides multi-development environment capabilities
• Prolific Documentation
• Integrates natively with Java's CompletableFuture API to support futures and promises.

Platforms

ColdBox is supported on Lucee (A popular open-source CFML engine) and Adobe's ColdFusion application servers. It has supported IDE plugins for Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Eclipse IDE, and Adobe ColdFusion Builder.

ColdBox Universe

The ColdBox Platform comprises several internal standalone libraries that can be used with any CFML Framework or none at all. Its library includes:

• LogBox - Logging Library
• WireBox - Dependency Injection and AOP library
• CacheBox - Caching Engine and Aggregator
• TestBox - Testing framework for ColdFusion

Usage

Below is a list of some notable users of the Coldbox Platform.

• Adobe
• Esri
• FAA
• GE
• Kennedy Space Center
• NASA JPL
• Railo
• Lucee
• L'Oréal
• US Airforce
• US Navy
• Success Academy Charter Schools
• American Youth Soccer Organization
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Installation

Getting started is easy with ColdBox, WireBox, CacheBox, or LogBox in any ColdFusion (CFML) application since just CommandBox, the CLI, and the package manager should be leveraged. These commands run from the CommandBox interactive shell.

Controllers

ColdBox is a conventions-based framework programmed in CFML, differing from other CFML MVC frameworks that use XML declarative logic for their controllers.

Below is an example of a controller:

component{

	// Use Dependency injection for hibernate-based virtual services
	property name="userService" inject="entityservice:User";
	
	/**
	* Return immediate HTML
	*/
	function sayHello(event){
	 	return "hello";
	}

	/**
	* Return immediate JSON from an ORM object's memento
	*/
	function sayHello(event){
	 	return userService.get( rc.id ).getMemento();
	}
	
	/**
	* Return content in multiple formats
	*/
	function list(event){
		prc.data = userService.list();
	 	// render out all users in json format
		event.renderData( data=prc.data, formats="json,xml,pdf,html" );
	}
}

URL mappings

ColdBox supports URL mappings and routing in Rails style but is adapted for ColdFusion. It also supports the creation of RESTful routing:

// Resources 
resource( "photos" );

// Nested Resources
resources(
	resource 	= "agents",
	pattern 	= "/sites/:id/agents"
);

// Redirects
route( "/oldRoute" )
	.toRedirect( "/main/redirectTest" );

// Direct Routing
route( "/render/:format" ).to( "actionRendering.index" );

// With Regex
route( "post/:postID-regex:([a-zA-Z]+?)/:userID-alpha/regex:(xml|json)" )
	.to( "ehGeneral.dumpRC" );

// subdomain routing
route( "/" )
	.withDomain( ":username.forgebox.dev" )
	.to( "subdomain.show" );

// Responses + Conditions
route( "/ff" )
	.withCondition( function(){
		return ( findnocase( "Firefox", cgi.HTTP_USER_AGENT ) ? true : false );
	} )
	.toResponse( "Hello FireFox" );
route( "/luis/:lname" )
	.toResponse( "<h1>Hi Luis {lname}, how are {you}</h1>", 200, "What up dude!" );

// Inline Closure Responses
route( "/luis2/:lname" )
	.toResponse( function( event, rc, prc ){
		return "<h1>Hello from closure land: #arguments.rc.lname#</h1>";
	} );

// Views No Events
route( "contactus" )
	.as( "contactUs")
	.toView( "simpleView" );

// Named routes
route( pattern="/routeRunner/:id/:name", name="routeRunner" )
	.to( "main.returnTest" );

// Grouped Routing
group( { pattern="/runAWNsync", handler="utilities.AWNsync" }, function( options ){
	route( '/:user_id' )
		.withAction( { get = "runAWNsync", options = "returnOptions" } )
		.end();
} );

// RESTFul Actions
route( "/health_check" )
	.withAction( { get = "runCheck", options = "returnOptions" } )
	.to( "utilities.HealthCheck" );

RESTful URLs

ColdBox allows for the easy creation of RESTful URLs via URL mappings and extension detection. Natively ColdBox can detect any extension when supplied to a URI resource:

http://api.coldbox.org/rest/user/luis.json
http://api.coldbox.org/rest/user/luis.xml
http://api.coldbox.org/rest/user/luis.pdf
http://api.coldbox.org/rest/user/luis.yml

It allows for detecting such extensions, security around them, and the ability to customize them.

Ajax support

ColdBox supports all JavaScript frameworks that provide Ajax capabilities. It also offers an auto-marshaling function for natively rendering objects to the following formats: XML, WDDX, JSON, JSONP, TEXT, PDF, and CUSTOM.

SOAP-Adobe Flex/Air support

ColdBox supports creating, monitoring, and developing SOAP web services and Flex/Air remote components. It allows for having one development paradigm for multiple GUI interfaces.

Documentation Links

• ColdBox MVC
• WireBox Dependency Injection
• CacheBox
• LogBox

External links

• Official site
• GitHub code repository
• Online API
• ForgeBox - community based code sharing
• Community Forums

References

3. ColdBox free Master Class (YouTube)