Fusebox 3.0 The Framework, The Methodology, The Community Nat Papovich, Fusium

Fusebox 3.0The Framework, The

Methodology, The CommunityNat Papovich, Fusium

Complexity

Amoebas at the startWere not complex;

They tore themselves apartAnd started sex.

- Arthur Guiterman

Agenda

• Basics• Benefits• Technical• Methodology• Community

We have a lot to cover!

Fusebox Basics:Free

• Fusebox will never be a for-purchase system.

• Just like the rest of ColdFusion, extras cost.

1. Custom Tags2. Example Applications3. Online Training4. Extensive Articles

Fusebox Basics:File Organization

• Fuses– Fusebox for files or templates – not Custom

Tags– Naming conventions (covered in Technical)– Each fuse performs a discrete task *– Small file size makes debugging easier

• Circuits– Mini-applications *– Directory-based– Aggregate similar functionality– Variables available across multiple files

Fusebox Basics:File Organization

Fusebox Basics:Fuseactions

• Control the flow of the application• Traditional model of a controller

file– MVC: Model-View-Controller in J2EE– main.c ?– A default fuseaction is set

Fusebox Basics:Fuseactions

<cfswitch expression = “#fusebox.fuseaction#”>

<cfcase value=“doSomething”><cfinclude template=“act_aFuse.cfm”>

</cfcase>….<cfcase value=“doSomethingElse”>

<cfinclude template=“dsp_anotherFuse.cfm”></cfcase>

</cfswitch>

dsp_anotherFuse.cfm

act_aFuse.cfmThe

fuseaction

The fuses

dsp_yetAnotherFuse.cfm

Fusebox Basics:Architectural Decisions

• With experience, you will be able to:– Lay out circuits– Nest circuits– Choose persistent variables– Create application settings

Fusebox Basics:Sites Using Fusebox

• AutoByTel.com– SuperBowl ad: massive (1900%?) growth

• RoomsToGo.com– Largest furniture retailer online– Cluster of 10+ servers

• eBags.com– First Fusebox implementation: 1997– Largest bag retailer online

Fusebox Basics:When To Use

• E-commerce sites– Easy to implement circuits

• Intranets– Plug-n-play new applications

• Web Applications– Massive size demands strict

architecture

Fusebox Basics:Terminology

• Circuits• Fuseactions• Fuses• SES

– Search Engine Safe URLshttp://www.mysite.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/user.login/

id/14.htm

Moving On… Fusebox Benefits

Fusebox Benefits:Speed Of Development

• Lower costs• First to market is the survivor

Russ Johnson and one co-worker built www.csx.com full content management system in 2 weeks from scratch, having never written a Fusebox application before.

Fusebox Benefits:Ease Of Maintainability

• Fusedocs– Documentation for initial creation

AND maintenance

• Simplified, obvious application flow– Fuseactions

• Component independence– Fuses– Circuits

Fusebox Benefits:Community-Owned

• Bug-free– Closer to Linux than Microsoft

• Not bound to a company

Fusebox Benefits:Reusability

• Reuse generic components across multiple applications

• Reuse fuses and fuseactions across the same application

Fusebox Benefits:Extensible

• Does not preclude Custom Tag use• Non-encrypted framework

– But!! Changes to core introduce compatibility issues

Fusebox Benefits:Established Framework

• Focus on the business requirements

• Focus on how to make the customer happy

• Do not focus on how to keep it all together

• Do not focus on technical issues

Fusebox Benefits:Fast Learning Curve

• Intermediate developers can pick up Fusebox in a day

• By learning Fusebox alongside ColdFusion, beginning developers can learn right from the start

Fusebox Benefits:The Anti-Benefits

• Debugging myth– Tracking down

variables– Separation of display

from action– Fewer lines per

template

• Overhead– Milliseconds penalty for

great gain– Scales to millions of

hits per day– Poorly architected code

does not scale

• No application.cfm use– <cfmodule> does

not call application.cfm again

• Commitment– All applications

grow– Plan ahead now– Five files in a .zip

Moving On… Technical Fusebox

Don’t forget that it’s free!

Technical Fusebox:Airlines: The Old Way

Point-to-point routing

San DiegoOrland

o

Technical Fusebox:Airlines: The New Way

In ~1960, United opened the first hub, in Chicago.

Orlando

New York

Minneapolis

Seattle

San Diego

Technical Fusebox:The Core File (fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

• Specific to each version of ColdFusion– ColdFusion 3.x not supported– UNIX, Linux versions available– Different versions mean faster execution

• Available for other languages– PHP, JSP

• Very Fast– <cfscript>ing

Technical Fusebox:The Core File (fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

• No Custom Tags– Fast– V2: formURL2attributes.cfm now in-line

• Copies all form and URL scoped variables to attributes scope

• Stable and frozen– Upgrades by the Standards Committee

• Developer doesn’t need to understand– But it is well-commented and easy to

follow

• Latest core file always available from Fusebox.org– Web service underway to check for

updates to core and download latest

Technical Fusebox:The Core File (fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

• API (“fusebox” structure)– fusebox.isCustomTag: is this request

coming from cfmodule?– fusebox. isTargetCircuit: is this the target

circuit for the request or is it just a nested circuit?

– fusebox. suppressLayout: should this request not contain the “wrapper”?

– fusebox. suppressErrors: yes during development, no during production

– …many more

Technical Fusebox:The Core File (fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

Technical Fusebox:The Core File (fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

• A glimpse at the core

But not an actual stare

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• Default web server document– Usually index.cfm– Handles any pre-processing– Includes the core file -

fbx_fusebox_CF50.cfm

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• fbx_circuits.cfm– Similar to J2EE’s JNDI concept– Provides mapping to directories via

circuit alias

“This circuit lives down this directory chain.”

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• Root-level fbx_settings.cfm– Serves similar purpose as

application.cfm– V2: app_globals.cfm deprecated by

this file

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• Children fbx_settings.cfm– If acting as a standalone circuit, this

file must include the functionality of the root fbx_settings.

– All fbx_settings.cfm files in the directory chain down to the target circuit get included in the call.

– Circuits tend not to nest more than ~4 deep

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• fbx_switch.cfm– Only the target circuit fbx_switch is run (not

like in V2)– Classic switch/case statement, switch on

#fuseaction#– Aim for less than 15 fuseactions per

fbx_switch.cfm– Try to have only simple CFML in the cases:

<cfinclude> <cfset> <cfif> <cflocation>

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• fbx_layouts.cfm– Does not do the actual displaying –

only chooses which display file to use– Allow Dreamweaver or other HTML

smarties to do their job outside the Fusebox framework

– Nesting layouts allows multiple fuseactions in different circuits to be displayed on one page

Technical Fusebox:Other core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• fbx_savecontent.cfm– Custom Tag version of

<cfsavecontent> for pre-CF5.0– V2: called cf_bodycontent by Steve

Nelson

Technical Fusebox:Fuse Prefixes

• dsp_– Display template– Display only

• Forms• Content

– As little CFML as possible– Often has an accompanying act_ file– dsp_login.cfm, dsp_NewsHeadlines.cfm,

dsp_SearchResults.cfm

Technical Fusebox:Fuse Prefixes

• act_– Action template– No display– Contains anything not database or display

• Form error checking and processing, back-end services, scheduled tasks, cfmail, verity, etc

– V2: inserts, updates, deletes– act_ValidateOnDomain.cfm,

act_PullNewsFromMoreover.cfm, act_VeritySearch.cfm

Technical Fusebox:Fuse Prefixes

• qry_– Query template– No display– All database interaction

• Update, insert, delete, select, etc• <cfquery> <cfstoredproc>

– V2: only for selects– Aim for reusability– qry_ValidateUser.cfm,

qry_CreateNewsItem.cfm, qry_GetUserPreferences.cfm

Technical Fusebox:Fuse Prefixes

• url_– Optional file to contain <cflocation> logic– Makes for cleaner fbx_switch.cfm– If not used, <cflocation>s occur in the

qry_ or act_ files– No display– url_Login.cfm, url_DeletedNewsItem.cfm,

url_VerityIndexed.cfm

Technical Fusebox:Fuse Prefixes

• app_– Application template– No display– V2: Deprecated in favor of fbx_settings.cfm

and act_files.– app_server.cfm

• Server-specific like machine name, etc

– app_secure.cfm– V2: Formerly app_locals.cfm and

app_globals.cfm

Technical Fusebox:Exit Fuseactions (XFAs)

• No hard-coded exit points– Maximum reuse of code

• In structure “xfa.”• Set XFAs to match exit points in fuses

like links, form actions, <cflocation>s• Extracts fuses from the application

– Fuses act as “black box” unaware of the big picture

– Always in the form “circuit.fuseaction”

Technical Fusebox:Fusedocs

• Defines all ins and outs for a fuse• Paradigm shift for some

– Write code from the documentation– Do not write the documentation from

the code– Just like blueprints for a house

• Accompanies every fuse– In comments <!--- ---> at the top

Technical Fusebox:Fusedocs, cont.

• Programming Definition Language (PDL)• XML based

– DTD available from fusebox.org– Don’t be scared of XML

• VTML tag helpers available– With CF Studio integrated help

• Due to XML structure, allows tools to read Fusedocs and validate code or even write code for you

Technical Fusebox:Test Harnesses

• Automatically created from completed Fusedocs using XML parsing and Fusedoc reading tools

• Unit test each fuse• Similar to Extreme Programming?• One harness for each fuse to allow

simple testing

Moving On… Fusebox Methodology: FLiP

FLiP:Building A House

• If the architect quits• If the contractor screws up• If all the carpenters get fired• If you need an addition

• Home building has a long history• Application development does not

FLiP:Initial Requirements Gathering

• No system for this – do as normal• Sales meeting to get rough ideas

down

FLiP:Wireframing

• First serious requirements gathering• A client knows what they want after they

see it• Show them a web site without spending

any time creating it• Extremely fast• Gets client buy-in early• Resist the urge to code• Fusium’s Rebar

FLiP:Prototyping

• HTML mockups• 100% identical to the finished

application• Resist the urge to code

FLiP:DevNotes

• Need to enable customer communication of the design

• Facilitates a client approval process

• Threaded discussion about each page– “Can I get this in

cornflower blue?”

FLiP:Prototype Lockdown

• Site is complete in HTML– Example credit card processing:

1. Approval2. Failure message 13. Failure message 24. Bad credit card number

FLiP:Architecting

• Using mind mapping software:– Identify each circuit– Identify each fuseaction– Identify each fuse– Determine exit points– Generate skeleton code

• Fuseminder.cfm

FLiP:Fusedoc’ing

• Copy prototype html page into display fuses• Write black-box fusedocs• Create test harness for each fuse to validate

– Act as a test routine– Use harness.cfm– QuerySims

• Coder should not need to know anything else about the application

FLiP:Coding

• Distribution of effort– Solve the Mythical Man Month?

• SecretAgents.com

• Coding is now a trivial matter• Distribution of database required

for qry_ fuses

FLiP:Assembly

• Architect gathers completed fuses• Ensure fuse meets requirements of

Fusedoc• Drop into correct directories• Verify exit points• No need to open up completed

fuses

FLiP:Testing

• No Fusebox-specific system for this• Use wireframe and prototype as

guide

Moving On…Fusebox Community

Fusebox Community:Best Practices

• Security model– V2: app_secure.cfm– Hal Helms: cf_secure

• QuerySims• cf_reuseForm

– Use one .cfm file for insert and edit form

• cf_returnFuseaction

Fusebox Community:Community Support

• Since the beginning, Fusebox is open to change and improvements

• Developer-created Custom Tags• Contributed example applications• Synthis.com - Adalon code

generation

Fusebox Community:Email Lists

• fusebox@topica.com– Beginners welcome– Heavily patrolled by active members

• FLiP@topica.com– FLiP methodology only

• steer-fb@topica.com – For Fusebox future

Fusebox Community:Fusebox.org

• Whitepapers• Latest core files• Example applications

Fusebox Community:Other Sites

• www.halhelms.com– QuerySim, tutorials, etc

• www.fusium.com– Rebar wireframe editor, FEX core files,

developer tools, example applications

• www.secretagents.com– Online tutorials, fusecoders

• www.bombusbee.com– PHP Fusebox

Fusebox Community:Books And Articles

• Papovich and Peters, 2002• Fusebox Pulse newsletter

(fusium.com)• Hal Helms writes monthly articles

in CFDJ

Fusebox Community:Fusebox Conference

• In conjunction with Macromedia DevCon, October in Orlando

• ~20 speakers• Jeremy Allaire keynoted last year