FB3 Lite Updates

After 6 months of use in the wild, I decided to consolidate and republish a couple mods I've made to the framework. The core functionality is unchanged, so for background, check my original post from last year. The enhancements, in no particular order, are as follows:

  • Changed the config at the top of index.cfm to use CFPARAM instead, so the framework can be parameterized by calling code.
  • Most significant is the addition of an 'appSearchPath' control variable, which means index.cfm (the core file) and fbx_Switch.cfm no longer have to be in the same directory. This allows you to put index.cfm in some arbitrary directory (probably with svn:externals) and use it from there. It defaults to ".,.." (this directory and the parent directory), but can be set to whatever is needed.
  • Added the context path and script name to the front of the 'self' variable. I realize this breaks the core on non-JEE CFML implementations, but it fixes some weird redirect issues with IE, so I feel it's worth it. If you don't want it, just remove everything before the question mark.
  • Removed defaulting of the empty fuseaction. Now only a missing fuseaction will be set to the configured default.
  • Added CFABORT to the end of the location() UDF. I went back and forth on this one for quite a while (like measured in days) when I was originally writing the framework, and finally decided to leave it out. After using the framework for a while, I've decided that was the wrong decision, so I've put it in there in this version.
  • Added ability to use multiple circuits via the new 'allowMultipleCircuits' control variable. It defaults to true, which means any slashes in your fuseactions will be treated as path segments, potentially breaking existing apps. If you need to use slashes in your fuseactions, set it to false. When true, a fuseaction of "circuit/fusection" will be converted into an include of "circuit/fbx_Switch.cfm" with attributes.currentFuseaction set to "fuseaction". I've intentionally NOT used the dot separator because they are not circuit aliases as in real Fusebox, but are simply path segments. The include() UDF has always had this ability do to it's strictly path-based nature, though it was undocumented.
  • Added some comments to index.cfm.

There is a project page for the framework, as well as Subversion access available. Current utilization (that I'm aware of) is about 15 distinct applications, most of which I either own or am a contributor to.

One response to “FB3 Lite Updates”

  1. Terry Schmitt

    This is an interesting idea…
    A recent blog post at:
    http://www.coldfusionguy.com/ColdFusion/blog/index.cfm/2008/5/23/Do-I-Suck-Because-I-Dont-Use-Frameworks

    got me to thinking about how complicated (bloated?) that the big-name frameworks have become. I firmly believe in using community supported frameworks and have primarily used Fusebox and am now switching to ColdBox.
    This type of framework could fill a missing niche.