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

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Fusebox 3.0The Framework, The Methodology, The
CommunityNat Papovich, Fusium
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Complexity

• Amoebas at the start Were not complex
• They tore themselves apart And started sex.-
  Arthur Guiterman

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Agenda

• Basics
• Benefits
• Technical
• Methodology
• Community
• We have a lot to cover!

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Fusebox BasicsFree

• Fusebox will never be a for-purchase system.
• Just like the rest of ColdFusion, extras cost.
• Custom Tags
• Example Applications
• Online Training
• Extensive Articles

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Fusebox BasicsFile 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

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Fusebox BasicsFile Organization
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Fusebox BasicsFuseactions

• 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

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Fusebox BasicsFuseactions
The fuseaction
ltcfswitch expression fusebox.fuseactiongt
ltcfcase valuedoSomethinggt ltcfinclude
templateact_aFuse.cfmgt lt/cfcasegt . ltcfcase
valuedoSomethingElsegt ltcfinclude
templatedsp_anotherFuse.cfmgt lt/cfcasegt lt/cfsw
itchgt
dsp_yetAnotherFuse.cfm
The fuses
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Fusebox BasicsArchitectural Decisions

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

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Fusebox BasicsSites 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

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Fusebox BasicsWhen To Use

• E-commerce sites
• Easy to implement circuits
• Intranets
• Plug-n-play new applications
• Web Applications
• Massive size demands strict architecture

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Fusebox BasicsTerminology

• Circuits
• Fuseactions
• Fuses
• SES
• Search Engine Safe URLs
• http//www.mysite.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/user.lo
  gin/id/14.htm

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Moving On Fusebox Benefits
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Fusebox BenefitsSpeed 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.
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Fusebox BenefitsEase Of Maintainability

• Fusedocs
• Documentation for initial creation AND
  maintenance
• Simplified, obvious application flow
• Fuseactions
• Component independence
• Fuses
• Circuits

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Fusebox BenefitsCommunity-Owned

• Bug-free
• Closer to Linux than Microsoft
• Not bound to a company

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Fusebox BenefitsReusability

• Reuse generic components across multiple
  applications
• Reuse fuses and fuseactions across the same
  application

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Fusebox BenefitsExtensible

• Does not preclude Custom Tag use
• Non-encrypted framework
• But!! Changes to core introduce compatibility
  issues

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Fusebox BenefitsEstablished 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

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Fusebox BenefitsFast Learning Curve

• Intermediate developers can pick up Fusebox in a
  day
• By learning Fusebox alongside ColdFusion,
  beginning developers can learn right from the
  start

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Fusebox BenefitsThe 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
• ltcfmodulegt does not call application.cfm again
• Commitment
• All applications grow
• Plan ahead now
• Five files in a .zip

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Moving On Technical Fusebox
Dont forget that its free!
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Technical FuseboxAirlines The Old Way
Point-to-point routing
San Diego
Orlando
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Technical FuseboxAirlines The New Way
Minneapolis
New York
Seattle
Chicago
San Diego
Orlando
In 1960, United opened the first hub, in Chicago.
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Technical FuseboxThe 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
• ltcfscriptgting

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Technical FuseboxThe 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

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Technical FuseboxThe Core File
(fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

• Developer doesnt 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

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Technical FuseboxThe 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

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Technical FuseboxThe Core File
(fbx_fusebox_CFxx.cfm)

• A glimpse at the core

• But not an actual stare

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Technical FuseboxOther core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• Default web server document
• Usually index.cfm
• Handles any pre-processing
• Includes the core file - fbx_fusebox_CF50.cfm

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Technical FuseboxOther core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• fbx_circuits.cfm
• Similar to J2EEs JNDI concept
• Provides mapping to directories via circuit alias

This circuit lives down this directory chain.
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Technical FuseboxOther core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• Root-level fbx_settings.cfm
• Serves similar purpose as application.cfm
• V2 app_globals.cfm deprecated by this file

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Technical FuseboxOther 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

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Technical FuseboxOther 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
• ltcfincludegt ltcfsetgt ltcfifgt ltcflocationgt

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Technical FuseboxOther 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

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Technical FuseboxOther core files (fbx_file.cfm)

• fbx_savecontent.cfm
• Custom Tag version of ltcfsavecontentgt for
  pre-CF5.0
• V2 called cf_bodycontent by Steve Nelson

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Technical FuseboxFuse 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

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Technical FuseboxFuse 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

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Technical FuseboxFuse Prefixes

• qry_
• Query template
• No display
• All database interaction
• Update, insert, delete, select, etc
• ltcfquerygt ltcfstoredprocgt
• V2 only for selects
• Aim for reusability
• qry_ValidateUser.cfm, qry_CreateNewsItem.cfm,
  qry_GetUserPreferences.cfm

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Technical FuseboxFuse Prefixes

• url_
• Optional file to contain ltcflocationgt logic
• Makes for cleaner fbx_switch.cfm
• If not used, ltcflocationgts occur in the qry_ or
  act_ files
• No display
• url_Login.cfm, url_DeletedNewsItem.cfm,
  url_VerityIndexed.cfm

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Technical FuseboxFuse 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

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Technical FuseboxExit 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, ltcflocationgts
• Extracts fuses from the application
• Fuses act as black box unaware of the big
  picture
• Always in the form circuit.fuseaction

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Technical FuseboxFusedocs

• 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 lt!--- ---gt at the top

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Technical FuseboxFusedocs, cont.

• Programming Definition Language (PDL)
• XML based
• DTD available from fusebox.org
• Dont 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

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Technical FuseboxTest 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

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Moving On Fusebox Methodology FLiP
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FLiPBuilding 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

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FLiPInitial Requirements Gathering

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

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FLiPWireframing

• 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
• Fusiums Rebar

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FLiPPrototyping

• HTML mockups
• 100 identical to the finished application
• Resist the urge to code

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FLiPDevNotes

• 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?

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FLiPPrototype Lockdown

• Site is complete in HTML
• Example credit card processing
• Approval
• Failure message 1
• Failure message 2
• Bad credit card number

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FLiPArchitecting

• Using mind mapping software
• Identify each circuit
• Identify each fuseaction
• Identify each fuse
• Determine exit points
• Generate skeleton code
• Fuseminder.cfm

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FLiPFusedocing

• 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

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FLiPCoding

• Distribution of effort
• Solve the Mythical Man Month?
• SecretAgents.com
• Coding is now a trivial matter
• Distribution of database required for qry_ fuses

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FLiPAssembly

• Architect gathers completed fuses
• Ensure fuse meets requirements of Fusedoc
• Drop into correct directories
• Verify exit points
• No need to open up completed fuses

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FLiPTesting

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

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Moving OnFusebox Community
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Fusebox CommunityBest 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

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Fusebox CommunityCommunity Support

• Since the beginning, Fusebox is open to change
  and improvements
• Developer-created Custom Tags
• Contributed example applications
• Synthis.com - Adalon code generation

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Fusebox CommunityEmail Lists

• fusebox_at_topica.com
• Beginners welcome
• Heavily patrolled by active members
• FLiP_at_topica.com
• FLiP methodology only
• steer-fb_at_topica.com
• For Fusebox future

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Fusebox CommunityFusebox.org

• Whitepapers
• Latest core files
• Example applications

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Fusebox CommunityOther 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

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Fusebox CommunityBooks And Articles

• Papovich and Peters, 2002
• Fusebox Pulse newsletter (fusium.com)
• Hal Helms writes monthly articles in CFDJ

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Fusebox CommunityFusebox Conference

• In conjunction with Macromedia DevCon, October in
  Orlando
• 20 speakers
• Jeremy Allaire keynoted last year