Fusebox%20Not%20Just%20For%20Breakfast%20Anymore!

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FuseboxNot Just For Breakfast Anymore!

• An Introduction to Fusebox
• Author Fred T. Sanders, Instant Knowledge
• Some Content unscrupulously taken from
• Steve Nelson, Hal Helms and Nat Papovich

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Prerequisites to Fusebox

• Some CFML basics to under before looking at
  Fusebox
• ltcfparamgt and ltcfsetgt
• ltcfincludegt
• ltcfmodulegt - custom tags
• ltcfswitchgt - ltcfcasegt
• ltcfapplicationgt
• ltcfquerygt
• ltcflocationgt
• Variable scopes server/application/request/client
  /session/attributes/caller
• URLToken
• ASK if you do not understand any of these tags

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A CF Developers Holy Grail...

• Imagine
• A team of developers writing code that looks like
  it came from one individual.
• You could understand your co-workers code in 5
  minutes, without asking them questions.
• You could spend more time solving your problems
  instead of worrying about how to write the
  application.
• You could actually build a library of generic
  reusable code and eventually be able to cut and
  paste the backend of almost all your new
  applications.
• Well dont pinch
  yourself yet!

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What Could You Gain with Fusebox?

• A flexible application framework for building web
  applications, that is easy to work with.
• A collection of best practices and free tools
  designed to speed up the development cycle and
  shorten the time to market for most of your
  projects.
• Easy to learn. You are most likely using many of
  the methods shown today, and never realized it.
  Adopt as much or as little as you want.
• Flexible and extensible. There is no Fusebox
  Gestapo to make sure you followed the rules,
  because there arent any.
• Hopefully more free time or less stress. (I said
  Hopefully!).

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Why A Structured Application Framework?

• File based applications get messy. A structured
  application framework helps to clean the mess
  up.
• Team development is easier to facilitate.
• Your application will almost document itself.
• Youll only have to focus on your clients
  problems and not have to worry about how to
  structure your application.

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Size Does Count!Sometimes Smaller Is Better.
Break down your one big application into little
Circuit applications.
Circuits
?
/members
Home
?
?
/products
?
/shoppingcart
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Break It Down Further
Turn each circuit into many Fuseactions
Circuits
This is Meant to Be Just text That isnt Clear. I
hope It works the Way I want It to.
AddUser
Home
?
This is Meant to Be Just text That isnt Clear. I
hope It works the Way I want It to.
Login
This is Meant to Be Just text That isnt Clear. I
hope It works the Way I want It to.
?
List Products
?
This is Meant to Be Just text That isnt Clear. I
hope It works the Way I want It to.
View Product
This is Meant to Be Just text That isnt Clear. I
hope It works the Way I want It to.
AddtoCart
?
This is Meant to Be Just text That isnt Clear. I
hope It works the Way I want It to.
CheckOut
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The FuseBox (index.cfm)

• The Applications Center of the Universe
• Just one big ltCFSWITCHgt Statement.
• Calls the Fuses needed based on which
  fuseaction is being performed.

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The Fuseaction

• Defines what the user wishes to do.
• Calls as few or as many fuses as needed.
• Will not always display output to the user.
• Controls the flow of the application.
• Always Returns back to the Fusebox.

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A Fuse

• Could contain CFML, HTML, or even JavaScript
  code.
• Helps to separate business logic from the User
  Interface.
• Helps facilitate code re-use within the
  application.

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Quick Review

• Home Application The overall site.
• Circuit Application A smaller, more specialized
  application.
• Fusebox The glue of the application. Everything
  revolves around the Fusebox.
• Fuseaction An individual task within the
  Fusebox.
• Fuse The code necessary to perform what the
  task defined by the fuseaction.

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Application Files

• Used for setting Home application-wide
  variables (variables used in multiple circuit
  applications)
• Use the request scope for common global
  variables. It is thread safe unlike the
  application scope which requires ltCFLOCKgt.

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Action Files

• Perform background tasks.
• Inserting Records.
• File handling.
• Sending email.
• Does not output anything to the user.

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Display Files

• Contains both HTML and CFML, or any other display
  language like WML.
• These files display information to the user.
• Search Engine Results.
• Query Results.
• Static Information.
• Common Forms.

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Query Files

• Makes re-using common SQL code easier.
• Helpful with cached queries. You can refresh
  them by simply calling the qry_filename.cfm again.

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URL Files

• Used for redirecting the user to another
  page/fuseaction after theyve finished an action
  file.
• Helps Protect against a user hitting the reload
  button on their browser and duplicating data on
  the server.

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Calling A Fuseaction

• Call your Fuseactions from the URL, Form or even
  Attributes in a custom tag
• http//www.fusebox.org/index.cfm?fuseactiondelete
  
• ltinput name"fuseaction" type"hidden"
  value"delete"gt
• ltcfmodule template/yourdirectory/index.cfm
  
  fuseaction"delete"gt
• All links and forms will point to Index.cfm

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Naming Conventions

• To make life easier use naming conventions.
• App_filename.cfm Application files.
• Act_filename.cfm Action files.
• Dsp_filename.cfm Display files.
• Qry_filename.cfm Query files.
• Url_filename.cfm Redirection files.
• Or DEFINE your own meaningful conventions.

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Scoping Your Variables

• URL FORM variables need to be scoped to
  ATTRIBUTES. (ltCF_FORMURL2ATTRIBUTESgt will do this
  conversion for you).
• Use the REQUEST scope for your global variables.
• Using Client instead of the Session scope makes
  application scaling easier later on.

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Code Example 1

• Demonstrates a Fusebox application made of 4
  files, one Fuseaction which displays
• Hello World and another which displays
  Good-Bye Cruel World

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Example Code 1 Index.cfm
lt!---Index.cfm---gt ltcfinclude templateapp_globa
ls.cfmgt ltcfparam name"attributes.fuseaction"
default""gt ltcfswitch expression"attributes.fus
eaction"gt ltcfcase valuegoodbyegt
ltcfinclude templatedsp_goodbye.cfmgt
lt/cfcasegt ltcfdefaultcasegt
ltcfinclude template"dsp_hello.cfm"gt
lt/cfdefaultcasegt lt/cfswitchgt
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Example Code 1 app_globals.cfm
lt!--- app_globals.cfm ---gt ltcf_formURL2attributes
gt
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Example Code 1 dsp_hello.cfm
lt!--- dsp_hello.cfm ---gt lthtmlgt ltbodygt lth1gtHello
World!lt/h1gt ltPgt lta hrefindex.cfm?Fuseactiongood
byegtGood-Byelt/agt lt/bodygt lt/htmlgt
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Example Code 1 dsp_goodbye.cfm
lt!--- dsp_goodBye.cfm ---gt lthtmlgt ltbodygt lth1gtGood
-Bye Cruel World!lt/h1gt ltPgt lta hrefindex.cfm?Fuse
actionhellogtHello!lt/agt lt/bodygt lt/htmlgt
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Code Example 2

• Demonstrates a Fusebox application made of 7
  files and 3 fuseactions. This allows for viewing
  a list of names and adding a new name in a
  database.

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Example Code 2 Index.cfm
lt!---Index.cfm---gt ltcfinclude templateapp_globa
ls.cfmgt ltcfparam name"attributes.fuseaction"
default""gt ltcfswitch expression"attributes.fus
eaction"gt ltcfcase valuenameformgt
ltcfinclude templatedsp_nameform.cfmgt
lt/cfcasegt ltcfcase
valueaddnamegt ltcfinclude
templateact_addname.cfmgt
ltcfinclude templateurl_listnames.cfmgt
lt/cfcasegt ltcfdefaultcasegt
ltcfinclude templateqry_getnames.cfm"gt
ltcfinclude template"dsp_listnames.cfm"gt
lt/cfdefaultcasegt lt/cfswitchgt
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Example Code 2 app_globals.cfm
lt!---app_globals.cfm---gt ltcf_formURL2attributesgt
ltcfapplication nameexample2
clientmanagementyesgt ltcfset request.urltoken
client.urltokengt ltcfset request.mainDSN
mydatabasegt
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Example Code 2 qry_getnames.cfm
lt!---qry_getnames.cfm---gt ltcfquery name
qryGetNames datasource request.maindsn
datatype ODBCgt SELECT User_ID,
first_name, last_name FROM
Users lt/cfquerygt
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Example Code 2 dsp_listnames.cfm
lt!---Dsp_ListNames.cfm---gt lthtmlgt ltbodygt ltcfoutpu
tgt lta href Index.cfm?Fuseactionnameformreque
st.urltokengtAdd Namelt/agtltpgt lt/cfoutputgt ltcfoutpu
t queryGetNamesgt first_name
last_nameltBRgt lt/cfoutputgt lt/bodygt lt/htmlgt
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Example Code 2 dsp_nameform.cfm
lt!---dsp_nameform.cfm---gt lthtmlgt ltbodygt ltcfoutput
gt ltform methodpost actionindex.cfm?request.urlt
okengt ltinput type hidden name
fuseaction valueaddnamegt First Name
ltinput name first_name maxlength30gtltBRgt Last
Name ltinput name Last_name
maxlength30gtltBRgt ltBRgt ltinput type submit
ValueSavegt lt/formgt lt/cfoutputgt lt/bodygt lt/htmlgt
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Example Code 2 act_addname.cfm
lt!---act_addname.cfm---gt ltcfquery nameaddName
datasourcerequest.maindsngt insert
into Users(first_name,last_name)
values(attributes.first_name,attributes.last
_name) lt/cfquerygt
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Example Code 2 URL_listnames.cfm
lt!--- url_listnames.cfm---gt ltcflocation
urlindex.cfm?request.urltoken addtokenyesgt
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Conclusion Why use Fusebox

• Fusebox is (most likely) very similar to how you
  may already build an application, thus it will be
  easy to learn.
• It is a well thought out process, and will
  continue to be improved by the CF community.
• Itll save you time, which will save you money.
• Most importantly it will prevent hair loss.

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Congratulations!

• Thats all there is to Fusebox.
• Its not that scary after all.

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Fusebox Resources

• http//www.fusebox.org
• White papers and Code.
• http//www.teamAllaire.com/hal/
• Fusebox primers.
• http//www.houseoffusion.com
• Fusebox mailing list.
• http//www.fuseml.org
• Incorporating UML and Fusebox.
• http//www.secretagents.com
• Tools for Fusebox developers.