Delegates

Compose ColdBox superpowers into any object via WireBox delegation

ColdBox ships with a rich set of built-in delegates that let you compose framework capabilities directly into any object — handlers, models, services, schedulers, interceptors — without extending a base class or writing boilerplate proxy methods.

Delegates are a WireBox feature. If you are new to the concept, read the WireBox Delegators page first to understand how delegation works, the delegates annotation, prefixes/suffixes, and targeted method delegation.

Two Namespaces

ColdBox registers delegates under two WireBox namespaces:

Namespace	Description	Registered by
@coreDelegates	General-purpose utilities: async, datetime, environment, flow, JSON, strings, population	WireBox (always available)
@cbDelegates	ColdBox-specific: rendering, routing, settings, interceptors, app modes, file locators, population from request	ColdBox (when running inside ColdBox)

Quick Start

BoxLang

// A model that can render views, read settings, and build links
class
    delegates="Rendering@cbDelegates,
               Settings@cbDelegates,
               Routable@cbDelegates" {

    function getWidget( required string name ) {
        var config = getSetting( "widgets" )
        return view( "widgets/#name#", { config : config } )
    }

    function getLink() {
        return buildLink( "home.index" )
    }

}

CFML

// A model that can render views, read settings, and build links
component
    delegates="Rendering@cbDelegates,
               Settings@cbDelegates,
               Routable@cbDelegates" {

    function getWidget( required string name ) {
        var config = getSetting( "widgets" )
        return view( "widgets/#name#", { config : config } )
    }

    function getLink() {
        return buildLink( "home.index" )
    }

}

Or use individual property injections when you need prefixes/suffixes or targeted method delegation:

BoxLang

class {

    property name="rendering" inject="Rendering@cbDelegates" delegate;
    property name="settings"  inject="Settings@cbDelegates"  delegate;
    property name="flow"      inject="Flow@coreDelegates"    delegate;

}

CFML

component {

    property name="rendering" inject="Rendering@cbDelegates" delegate;
    property name="settings"  inject="Settings@cbDelegates"  delegate;
    property name="flow"      inject="Flow@coreDelegates"    delegate;

}

Available Delegates

Core Delegates (@coreDelegates)

General-purpose utilities available in any WireBox-managed application.

WireBox ID	Description
Async@coreDelegates	Async/parallel programming via the ColdBox AsyncManager
DateTime@coreDelegates	Date and time utilities via DateTimeHelper
Env@coreDelegates	Java system properties and OS environment variables
Flow@coreDelegates	Fluent flow-control methods (when, unless, peek, throwIf, etc.)
JsonUtil@coreDelegates	JSON serialization utilities
Population@coreDelegates	Object population from structs, JSON, XML, and queries
StringUtil@coreDelegates	String manipulation: slugify, camelCase, snakeCase, pluralize, etc.

➡ See Core Delegates for method references and examples.

ColdBox Delegates (@cbDelegates)

ColdBox-specific delegates available when your application runs inside ColdBox.

WireBox ID	Description
AppModes@cbDelegates	Check the current application mode (debug, development, production, testing)
Interceptor@cbDelegates	Announce and listen to ColdBox interception events
Locators@cbDelegates	Locate files and directories within the ColdBox application
Population@cbDelegates	Populate objects from the request collection, JSON, XML, or query
Rendering@cbDelegates	Render views, layouts, and external views
Routable@cbDelegates	Build links, routes, and access base URL helpers
Settings@cbDelegates	Read and write ColdBox and module settings

➡ See ColdBox Delegates for method references and examples.