What's New With 7.0.0

Discover the power of ColdBox 7.0.0

ColdBox 7.0.0 is a major release for the ColdBox HMVC platform. It has some dramatic new features as we keep pushing for more modern and sustainable approaches to web development and tons of bug fixes and improvements.

We break down the major areas of development below, and you can also find the full release notes per library at the end.

Engine Support

This release drops support for Adobe 2016 and adds support for Adobe 2023 and Lucee 6 (Beta). Please note that there are still issues with Adobe 2023 as it is still in Beta.

ColdBox CLI

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We now have an official CLI for ColdBox, which lives outside CommandBox. It will always be included with CommandBox, but it now has its own life cycles, and it will support each major version of ColdBox as well.

install coldbox-cli
coldbox --help

The new CLI has all the previous goodness but now also v7 support and many other great features like migration creation, API testing, and more. You can find the source for the CLI here: https://github.com/coldbox/coldbox-cli

VSCode ColdBox Extension

We have updated our VSCode ColdBox extension now to support the latest version of snippets and skeletons for code generation.

Application Templates

All the application templates have been updated in our ColdBox Templates Org: https://github.com/coldbox-templates. They have been updated to support our LTS strategy, so now we can have templates based on each major iteration of ColdBox.

Here is a listing of the latest supported templates:

Template Slug Description

Template	Slug	Description
Default	`default`	The default ColdBox application template
Elixir	`elixir`	The `default` template with ColdBox elixir support for asset pipelines
Modern (experimental)	`modern`	A fresh new approach to ColdBox applications that are non-root based. Still experimental
Rest	`rest`	A base REST API using ColdBox
Rest HMVC	`rest-hmvc`	An HMVC REST API using modules
Super Simple	`supersimple`	Barebones conventions baby!

Default

default

The default ColdBox application template

Elixir

elixir

The default template with ColdBox elixir support for asset pipelines

Modern (experimental)

modern

A fresh new approach to ColdBox applications that are non-root based. Still experimental

Rest

rest

A base REST API using ColdBox

Rest HMVC

rest-hmvc

An HMVC REST API using modules

Super Simple

supersimple

Barebones conventions baby!

WireBox Updates

 __          ___          ____
 \ \        / (_)        |  _ \
  \ \  /\  / / _ _ __ ___| |_) | _____  __
   \ \/  \/ / | | '__/ _ \  _ < / _ \ \/ /
    \  /\  /  | | | |  __/ |_) | (_) >  <
     \/  \/   |_|_|  \___|____/ \___/_/\_\

WireBox has gotten tons of love in this release, with several additions, bug fixes, and improvements.

Transient Request Cache

This feature is one of the most impactful for applications that leverage DI on transient objects, especially ORM-related applications. WireBox will now, by default, cache the signatures of the injections and delegations for you, so they are only done once per instance type. This addition has brought speed improvements of over 585% in Lucee and Adobe ColdFusion. You read that right, 585% performance increases. This is really a game changer for ORM-heavy applications that use DI and delegations. Go try it; you don't have to do a thing. Install and run it!

If this is not for you or there are issues in your system because of it, we have a setting for it to turn it off. Open the WireBox.cfc binder and add it as a config item.

// Config DSL
wirebox : {
    transientInjectionCache : false
}

// Binder Call
binder.transientInjectionCache( false )

You can also disable the cache on a per-CFC basis by using the transientCache=false annotation in your component declaration:

component transientCache=false{

}

Known Issues

Even though the transient cache can help tremendously with performance, there is a price to pay. All the injections and delegations will be cached on a per-cfc definition basis. Thus, if you are injecting transients, those transients will become singletons. Therefore you have two options to alleviate this side effect:

Disable the cache entirely (The heavy-handed approach)
Disable the cache on that specific entity via the transientCache annotation (The surgical approach)
Add the transient injection as a provider injection (The ninja approach)
Add the property as a lazy property and add a builder that will construct it when called (The Jedi approach)

component name="Transient" transientCache="false"{
    
   // This will become a singleton
   property name="transient2" inject="t2";
   // Provider injection
   property name="transient2" inject="provider:t2";
   // Lazy property
   property name="transient2" lazy;
   
   function buildTransient2(){
    return variables.wirebox.getInstance( "t2" );
   }
}

`WireBox Delegators`

WireBox supports the concept of object delegation in a simple, expressive DSL. You can now add a delegate annotation to injections or use the delegates annotations to components to inject and absorb the object's methods into yourself.

// Inject and use as a delegate
property name="memory" inject delegate

// Delegate Component
component name="computer" delegates="Memory"{
}

In object-oriented programming, an object delegator is a programming technique where an object delegates some of its responsibilities to another object. The delegating object passes the responsibility for handling a particular task to the delegate object. This allows the delegating object to focus on its core responsibilities while the delegate object handles the delegated task.

Basically, a way to inject/proxy calls from one object to the other and avoid the overuse of inheritance, and avoid runtime mixins. WireBox provides a set of rules for method lookup and dispatching that will allow you to provide delegation easily in your CFML applications. This feature is similar to traits in PHP or object delegators in Kotlin.

You can use it to encapsulate behavior on small, focused, and testable classes that can be brought in as traits into ANY component without abusing inheritance. In contrast, object delegation is a more flexible approach that allows objects to delegate tasks to any other object, regardless of its class hierarchy. Finally, object delegation can help to improve code performance by allowing objects to use specialized delegate objects for specific tasks.

Let's look at an example of how we would use delegation without this feature:

  component name="Memory"{
  
  function init(){
    return reset()
  }
  
  function reset(){
    variables.data = []
    return this;
  }
  
  function read( index ){
    return variables.data[ arguments.index ]
  }
  
  function write( data ){
    variables.data.append( arguments.data )
  }
  
}

Now let's look at the computer

component name="computer"{

    // Inject a memory object via WireBox
    property name="memory" inject;
    
    // read delegator proxy method
    function read( index ){
        return variables.memory.read( argumentCollection = arguments )
    }
    
    // write delegator proxy method
    function write( data ){
        return variables.memory.read( argumentCollection = arguments )
    }

}

As you can see, in the traditional approach we must type and inject and know every detail of the delegated methods. Now let's delegalize it via WireBox:

component name="computer"{
  // Inject and use as a delegate
  property name="memory" inject delegate

}

computer = getInstance( "Computer" )
computer.read( index )
computer.write( data )

Or use the shorthand notation via the delegates annotation of components:

component name="computer" delegates="Memory"{

   // code

}

computer = getInstance( "Computer" )
computer.read( index )
computer.write( data )

You can also do prefixes, suffixes, method includes, excludes, and even add as many delegates as you want:

component name="computer"
	delegates=">Memory, <Disk=read,sleep"
}

component name="computer"{

   property name="authorizable." 
	inject="provider:Authorizable@cbsecurity"
	delegate;

}

Read more about delegates here: https://wirebox.ortusbooks.com/usage/wirebox-delegators

`Core Delegates`

Now that we have seen what delegators are, WireBox offers core delegators to your application via the @coreDelegates namespace

Async - This delegate is useful to interact with the AsyncManager and the most used functionality for asynchronous programming
DateTime - Leverage the date time helper
Env - Talk to environment variables
Flow - Several fluent flow methods
JsonUtil - JSON utilities
StringUtil - String utilities
Population - Population utilities

So let's say you have a service that needs to populate objects and work with the system environment:

component 
    delegates="population@coreDelegates, Env@coreDelegates"{
}

`WireBox Property Observers`

WireBox supports the concepts of component property observers. Meaning that you can define a function that will be called for you when the setter for that property has been called and thus observe the property changes.

You will accomplish this by tagging a property with an annotation called observed then by convention, it will look for a function called: {propertyName}Observer by convention. This function will receive three arguments:

newValue : The value is set into the property
oldValue : The old value of the property, including null
property : The name of the property

component{

  property name="data" observed;
  
  /**
   * Observer for data changes.  Anytime data is set, it will be called
     	 *
   * @new The new value
   * @old The old value
   * @property The name of the property observed
   */
  function dataObserver( newValue, oldValue, property ){
  	// Execute after data is set
  }

}

If you don’t like the convention and want to name the function as you see fit, then you can place the value of the observed annotation as the function's name to call.

property name="data" observed="myObserver"

`WireBox Lazy Properties`

WireBox supports the concept of marking properties in your components as lazy. This will allow the property to be constructed ONCE when requested ONLY (lazy loaded). This way, you can take advantage of the construction of the property being lazy-loaded.

Internally, we will generate a getter method for you that will make sure to construct your property via a builder function you will provide, lock the request (by default), store it in the variables scope, and return it to you.

Note: With lazy properties, you must use the getter only to retrieve the property

component{
	
  // Lazy property: Constructed by convention via the buildUtil() method
  property name="util" lazy;
  
  /**
   * Build a util object lazyily.
   * The first time you call it, it will lock, build it, and store it by convention as 'variables.util'
   */
  function buildUtil(){
   return new coldbox.system.core.util.Util();
  }

}

Read more about Lazy Properties here: https://wirebox.ortusbooks.com/advanced-topics/lazy-properties

`onInjectorMissingDependency` event

A new event called onInjectorMissingDependency is now registered in Wirebox. It will be called whenever a dependency cannot be located. The data sent into the event will contain:

name - The name of the requested dependency
initArguments - The init arguments, if passed
targetObject - The target object that requested the dependency
injector - The injector in use building the dependency

If you return in the data struct an element called, instance we will return that as the dependency, else the normal exception will be thrown.

// Simple listener example
listen( "onInjectorMissingDependency", (data,event,rc,prc)=>{
    if( data.name == "OldLegacyOne" ){
        data.instance = myNewObject();
    }
});

Population Enhancements

The object populator now caches ORM entity maps, so they are only loaded once, and the population with ORM objects accelerates tremendously.
The object populator caches relational metadata for a faster population of the same type of objects

Mass Population Config: `this.population`

This new convention allows for objects to encapsulate the way the mass population of data is treated. This way, you don’t have to scrub or pass include excludes lists via population arguments; it can all be nicely encapsulated in the targeted objects:

this.population = {
    include : [ "firstName", "lastName", "username", "role" ],
    exclude : [ "id", "password", "lastLogin" ]
};

The populator will look for a this.population struct with the following keys:

include : an array of property names to allow population ONLY
exclude : an array of property names to NEVER allow population

The population methods also get a new argument called: ignoreTargetLists which defaults to false, meaning it inspects the objects for these population markers. If you pass it as true then the markers will be ignored. This is great for the population of objects from queries or an array of structs or mementos that YOU have control of.

populateFromStruct(
    target : userService.newUser(),
    memento : record,
    ignoreTargetLists : true
}

Inline Configuration

You can now instantiate an Injector with the binder argument being the config structure instead of creating a binder. This will allow you to create injectors and pass the configuration structure as well:

injector  = new coldbox.system.ioc.Injector({
	"scopeRegistration" : {
		"enabled" : false
	},
	"transientInjectionCache" : true
});

Injector Names

Each injector can now have a human-friendly name via the name property

injector.getName()
injector.setName( "AwesomeInjector" )

Clear Objects From Scopes

You can also now use a clear( key ) method in ALL scopes so you can remove a-la-carte objects from any supported scope.

Root Injector

In a ColdBox or WireBox context, there will always be a root injector in a hierarchy. This root injector can have children, and all of these children can have a direct link to its root via a hasRoot() and getRoot() methods.

Methods

hasRoot()
getRoot()
setRoot()

Injection DSL

There are also injection DSLs for retrieving the root injector:

property name="root" inject="wirebox:root"
property name="root" inject="coldbox:rootWireBox"

Schedule Tasks Revamped

Thanks to Giancarlo Gomez, scheduled tasks get a big revamp in ColdBox 7. Here are the updates:

New Properties

annually You can now task on an annual basis
delayTimeUnit used to work with delays regardless of the setting in the chain
debug used for debug output during task executions
firstBusinessDay boolean to flag the task as on the first business day schedule
lastBusinessDay boolean to flag the task as on the last business day schedule
taskTime log of time of day for first business day and last business day tasks
startTime limits tasks to run on or after a specific time of day
endTime limits tasks to run on or before a specific time of day
meta The user can use this struct to store any data for the task ( helpful for building UIs and not having to manage outside of the task )
stats.nextRun ColdBox now determines the next run for the task in its scheduler interval

Updated Functions

run( boolean force = false ) Added the force argument, to allow running the task on demand, even if it is paused.
validateTime() Sets minutes if missing from time entry and returns time value if successful - removes a lot of repetitive code

New Functions

debug() Used for setting debug setting ( can also be done in task init )
startOnTime() used to set variables.startTime
endOnTime() used to set variables.endTime
between() used to set variables.startTime and variables.endTime in one call
setMeta() used to set variables.meta
setMetaKey() used to add / save a key to variables.meta
deleteMetaKey() used to delete a key from variables.meta

New Private Functions

getLastBusinessDayOfTheMonth()
getFirstBusinessDayOfTheMonth()
setInitialNextRunTime()
setInitialDelayPeriodAndTimeUnit()
setNextRunTime()
debugLog()

Module Updates

Config Object Override

In ColdBox 7, you can now store the module configurations outside of the config/Coldbox.cfc. Especially in an application with many modules and many configs, the modulesettings would get really unruly and long. Now you can bring separation. This new convention will allow module override configurations to exist as their own configuration file within the application’s config folder.

config/modules/{moduleName}.cfc

The configuration CFC will have one configure() method that is expected to return a struct of configuration settings as you did before in the moduleSettings

component{

    function configure(){
        return {
            key : value
        };
    }

}

Injections

Just like a ModuleConfig this configuration override also gets many injections:

* controller
* coldboxVersion
* appMapping
* moduleMapping
* modulePath
* logBox
* log
* wirebox
* binder
* cachebox
* getJavaSystem
* getSystemSetting
* getSystemProperty
* getEnv
* appRouter
* router

Env Support

This module configuration object will also inherit the ModuleConfig.cfc behavior that if you create methods with the same name as the environment you are on, it will execute it for you as well.

function development( original ){
   // add overides to the original struct
}

Then you can change the original struct as you see fit for that environment.

Module Injectors

We have an experimental feature in ColdBox 7 to enable per-module injectors. This will create a hierarchy of injections and dependency lookups for modules. This is in preparation for future capabilities to allow for multi-named modules in an application. In order to activate this feature you need to use the this.moduleInjector = true in your ModuleConfig.cfc

this.moduleInjector = true

Once enabled, please note that your module injector will have a unique name, and a link to the parent and root injectors and will ONLY know about itself and its children. Everything will be encapsulated under itself. No more global dependencies, we are now in module-only dependencies. This means each module must declare its dependencies beforehand.

ModuleConfig Injections

If the module injector is enabled, you will also get different injections in your ModuleConfig

Injection Description

Injection	Description
`binder`	The root injector binder
`rootWireBox`	The root injector or global injector.
`wirebox`	This is now a reference to the module's injector.

binder

The root injector binder

rootWireBox

The root injector or global injector.

wirebox

This is now a reference to the module's injector.

Root Helpers

The supertype also has methods to interact with the root and module injector getRootWireBox() and getWireBox() for the module injector.

getRootWireBox().getInstance( "GlobalModel" )

Injection Awareness

Every module also can inject/use its models without the need to namespace them.

// Before, using the @contacts address
property name="contactService" inject="contactService@contacts";

// If using module injectors
property name="contactService" inject="contactService";

The injector will look into the models of the module first and then it's children. Parent lookups are not guaranteed yet.

Please note that this is still experimental and there could be issues of not finding models or DSLs.

Config/Settings Awareness

You can now use the {this} placeholder in injections for module configurations-settings, and ColdBox will automatically replace it with the current module it's being injected in:

property name="mySettings" inject="coldbox:moduleSettings:{this}"
property name="myConfig" inject="coldbox:moduleConfig:{this}"

This is a great way to keep your injections clean without adhering to the module name.

Interceptor `listen()` Order

You can now use listen( closure, point ) or listen( point, closure) when registering closure interception points.

listen( ()=> log.info( "executed" ), "preProcess" )
// or
listen( "preProcess", ()=> log.info( "executed" ) )

ColdBox Delegates

Since WireBox introduced delegates, we have taken advantage of this great reusable feature throughout ColdBox. We have also created several delegates for your convenience that can be used via its name and the @cbDelegates namespace:

Delegate Purpose

Delegate	Purpose
`AppModes`	Methods to let you know in which tier you are on and more
`Interceptor`	Announce interceptions
`Locators`	Locate files and/or directories
`Population`	Populate objects
`Rendering`	Render views and layouts
`Settings`	Interact with ColdBox/Module Settings

AppModes

Methods to let you know in which tier you are on and more

Interceptor

Announce interceptions

Locators

Locate files and/or directories

Population

Populate objects

Rendering

Render views and layouts

Settings

Interact with ColdBox/Module Settings

Let's say you have a security service that needs to get settings, announce events and render views:

component name="SecurityService"
    delegates="settings@cbDelegates, rendering@cbDelegates, interceptor@cbDelegates"{
    
    function login(){
        if( getSetting( "logEnabled" ) ){
            ... 
            
            var viewInfo = view( "security/logdata" );
            
        }
        
        ...
        
        announce( "onLogin" );
    }

}

Here you can find more information about the CBDelegates: https://s3.amazonaws.com/apidocs.ortussolutions.com/coldbox/7.0.0/coldbox/system/web/delegates/package-summary.html

User Identifier Providers

In previous versions of ColdBox, it would auto-detect unique request identifiers for usage in Flash Ram, storages, etc., following this schema:

If we have session enabled, use the jessionId or session URL Token
If we have cookies enabled, use the cfid/cftoken
If we have in the URL the cfid/cftoken
Create a unique request-based tracking identifier: cbUserTrackingId

However, you can now decide what will be the unique identifier for requests, flash RAM, etc by providing it via a coldbox.identifierProvider as a closure/lambda in your config/Coldbox.cfc

coldbox : {
    ...
    
    identifierProvider : () => {
        // My own logic to provide a unique tracking id
        return myTrackingID
    }
    
    ...

}

If this closure exists, ColdBox will use the return value as the unique identifier. A new method has also been added to the ColdBox Controller so you can retrieve this value:

controller.getUserSessionIdentifier()

The supertype as well so all handlers/layouts/views/interceptors can get the user identifier:

function getUserSessionIdentifier()

App Mode Helpers

ColdBox 7 introduces opinionated helpers to the FrameworkSuperType so you can determine if you are in three modes: production, development, and testing by looking at the environment setting:

function isProduction()
function isDevelopment()
function isTesting()

Mode Environment

Mode	Environment
`inProduction() == true`	`production`
`inTesting() == true`	`testing`
`inDevelopment() == true`	`development` or `local`

inProduction() == true

production

inTesting() == true

testing

inDevelopment() == true

development or local

You can also find these methods in the controller object.

These super-type methods delegate to the ColdBox Controller. So that means that if you needed to change their behavior, you could do so via a Controller Decorator.

You can also use them via our new AppModes@cbDelegates delegate in any model:

component delegate="AppModes@cbDelegates"{}

Resource Route Names

When you register resourceful routes now, they will get assigned a name so you can use it for validation via routeIs() or for route link creation via route()

Verb Route Event Route Name

Verb	Route	Event	Route Name
`GET`	`/photos`	`photos.index`	`photos`
`GET`	`/photos/new`	`photos.new`	`photos.new`
`POST`	`/photos`	`photos.create`	`photos`
`GET`	`/photos/:id`	`photos.show`	`photos.process`
`GET`	`/photos/:id/edit`	`photos.edit`	`photos.edit`
`PUT/PATCH`	`/photos/:id`	`photos.update`	`photos.process`
`DELETE`	`/photos/:id`	`photos.delete`	`photos.process`

GET

/photos

photos.index

photos

GET

/photos/new

photos.new

POST

/photos

photos.create

photos

GET

/photos/:id

photos.show

photos.process

GET

/photos/:id/edit

photos.edit

PUT/PATCH

/photos/:id

photos.update

photos.process

DELETE

/photos/:id

photos.delete

photos.process

Baby got `back()!`

The framework super type now sports a back() function so you can use it to redirect back to the referer in a request.

function save( event, rc, prc ){
    ... save your work
    
    // Go back to where you came from
    back();
}

Here is the method signature:

/**
 * Redirect back to the previous URL via the referrer header, else use the fallback
 *
 * @fallback      The fallback event or uri if the referrer is empty, defaults to `/`
 * @persist       What request collection keys to persist in flash ram
 * @persistStruct A structure key-value pairs to persist in flash ram
 */
function back( fallback = "/", persist, struct persistStruct )

`RequestContext` Routing/Pathing Enhancements

The RequestContext has a few new methods to assist you when working with routes, paths, and URLs.

Method Purpose

Method	Purpose
`routeIs( name ):boolean`	Verify if the passed `name` is the current route
`getUrl( withQuery:boolean )`	Returns the entire URL, including the protocol, host, mapping, path info, and query string.
`getPath( withQuery:boolean )`	Return the relative path of the current request.
`getPathSegments():array`	Get all of the URL path segments from the requested path.
`getPathSegment( index, defaultValue )`	Get a single path segment by position

routeIs( name ):boolean

Verify if the passed name is the current route

getUrl( withQuery:boolean )

Returns the entire URL, including the protocol, host, mapping, path info, and query string.

getPath( withQuery:boolean )

Return the relative path of the current request.

getPathSegments():array

Get all of the URL path segments from the requested path.

getPathSegment( index, defaultValue )

Get a single path segment by position

Native DateHelper

The FrameworkSuperType now has a getDateTimeHelper(), getIsoTime() methods to get access to the ColdBox coldbox.system.async.time.DateTimeHelper to assist you with all your date/time/timezone needs and generate an iso8601 formatted string from the incoming date/time.

getDateTimeHelper().toLocalDateTime( now(), "Americas/Central" )
getDateTimeHelper().getSystemTimezone()
getDateTimeHelper().parse( "2018-05-11T13:35:11Z" )
getIsoTime()

You can also use the new date time helper as a delegate in your models:

component delegate="DateTime@coreDelegates"{

}

Check out the API Docs for the latest methods in the helper

https://s3.amazonaws.com/apidocs.ortussolutions.com/coldbox/7.0.0/coldbox/system/async/time/DateTimeHelper.html

View `variables` Scope Variables

You can now influence any view by injecting your own variables into a view's variables scope using our new argument: viewVariables. This is great for module developers that want native objects or data to exist in a view's varaibles scope.

view( view : "widget/messagebox", viewVariables : { wire : cbwire } 

view( view : "widget/client", viewVariables : { client : thisClient } )

Then you can use the wire and client objects in your views natively:

<cfif client.isLoaded()>
    <h1>#client.getFullName()#</h1>
</cfif>

Whoops! Upgrades

Whoops got even more love:

SQL Syntax Highlighting
JSON Pretty Printing
JSON highlighting
Debug Mode to show source code
Production detection to avoid showing source code
Rendering performance improvements

RESTFul Exception Responses

The RESTFul handlers have been updated to present more useful debugging when exceptions are detected in any call to any resource. You will now get the following new items in the response:

environment
- A snapshot of the current routes, URLs and event
exception
- A stack frame, detail, and type

{
  "data": {
    "environment": {
      "currentRoutedUrl": "restfulHandler/anError/",
      "timestamp": "2023-04-26T20:21:05Z",
      "currentRoute": ":handler/:action/",
      "currentEvent": "restfulHandler.anError"
    },
    "exception": {
      "stack": [
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/web/context/RequestContext.cfc:1625",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/test-harness/handlers/restfulHandler.cfc:42",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/RestHandler.cfc:58",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/web/Controller.cfc:998",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/web/Controller.cfc:713",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/test-harness/models/ControllerDecorator.cfc:71",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/Bootstrap.cfc:290",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/Bootstrap.cfc:506",
        "/Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/test-harness/Application.cfc:90"
      ],
      "detail": "The type you sent dddd is not a valid rendering type. Valid types are JSON,JSONP,JSONT,XML,WDDX,TEXT,PLAIN,PDF",
      "type": "RequestContext.InvalidRenderTypeException",
      "extendedInfo": ""
    }
  },
  "error": true,
  "pagination": {
    "totalPages": 1,
    "maxRows": 0,
    "offset": 0,
    "page": 1,
    "totalRecords": 0
  },
  "messages": [
    "An exception ocurred: Invalid rendering type"
  ]
}

ColdBox `DebugMode`

ColdBox now has a global debugMode setting, which is used internally for presenting sources in Whoops and extra debugging parameters in our RESTFul handler. However, it can also be used by module developers or developers to dictate if your application is in debug mode or not. This is just a fancy way to say we trust the user doing the requests.

The default value is false

coldbox : {
    ...
    
    debugMode : true
    
    ...

}

You also have a inDebugMode() method in the main ColdBox Controller and the FrameworkSuperType that will let you know if you are in that mode or not.

boolean function inDebugMode()

// Debug mode report
if( inDebugMode() ){
    include "BugReport.cfm";
}

You can also use the AppModes@cbDelegates delegate to get access to the inDebugMode and other methods in your models:

component delegates="AppModes@cbDelegates"{

    ...
    if( inDebugMode() ){
    
    }
    ...

}

Testing Enhancements

Unload ColdBox is now false

All integration tests now won't unload ColdBox after execution. Basically, the this.unloadColdBox = false is now the default. This is to increase performance where each request run tries only to load the ColdBox virtual app once.

Environment Detection Method

All test bundles now get a getEnv() method to retrieve our environment delegate so you can get env settings and properties:

getEnv().getSystemSetting()
getEnv().getSystemProperty()
getEnv().getEnv()

LogBox Updates

$$\                          $$$$$$$\                      
$$ |                         $$  __$$\                     
$$ |      $$$$$$\   $$$$$$\  $$ |  $$ | $$$$$$\  $$\   $$\ 
$$ |     $$  __$$\ $$  __$$\ $$$$$$$\ |$$  __$$\ \$$\ $$  |
$$ |     $$ /  $$ |$$ /  $$ |$$  __$$\ $$ /  $$ | \$$$$  / 
$$ |     $$ |  $$ |$$ |  $$ |$$ |  $$ |$$ |  $$ | $$  $$<  
$$$$$$$$\\$$$$$$  |\$$$$$$$ |$$$$$$$  |\$$$$$$  |$$  /\$$\ 
\________|\______/  \____$$ |\_______/  \______/ \__/  \__|
                   $$\   $$ |                              
                   \$$$$$$  |                              
                    \______/

JSON Pretty Output

All logging messages in LogBox are now inspected for simplicity or complexity. If any extra argument is a complex variable, then LogBox will now serialize the output to JSON, and it will prettify it. This will allow for your log messages in your console to now look pretty!

[INFO ] 2023-04-26 15:48:47 coldbox.system.EventHandler Executing index action | ExtraInfo: {
	"ARCS":[
		1,
		2,
		3,
		4
	],
	"TEST":"Message goes here",
	"NAME":"Test",
	"WHEN":"April,
	26 2023 15:48:47 +0000"
}

Exception Improvements

If exception objects are being sent to any logger, LogBox will detect it and pretty print it back to the console instead of dumping a massive exception object.

[ERROR] 2023-04-26 16:10:25 coldbox.system.EventHandler Raw Exception ==> component [cbtestharness.models.myRequestContextDecorator] has no  function with name [getValuesss] | ExtraInfo:
ErrorType = expression
Message = component [cbtestharness.models.myRequestContextDecorator] has no  function with name [getValuesss]
StackTrace = lucee.runtime.exp.ExpressionException: component [cbtestharness.models.myRequestContextDecorator] has no  function with name [getValuesss]
TagContext =  ID: ??; LINE: 23; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/test-harness/handlers/testerror.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 1257; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/web/Controller.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 1006; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/web/Controller.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 713; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/web/Controller.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 71; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/test-harness/models/ControllerDecorator.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 290; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/Bootstrap.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 506; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/system/Bootstrap.cfc
 ID: ??; LINE: 90; TEMPLATE: /Users/lmajano/Sites/projects/coldbox-platform/test-harness/Application.cfc

ExtraInfo = ""

Closure Logging

In previous versions, you had to use the canxxxx method to determine if you can log at a certain level:

if( log.canInfo() ){
    log.info( "This is a log message", data );
}

if( log.canDebug() ){
    log.debug( "This is a debug message", data );
}

In ColdBox 7, you can use a one-liner by leveraging a lambda function:

log.info( () => "This is a log message", data )
log.debug( () => "This is a debug message", data )

Integration Testing Request Timeout

The RequestContext now has a setRequestTimeout() function that can provide timeouts in your application, and when in testing mode, it will mock the request timeout. This is essential to encapsulate this setting as if you have requested timeout settings in your app; they will override the ones in testing.

event.setRequestTimeout( 5 ) // 5 seconds

Release Notes

You can find the release notes on the page below:

Release Notes

Last updated 9 months ago

Engine Support

ColdBox CLI

VSCode ColdBox Extension

Application Templates

WireBox Updates

Transient Request Cache

Known Issues

WireBox Delegators

Core Delegates

WireBox Property Observers

WireBox Lazy Properties

onInjectorMissingDependency event

Population Enhancements

Mass Population Config: this.population

Inline Configuration

Injector Names

Clear Objects From Scopes

Root Injector

Methods

Injection DSL

Schedule Tasks Revamped

New Properties

Updated Functions

New Functions

New Private Functions

Module Updates

Config Object Override

Injections

Env Support

Module Injectors

ModuleConfig Injections

Root Helpers

Injection Awareness

Config/Settings Awareness

Interceptor listen() Order

ColdBox Delegates

User Identifier Providers

App Mode Helpers

Resource Route Names

Baby got back()!

RequestContext Routing/Pathing Enhancements

Native DateHelper

View variables Scope Variables

Whoops! Upgrades

RESTFul Exception Responses

ColdBox DebugMode

Testing Enhancements

Unload ColdBox is now false

Environment Detection Method

LogBox Updates

JSON Pretty Output

Exception Improvements

Closure Logging

Integration Testing Request Timeout

Release Notes

`WireBox Delegators`

`Core Delegates`

`WireBox Property Observers`

`WireBox Lazy Properties`

`onInjectorMissingDependency` event

Mass Population Config: `this.population`

Interceptor `listen()` Order

Baby got `back()!`

`RequestContext` Routing/Pathing Enhancements

View `variables` Scope Variables

ColdBox `DebugMode`