ColdBox

The ColdBox directive is where you configure the framework for operation.

Application Setup

coldbox = {
    // The name of the application
    appName   = "My App",
    // The name of the incoming URL/FORM/REMOTE variable that tells the framework what event to execute. Ex: index.cfm?event=users.list
    eventName = "event"
};

Info : Please note that there are no mandatory settings as of ColdBox 4.2.0. If fact, you can remove the config file completely and your app will run. It will be impossible to reinit the app however without a reinit password set.

Development Settings

coldbox = {
    reinitPassword = "h1cker",
    handlersIndexAutoReload = true
};

reinitPassword

Protect the reinitialization of the framework URL actions. For security, if this setting is omitted, we will create a random password. Setting it to an empty string will allow you to reinitialize without a password. Always have a password set for public-facing sites.

// reinit with no password
http://localhost/?fwreinit=1
// reinit with password
http://localhost/?fwreinit=mypass

handlersIndexAutoReload

Will scan the conventions directory for new handler CFCs on each request if activated. Use false for production, this is only a development true setting.

Implicit Event Settings

coldbox={
    //Implicit Events
    defaultEvent  = "Main.index",
    requestStartHandler     = "Main.onRequestStart",
    requestEndHandler   = "Main.onRequestEnd",
    applicationStartHandler = "Main.onAppInit",
    applicationEndHandler = "Main.onAppEnd",
    sessionStartHandler = "Main.onSessionStart",
    sessionEndHandler = "Main.onSessionEnd",
    missingTemplateHandler = "Main.onMissingTemplate"
}

These settings map 1-1 from ColdBox events to the Application.cfc life-cycle methods. The only one that is not is the defaultEvent, which selects what event the framework will execute when no incoming event is detected via URL/FORM or REMOTE executions.

Extension Points

The ColdBox extension points are a great way to create federated applications that can reuse a centralized core instead of the local conventions. It is also a great way to extend some core classes with your own.

coldbox={
    //Extension Points
    applicationHelper             = "includes/helpers/ApplicationHelper.cfm",
    viewsHelper                    = "",
    modulesExternalLocation        = [],
    viewsExternalLocation        = "",
    layoutsExternalLocation     = "",
    handlersExternalLocation      = "",
    requestContextDecorator     = "",
    controllerDecorator         = ""
}

applicationHelper

A list or array of absolute or relative paths to a UDF helper file. The framework will load all the methods found in this helper file globally. Meaning it will be injected in ALL handlers, layouts and views.

viewsHelper

A list or array of absolute or relative paths to a UDF helper file. The framework will load all the methods found in this helper in layouts and views only.

modulesExternalLocation A list or array of locations of where ColdBox should look for modules to load into your application. The path can be a cf mapping or cfinclude compatible location. Modules are searched and loaded in the order of the declared locations. The first location ColdBox will search for modules is the conventions folder modules

viewsExternalLocation

The CF include path of where to look for secondary views for your application. Secondary views look just like normal views except the framework looks in the conventions folder first and if not found then searches this location.

layoutsExternalLocation

The CF include path of where to look for secondary layouts for your application. Secondary layouts look just like normal layouts except the framework looks in the conventions folder first and if not found then searches this location.

handlersExternalLocation The CF dot notation path of where to look for secondary events for your application. Secondary events look just like normal events except the framework looks in the conventions folder first and if not found then searches this location.

requestContextDecorator The CF dot notation path of the CFC that will decorate the system Request Context object.

controllerDecorator The CF dot notation path of the CFC that will decorate the system Controller

Exception Handling

coldbox = {
    // Error/Exception Handling handler
    exceptionHandler        = "",
    // Invalid HTTP method Handler
    invalidHTTPMethodHandler = "",
    // The handler to execute on invalid events
    invalidEventHandler = "",
    // The default error template    
    customErrorTemplate     = "/coldbox/system/includes/BugReport-Public.cfm"
}

exceptionHandler

The event handler to call whenever ANY non-catched exception occurs anywhere in the request lifecycle execution. Before this event is fired, the framework will log the error and place the exception in the prc as prc.exception.

invalidHTTPMethodHandler

The event handler to call whenever a route or event is accessed with an invalid HTTP method.

invalidEventHandler

This is the event handler that will fire masking a non-existent event that gets requested. This is a great place to place 302 or 404 redirects whenever non-existent events are being requested.

customErrorTemplate

The relative path from the application's root level of where the custom error template exists. This template receives a key in the private request collection called exception that contains the exception. By default ColdBox does not show robust exceptions, you can turn on robust exceptions by choosing the following template:

coldbox.customErrorTemplate = "/coldbox/system/includes/BugReport.cfm";

Application Aspects

coldbox = {
    // Persist handlers
    handlerCaching             = false,
    // Activate event caching
    eventCaching            = true,
    // Activate view  caching
    viewCaching              = true,
    // Return RC struct on Flex/Soap Calls
    proxyReturnCollection     = false,
    // Activate implicit views
    implicitViews           = true,
    // Case for implicit views
    caseSensitiveImplicitViews = true
}

handlerCaching

This is useful to be set to false in development and true in production. This tells the framework to cache your event handler objects as singletons.

eventCaching

This directive tells ColdBox that when events are executed they will be inspected for caching metadata. This does not mean that ALL events WILL be cached if this setting is turned on. It just activates the inspection mechanisms for whenever you annotate events for caching or using the runEvent() caching methods.

viewCaching

This directive tells ColdBox that when views are rendered, the cache=true parameter will be obeyed. Turning on this setting will not cause any views to be cached unless you are also passing in the caching parameters to your renderView() or event.setView() calls.

proxyReturnCollection

This is a boolean setting used when calling the ColdBox proxy's process() method from a Flex or SOAP/REST call. If this setting is set to true, the proxy will return back to the remote call the entire request collection structure ALWAYS! If set to false, it will return, whatever the event handler returned back. Our best practice is to always have this false and return appropriate data back.

implicitViews

Allows you to use implicit views in your application and view dispatching. You can get a performance boost if you disable this setting.

caseSensitiveImplicitViews

By default implicit views are case sensitive since ColdBox version 5.2.0, before this version the default was false.