ColdBox HMVC Documentation
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5.x
5.x
  • Introduction
  • Intro
    • Introduction
      • What's New With 5.6.0
      • What's New With 5.5.0
      • What's New With 5.4.0
      • What's New With 5.3.0
      • What's New With 5.2.0
      • What's New With 5.1.4
      • What's New With 5.1.3
      • What's New With 5.1.2
      • What's New With 5.1.1
      • What's New With 5.1.0
      • What's New With 5.0.0
      • Upgrading to ColdBox 5
      • About This Book
      • Author
  • For Newbies
    • 60 Minute Quick Start
      • Installing ColdBox
      • My First ColdBox Application
      • My First Handler & View
      • Linking Events Together
      • Working With Event Handlers
      • Adding A Layout
      • Adding A Model
      • RESTFul Data
      • Next Steps
  • Getting Started
    • Getting Started Guide
    • Installation
    • Conventions
    • Configuration
      • ColdBox.cfc
        • Configuration Directives
          • CacheBox
          • ColdBox
          • Conventions
          • Environments
          • Flash
          • InterceptorSettings
          • Interceptors
          • Layouts
          • LayoutSettings
          • LogBox
          • Modules
          • ModuleSettings
          • Settings
          • WireBox
        • System Settings (Java Properties and Environment Variables)
      • Using Settings
      • Bootstrapper - Application.cfc
  • The Basics
    • Request Context
    • Routing
      • Requirements
        • Rewrite Rules
      • Application Router
      • Routing DSL
        • Routing By Convention
        • Pattern Placeholders
        • Routing Methods
        • Resourceful Routes
        • Named Routes
        • Routing Groups
        • Routing Namespaces
      • Building Routable Links
      • RESTFul Extension Detection
      • HTTP Method Spoofing
      • HTML Base Tag
      • Pathinfo Providers
    • Event Handlers
      • How are events called?
      • Getting & Setting Values
      • Setting Views
      • Relocating
      • Rendering Data
      • Sending Files
      • Interception Methods
        • Pre Advices
        • Post Advices
        • Around Advices
      • Model Integration
        • Model Data Binding
      • HTTP Method Security
      • Implicit Methods
      • Executing Events
      • Executing Routes
      • Viewlets - Reusable Events
      • Event Caching
      • Validation
    • Layouts & Views
      • Views
        • Rendering Views
        • Rendering External Views
        • Rendering With Local Variables
        • Rendering Collections
        • View Caching
        • View Helpers
        • View Events
      • Layouts
        • Basic Layouts
        • Default Layout
        • Nested Layouts
        • Overriding Layouts
        • Layouts From A Module
        • Layout Helpers
        • Layout Events
      • Implicit Layout-View Declarations
      • Helpers UDF's
      • ColdBox Elixir
    • Models
      • Domain Modeling
        • Service Layer
        • Data Layers
        • Book
      • Conventions Location
      • WireBox Binder
      • Super Type Usage Methods
      • Injection DSL
        • Model Object Namespace
        • ColdBox Namespace
        • CacheBox Namespace
        • LogBox Namespace
        • WireBox Namespace
        • EntityService Namespace
      • Object Scopes
      • Coding: Solo Style
        • Datasource
        • Contact.cfc
        • ContactDAO.cfc
        • ContactService.cfc
        • Contacts Handler
      • Coding: ActiveEntity Style
        • ORM
        • Contact.cfc
        • Contacts Handler
        • Views
      • Coding: Virtual Service Layer
        • ORM
        • Contacts.cfc
        • Contacts Handler
        • Views
      • Coding: ORM Scaffolding
        • ORM
        • Contacts.cfc
        • Scaffold
  • HMVC
    • Modules
      • Core Modules
      • Locations
      • Parent Configuration
      • Module Layout
        • Changing The Module Layout
      • Module Service
        • Module Lifecycle
        • Module Registration
        • Module Activation
        • Module Unloading
        • Common Methods
        • Loading New Modules
        • Loading A-la-carte Modules
        • Module Events
      • ModuleConfig
        • Public Module Properties\/Directives
        • The Decorated Variables
        • The configure() Method
        • Module Settings
        • Environment Control
        • Interceptor Events
      • Module Event Executions
      • URL Routing
        • Default Route Execution
        • Module Routes Files
      • Request Context Module Methods
      • Layout and View Renderings
        • Layout\/View Discovery
        • Overriding Views
        • Overriding Layouts
        • Default Module Layout
        • Explicit Module Renderings
      • Models
      • Module CF Mappings
      • Module Dependencies
      • Module Helpers
      • Module Bundles
      • Module Inception
  • Testing
    • Testing Quick Start
    • Testing ColdBox Applications
      • Test Harness
      • ColdBox Testing Classes
      • Integration Testing
        • Test Annotations
        • Common Methods
        • Life-Cycle Events
        • Test Setup
        • The execute() Method
        • The Handler To Test
        • The Integration Test
        • Handler Returning Results
        • Testing Without Virtual Application
        • Rendering Results
        • HTTP Method Mocking
      • Interceptor Testing
      • Model Object Testing
      • Tips & Tricks
  • Digging Deeper
    • Interceptors
      • How do they work?
        • Conventions
      • Interceptor Declaration
      • Interceptor Registration
      • Core Interception Points
        • Application Life Cycle Events
        • Object Creating Events
        • Layout-View Events
        • Module Events
        • CacheBox Events
      • Restricting Execution
      • Interceptor Output Buffer
      • Custom Events
        • Configuration Registration
        • Programmatic Registration
        • Listening
        • Announcing Interceptions
      • Unregistering Interceptors
      • Reporting Methods
      • Interceptor Asynchronicity
        • Async Announcements
        • Async Listeners With Join
        • Async Listeners No Join
        • Asynchronous Annotations
    • Flash RAM
      • Flash Storage
      • Using Flash RAM
      • Creating Your Own Flash Scope
    • HTML Helper
    • ColdBox Proxy
      • Getting Started
      • The Base Proxy Object
      • The Event Handlers
        • Distinguishing Request Types
        • RenderData()
      • Proxy Events
      • Standard Return Types
      • Caveats & Gotchas
    • Request Context Decorator
    • Controller Decorator
    • Recipes
      • Building REST APIs
      • Application Templates
      • ColdBox Exception Handling
      • Debugging ColdBox Apps
      • Clearing the View Cache
      • Building a simple Basic HTTP Authentication Interceptor
  • Architecture Concepts
    • What is MVC
    • What is ColdBox
    • How ColdBox Works
    • Testing Concepts
      • Functional Testing
      • Non-Functional Testing
      • Bugs Cost Money
      • Static Testing
      • Dynamic Testing
      • Developer Focus
      • Testing Vocabulary
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  • Handler Code
  • Executing Events
  • My First Virtual Event

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  1. For Newbies
  2. 60 Minute Quick Start

My First Handler & View

Now let's create our first controller, which in ColdBox is called Event Handler. Let's go to CommandBox again:

coldbox create handler name="hello" actions="index"

This will generate the following files:

  • A new handler called hello.cfc inside of the handlers folder

  • A view called index.cfm in the views/hello folder

  • An integration test at tests/specs/integration/helloTest.cfc.

Now go to your browser and the following URL to execute the generated event:

# With rewrites enabled
http://localhost:{port}/hello/index

# With no rewrites enabled
http://localhost:{port}/index.cfm/hello/index

You will now see a big hello.index outputted to the screen. You have now created your first handler and view combination.

Handler Code

Let's check out the handler code:

component{

    /**
     * Default Action
     */
     function index( event, rc, prc ){
        event.setView( "hello/index" );
     }


}

As you can see, a handler is a simple CFC with functions on them. Each function maps to an action that is executed via the URL. The default action in ColdBox is index()which receives three arguments:

  • event - An object that models and is used to work with the current request

  • rc - A struct that contains both URL/FORM variables (unsafe data)

  • prc - A secondary struct that is private only settable from within your application (safe data)

The event object is used for many things, in the case of this function we are calling a setView() method which tells the framework what view to render to the user once execution of the action terminates.

Tip: The view is not rendered in line 7, but rendered after the execution of the action by the framework.

Executing Events

Did you detect a convention here?

The sections in the URL are the same as the name of the event handler CFC (hello.cfc) and method that was generated index(). By convention, this is how you execute events in ColdBox by leveraging the following URL pattern that matches the name of a handler and action function.

You can also nest handlers into folders and you can also pass the name of the folder(s) as well.

http://localhost:{port}/folder/handler/action
http://localhost:{port}/handler/action
http://localhost:{port}/handler

If no action is defined in the URL then the default action of index will be used.

All of this URL magic happens thanks to the URL mappings capabilities in ColdBox. By convention, you can write beautiful URLs that are RESTFul and by convention. You can also extend them and create more expressive URL Mappings by leveraging the config/Router.cfc which is your application router.

My First Virtual Event

Now let's create a virtual event, which is basically just a view we want to execute with no event handler controller needed. This is a great way to incorporate non-mvc files into ColdBox, baby steps!

coldbox create view name="virtual/hello"

Open the view now (/views/virtual/hello.cfm) and add the following:

<h1>Hello from ColdBox Land!</h1>

Then go execute the virtual event:

http://localhost:{port}/virtual/hello

You will get the Hello From ColdBox Land! displayed! This is a great way to create tests or even bring in legacy/procedural templates into an MVC framework.

Last updated 7 years ago

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Tip: Please see the guide for more in-depth information.

Tip: You can see our section for more in-depth information.

event handlers
layouts and views