Every developer eventually begins to see the pitfalls of large applications and trying to manage all the files and processes that make up that application.
At work, I am dealing with a large existing CFML application with hundreds of cfm pages, hundreds of database tables and many supporting documents. We have slowly moved to a DRY (Don’t repeat yourself) model for some items that regularly appear in almost every page but still have many custom elements for each tool or report in the main application. Some tools have their own stylesheets and page configuration.
As I grow in my development methods, I have discovered separation of content vs logic allows faster development and increases the DRY-ness to an application. In doing research I kept seeing the words OO, MVC, and Framework. It took me several readings to understand the basics of MVC and Frameworks but I could not envision how I would use them. To me, frameworks just seem to create a lot of extra code. OO is even more of a mystery to me.
Until today. Today I discovered ColdFusion on Wheels.
Wheels is an open source CFML framework inspired by Ruby on Rails. ColdFusion on Wheels provides fast application development, a great organization system for your code, and is just plain fun to use.
The video tutorials I watched helped me understand the shortcuts one can utilize to make things like data entry and updating much simpler. I find their tag system is very much like JQuery, so once you learn the syntax and where things go, you could have new applications up and running very quickly. Maintenance can be even easier.
I assume it could handle complex applications where forms build upon themselves before submitting. I need to review further how it interacts with Javascript/JQuery or if they are even needed. I have an application in mind to do my testing with but I need to learn a little more before I commit to the hours of development and changing my methods that have been time tested. I am not sure I could use it to develop standard brochure sites and be able to teach site owners how to update their pages.
But Just to keep things in balance, I discovered this article: how-oo-almost-destroyed-my-business. The applications I deal with at work are not ready for nor have need of Frameworks. Coldfusion + SQL+ Javascript does all we need it to. Simplicity overrides need for technical prowess.
Awesome write-up, Eric. In response to some of your assumptions/questions/thoughts:
* I’ve seen Wheels be used for some very complex stuff. The company I’m working with now has even built a complex but elegant SaaS CMS on top of Wheels.
* Wheels stands apart from JavaScript and jQuery for the most part. You would need to write your own jQuery and wire it up to a Wheels action that calls renderText() or renderPartial() at the end.
* You’re right that Wheels is a developer tool and not an end user tool. Wheels is not a CMS, but you could use it to build a CMS for your users to use. Also, take a look at the open source SplashCMS, built on Wheels: http://splashcms.com/
* Perhaps my blog post in response to the OO Business Destruction post can bring some ideas and thoughts to light. And perhaps not. 😉 http://cfwheels.org/blog/how-oo-almost-destroyed-business/
Our Google Group is always happy to answer any other questions that you have along your journey to development nirvana. Come by and say hi! http://groups.google.com/group/cfwheels?hl=en
And now I will stop pasting dozens of links in your comments section.
Thanks Chris, Your tutorials are great and were very helpful as well as inspiring. It may take me a while but I will find an appropriate use of the framework.