088 CFWheels (A ColdFusion Framework for the REST of us) with Tom King and David Belanger

CFWheels is an open source CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) MVC framework inspired by Ruby on Rails that simplifies application development through convention over configuration. With over 15 years of continuous development since its first release in 2006, CFWheels provides developers with fast application development, organized code architecture, and built-in features like RESTful routing, ORM capabilities, and database migrations. Whether you are migrating legacy ColdFusion applications or building modern APIs, CFWheels balances flexibility with developer-friendly simplicity, making it an ideal choice for teams seeking rapid development without overwhelming complexity. David Belanger and Tom King talk about “CFWheels (A ColdFusion Framework for the REST of us)” in this episode of the CF Alive Podcast, with host Michaela Light. "... So, if you had to compare these four frameworks to personalities of animals, what would each one feel like to you?"   Show notes What You Need to Know About CFWheels MVC framework inspired by the Ruby on Rails (RoR) framework CFWheels is an open source CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) framework inspired by Ruby on Rails that provides fast application development, a great organization system for your code, and is just plain fun to use. Team 4 wheels - Andy Bellenie, Adam Chapman, Tom King, David Belanger Why is it a framework for the REST of us? Hybrid development style - pop on legacy code into a View module and it will just work (then refactor later) Convention over configuration No XML config file - but do have config files with cfscript that set CFWheels variables Streamlined ORM, but can add in SQL queries when you want to Inspired by RoR with over 10 years of development (first commit 2006!) Rails is an inspiration and not a rule of law, but a useful reference: i.e, routing Friendly framework Great for those who might have tried other frameworks and found them overwhelming Convention over Configuration Good for beginners Lots of user-friendly documentation How different is CFWheels from ColdBox or FW/1 or Fusebox? (They are all MVC frameworks) What animal does each framework remind you of? ColdBox = Friendly Tiger who does everything FW/1  = Fast bird, who gets in an out fast, lightweight Fusebox = Neglected dinosaur, powerful but has not been maintained recently CFWheels = Horse - just get on and ride Why use a framework at all? See the first page of the CFWheels docs https://guides.cfwheels.org/ Team and maintenance faster Why not use a homegrown framework? Easier to pass code base on to other developers Especially for open source projects You benefit from other people fixing bugs in the framework RESTful routing https://guides.cfwheels.org/cfwheels-guides/handling-requests-with-controllers/routing Resource-based routing Can easily just turn your app into an API eg to an Angular front end Microservices? Not so much Single framework with plugins Fads in IT Own ORM (Active Record Style) Dynamic Finders, i.e findOneByEmail Model Validation Own ORM so independent of CF engine ORM changes Lots of stuff Built-in Database Migrations / MySQL MSSQL Postgres Documentation / automatic developer documentation Test Suite based on RocketUnit Commandbox based CLI CORS handling (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) CFWheels 2.1 feature Protect from CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) Flash handling The Flash is just a struct in the session or cookie scope with some added functionality. It is cleared at the end of the next page that the user views. This means that it's a good fit for storing messages or variables temporarily from one request to the next. Nothing to do with Adobe Flash player! Plugins - ForgeBox Future - next release 2.1 Bug fixes Faster startup CORS functionality 2.x Moved code to cfscript (from CF tags) Form helpers Small but Friendly community Google mailing list for help CFML slack channel #CFWheels room Blog Github Twitter You Outreach? Mostly word of mouth currently Why are you proud to use CF? It always works! Fast to develop WWIT to make CF more alive this year? Support Lucee PHP beater And in the cloud More blogs and education Talk it up in your proposals Education - talk to teachers who are teaching the classes Or teach CF at schools or universities yourself More open source apps What are you looking forward to at Into The Box? Passionate Fun Mentioned in this episode CFWheels ColdBox FW/1 Fusebox State of the CF Union survey  Into The Box conference Listen to the Audio Bios Tom King Tom is a freelance full-stack web developer and has been working with CFML since 2001, and with CFWheels since version 1.1.3. He joined the core team in 2014 and spoke on CFWheels 2.0 at CFCamp 2016. He has created everything from custom CMS systems to eLearning platforms with CFWheels, mainly for the Oxford Internet Institute and the Oxford Martin School, both at the University of Oxford. Alongside his freelance work, he's also CTO of a new startup, Kinherit LTD, which works in the area of end-of-life planning (wills and probate etc). When not coding, Tom will usually be found behind a set of drums, or hidden deep in a wine cellar. Links Website CFWheels Twitter David Belanger David is a Canadian ColdFusion developer who lives in Argentina with his wife and 4 extremely active children. He's been with CF since version 4.5 and was briefly the only reseller of CF in Argentina before Adobe acquired Macromedia. He's dedicated full-time to CF development on several new and legacy projects as well as a strong CF advocate and a current member of the CFWheels Core Team. He currently works full-time “creating things that matter” at Intoria Internet Architects, a web development company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada Links Twitter Website Main site  GitHub  Google Groups  Slack Channel  Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  Episode transcript Michaela Light 0:01 Welcome back to the show I'm here with David Ballenger and Tom King and we're going to be talking about CF wheels a cold fusion framework for the rest of us and we'll look at what CF wheels is and what's coming up in the new release of CF wheels and some really cool things you can do with restful routing and the CRM that's built into it and lots of other cool stuff so welcome Tom and David and if case you don't know them that two of the four wheels on the CF wheels team I guess you could call it a CF wheels bus so to speak and Tom has been doing cold fusion since 2001 and he he joined see if we'll switch from one what a while ago and he even spoke on it and see if camp few years back so three years ago now so and then. David He is our Canadian ColdFusion connection currently living in Argentina so he's very international and he's been doing cold fusion since version four or five which is a long while ago so and helps get cold fusion more exciting in Argentina and Latin America. So welcome David and Tom Both 1:29 Thank you having us Michaela Light 1:30 yeah so I guess the the elephant in the room is for those people who haven't UCF wheels and I know from our cold fusion developer survey the State of the Union survey not everyone uses CF wheels the maybe people wondering what what is CF wheels I obviously has something to do with ColdFusion but but what is i Both 1:54 was just you can just go ahead Tom King 1:56 Well... Tom King 2:00 In short, it's an MVC based framework. And it was inspired somewhat by Ruby on Rails. And it's got about let's go over 10 years worth of development in it. And the idea was to have a really successful framework where we got inspired by the Ruby on Rails concepts and translated them as Seth, I think, David, you know, a bit more about some of the sort of history side of it, don't you? Read more How TeraTech Approaches ColdFusion Framework Solutions TeraTech brings a unique perspective to CFWheels discussion across multiple knowledge channels, recognizing that modern ColdFusion development requires frameworks that balance power with accessibility. Through the CF Alive Podcast and community engagement, TeraTech emphasizes how CFWheels enables development teams to maintain mission-critical applications while implementing modern development methodologies. We provide comprehensive resources including the free ColdFusion Alive Best Practices Checklist, which covers continuous integration, automated testing, and portable development environments that work seamlessly with CFWheels projects. By hosting in-depth discussions about framework comparisons and showcasing real-world implementations through our ColdFusion development services, TeraTech demonstrates how CFWheels solves the challenge of keeping legacy applications "alive" with modern architectural practices. This approach ensures that organizations depending on ColdFusion for mission-critical operations can confidently evolve their applications without abandoning the language that powers their business. FAQs About CFWheels ColdFusion Framework What is CFWheels and how does it differ from other ColdFusion frameworks? CFWheels is an open source MVC framework for CFML inspired by Ruby on Rails that emphasizes convention over configuration. Unlike ColdBox (which provides extensive enterprise features like a "friendly tiger who does everything"), FW/1 (a lightweight "fast bird"), or the neglected Fusebox framework, CFWheels functions as an approachable "horse you just get on and ride." It offers over 15 years of development maturity, built-in ORM with dynamic finders, RESTful routing capabilities,...