The one thing that will help you to make the proper decision(s) regarding object calls will be to lay out your application framework ahead of time and set up rules to govern communications between objects. If you set the proper rules, they're easy to follow and you won't find yourself having to bend/break them.
As an example, here is how we set up our model: Subsystem layer: CFCs representing core business applications and data stores (listserv, CRM/fulfillment system, database, etc.). These are *dumb* objects that can only submit/return data from these systems. Business logic layer: These are objects identified as major players in our model. They are not allowed to talk to each other. They utilize the subsystem layer to gather, cache, and process the data they represent. Business logic interface layer: A single CFC that governs all communication with the BL layer. This CFC is essentially an assembler/constructor that calls the BL CFCs to perform specific jobs. User interface layer: Web site templates that communicate with the business logic interface CFC. The UI is not allowed to access the BL directly. Putting this rule in place has helped to streamline our code and make it immensely easier to manage. There *are* other objects in the system that function outside of these rules, but they are few. We have the token user/customer session object, and a security object (server scope) that has free reign over the entire system. There are other rules in place for these objects as well, besides actual O-O communication. Scope access is one of the bigger ones. Objects are not allowed to access information outside of the scope they live in. Sounds drastic, but it works very well and keeps the model clean. If a job requires the combination of data from several scopes, it typically happens at the template level (probably in a custom tag), with object calls bringing data to the template and the end result passed along to its destination. Anyway, granted this might not be true OO design, but it's working well (and fast), holding up under load, and it's a heck of a lot easier to manage code now than it was a year ago :) Matt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:184279 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
