In this week's Newsletter:
* New Frameworks Conference Topics/Changes
* Announcing CFWeekly contest
* Foosball Tournament at Frameworks Conference evening event
* Frameworks Hotel discount code cut-off date 01/09/07
* Frameworks Classes Contest ends 1/26/07
* Future of Fusebox survey due 1/12/07
* Interview on "Rapid Application Development with Model-Glue 2.0" with
Joe Rinehart
Quote from an attendee:
"CFUNITED is the Greatest Conference of any I've ever
been to, Coldfusion or not. It is large enough to have
great variety but isn't overwhelming. It has a broad
focus without being diluted. And, It has a wealth of
information while still being accessible to people of
all skill levels. The people you get to meet and interact
with are great and the camaraderie of the Coldfusion
community is evident. I love how the sessions are given
by people in the industry who are approachable and willing
to further discuss what they're teaching. I've been using
Coldfusion since version 1.5 but I always learn something
new at CFUNITED. The things I've learned at each CFUNITED
have been put into practice building sites for clients of
all types and across many industries. Each year I've
attended CFUNITED I can't wait to sign up for the next year
to make sure I don't miss out on the valuable information
and networking opportunities. "
- C. Rockett
--------------
* New Frameworks Conference Topics/Changes
New:
1. Chris Scott - Introduction to Aspect Oriented Programing with ColdSpring
http://www.frameworksconference.com/pages/topics.cfm#1360
2. TBA - OO CFML with interfaces and abstracts CFCs
More info coming soon
3. Model Glue Actionpacks Topic will now be covered by Joe Rinehart
--------------
* Announcing CFWeekly contest
Announced on Matt Woodward's blog this week "Win a Pass to
the Frameworks Conference!" http://www.mattwoodward.com/blog/
CFUnited would like to introduce CFWeekly. The ColdFusion
Weekly podcast is a "virtually live" call-in show focused
on events and issues in the ColdFusion community. Each week
Matt Woodward and Peter J. Farrell share their thoughts,
answer your questions, and interview ColdFusion developers
and others involved with software engineering and web development.
Raffle Give-a-ways, like the one Matt Woodward has announced
in his blog, will be repeated monthly offering TeraTech event
tickets to events like Frameworks and CFUnited. So read more
and listen to how you can win a pass to the next CF event!
http://www.coldfusionweekly.com/
--------------
* Fuseball Tournament at Frameworks Conference evening event
Here's what you've been waiting for! The official Fuseball (er Foosball)
tournament!
Through the blood, sweat, and tears, a new champion for 2007 will arise.
Will it be you? Go for it!
Whether you're totally into Foosball, or totally into Fusebox and want
to have fun, this tournament
is for you!
--------------
* Frameworks Hotel discount code cut-off date 01/09/07
If you would like to confirm that you have hotel reservations,
you may contact events (at) teratech.com
Hotel accommodations discount rate for Frameworks Conference
has a cut off date of January 9th, 2007. If you haven't made your
arrangements for staying at the main hotel, go to
http://www.frameworksconference.com/pages/travel.cfm
The Frameworks Conference is February 1-2, 2007
http://www.frameworksconference.com/
Cost is currently $499.00 - ask for discounts
----------------
* Frameworks Classes Contest ends 1/26/07
Everyone who registers for a pre-conference class by 1/26/07
will be put in a random drawing to win a 2 Gb memory stick.
http://www.frameworksconference.com/pages/classes.cfm
----------------
* Future of Fusebox survey due 1/12/07
We are looking at how we can improve Fusebox and want to know what you like
about it and what you want to see improved. Please take the survey at
http://fusebox.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=fusebox.survey
I will report back on the survey results in my talk "The Future of Fusebox"
at the Frameworks Conference and post on the Fusebox site. Also everyone
who completes the survey by Friday 1/12/07 will be entered in a random
drawing for one free ticket to the Frameworks Conference
http://www.frameworksconference.com/
----------------
* Spotlight Interview with Joe Rinehart
Michael Smith: This time I am talking with Joe Rinehart about his
upcoming pre-conference class on 01/31/07 "Rapid Application
Development with Model-Glue 2.0". Why should a developer come to
your class Joe?
Joe Rinehart: Simply put, it's a day's investment that'll pay for
itself the first time a developer uses Model-Glue 2. Model-Glue
1.0 became the tool of choice for many CFC and OOP ColdFusion
developers. Model-Glue 2.0 (which has been code-named "Unity" for
months now) aims to make their lives simpler, wrapping common tasks into
the framework without sacrificing the architectural advantages of
OOP and MVC programming.
MS: What exactly is Model-Glue?
JR: If you're writing CFCs for your business logic, and you're
not using a framework, you've probably got a big block of code at
the top of each of your .CFM templates that creates your business
components, invokes methods on them, and processes the results.
If more than one page needs to use the same method of the same
component, that code may be duplicated.
In short, Model-Glue replaces this block of code, separating your
presentation code (.CFM) from the method calls on your business
components, letting each page "pick and choose" which bits of
business logic to invoke.
MS: Why the Glue in the name? Is that like the controller in MVC?
JR: Pretty much! In Model-Glue, you write Controller components
that process user input (such as FORM, URL, and SESSION
variables) and passes it off to business logic components.
Having this component between your presentation tier (the "View"
in MVC) and your business logic components (the "Model" in MVC)
allows your Model to be re-used across multiple applications, and
for the view to remain unaffected by changes in the Model.
MS: What is new in version 2.0 of MG?
JR: First, the framework itself is modular. Model-Glue itself is
now a ColdSpring application, meaning that if you need to change
part of its functionality, you can write your own code and plug
it in via a ColdSpring XML file. You can do this on an
application-specific basis, or change the behavior of all Model-
Glue applications on a given server.
Second, you can now develop functionality, such as a message
board, as a re-usable module called an "Action Pack" that can be
plugged in to any Model-Glue application (even existing Model-
Glue 1.0 applications!).
Last, and what's gotten people excited, is the introduction of
Generic Database Messages as well as Scaffolding, which automate
the most common database tasks of inserting, reading, updating,
deleting, and querying table rows, as well as generating basic UI
to edit the contents of a table.
MS: Cool. So what makes MG development so rapid?
JR: At first glance, scaffolding is the obvious answer - you can
create a business tier and UI for editing a relational data model
with just a few XML tags by using Model-Glue in conjunction with
either the Reactor or Transfer ORM frameworks.
However, the true answer goes beyond that.
First, scaffolding relies on Generic Database Messages (GDMs),
which are simple ways you can have the framework automatically
perform those basic database tasks - CRUD and Query - that we
seem to always be re-writing. These GDMs can be used in any
Model-Glue page, or "event" in Model-Glue-speak. If I need to
write an event that uses URL.ArticleId to delete a row from the
Article table, all I have to type is the following:
[message name="ModelGlue.genericDelete"]
[argument name="criteria" value="articleId" /]
[argument name="object" value="article" /]
[/message]
(tag angle brackets replaced by [] to make it through email)
Last, MG development is truly rapid because it uses an ORM
framework to generate a set business tier CFCs that are entirely
separate from your framework. In less technical terms, Model-
Glue 2.0 development is rapid because it speeds your initial
development while anticipating your need to change your business
logic later on to suit your own needs, or even move away from
Model-Glue an into an environment such as Flex.
MS: Scaffolding? Tell me more about that...
JR: Scaffolding's a quick way to get a prototype UI for a
relational data model up and running. If I want to create a
master list, detail view, and editing form for the aforementioned
Article table, all I have to type is the following:
[scaffold object="article" /]
Seriously, that's it.
Scaffolding's fairly smart, though. First, you can edit the
presentation code it generates without effecting the workings of
the scaffold, letting you customize the basic UI it creates.
Secondly, you can change the generation logic by writing your own
..XSL.
However, what really sets Scaffolding in Model-Glue apart from
some other frameworks is that scaffolding, under the hood, just
generates Model-Glue events that use the Generic Database
Messages to get their work, the manipulation of table rows, done.
This means that pieces of a scaffold, such as its generated view
code, can be re-used outside of the scaffold. Or, scaffolds
could even be extended using your own Model-Glue Controller code.
If I wanted to wrap the edit, update, delete, and commit events
for editing an article with some security code that I'd already
written, I could type this:
[scaffold object="article" type="edit,update,delete,commit"]
[broadcasts]
[message name="RequireAdminRights" /]
[/broadcasts]
[/scaffold]
MS: Will you be doing some RAD (Rapid Application Development) in
your class?
JR: Given that the name of the class is "Rapid Application
Development with Model-Glue 2.0," I'd sure hope so :).
The class will first focus on why the framework exists, and why
the 2.0 version has evolved into its current state. Then, we'll
learn to write a basic Model-Glue 1.0-style application that does
basic database manipulation, introducing some of the design
patterns commonly used in Model-Glue development. Last, we'll
spent the majority of the day writing a basic, but functional,
online store.
MS: Will there be demo code for people to try themselves?
JR: Of course! Like my previous full-day classes, we'll develop
the code in a series of iterations, making the code for each
iteration available to everyone. This lets students see not just
the end code, but the process we used to arrive at our goal,
which I find much more valuable.
MS: What should people have loaded on their laptops when they
come to class? Are there any pre-requisites for this class?
JR: You should be familiar with ColdFusion Component syntax, and be a
developer who primarily works in data-centric web applications
(applications that focus on manipulating data in a relational
database). I'll provide the full source code for the work we'll
be doing, and we'll spend a bit of time setting people up to
"code along" if they like, but the focus of the class will be
working collaboratively and developing as a team.
MS: Sounds like a great class for folks interested in Model Glue
- see you at the conference!
JR: Looking forward to it!
Rapid Application Development with Model-Glue 2.0
Location: Bethesda North Marriott
http://www.frameworksconference.com/pages/classes.cfm
In this class, we're going to write an online store in eight
hours. We'll be using Model-Glue 2.0, also known as "Unity," a
ground-up rewrite of the popular Model-Glue framework for
ColdFusion. Model-Glue 2.0 is the first ColdFusion framework to
provide scaffolding, the ability to automatically generate
Object-Oriented, database-driven applications. In this class,
we'll learn about the RAD capabilities this provides by using
Model-Glue, in conjunction with the Reactor ORM framework, to
create a functioning online store. We'll also learn a bit about
agile development methodologies as well as the ColdSpring
framework.
Instructor: Joe Rinehart
Joe Rinehart is a developer who's becoming increasingly focused
on making object-oriented ColdFusion development a reality. By
blogging at clearsoftware.net, writing for ColdFusion Developer's
Journal, and authoring the Model-Glue Framework, he may be making
progress.
---------------
* Event Facts and Details Summary
CFUnited 2007 - Bethesda North Marriott - June 27th - 30th 2007
Prices: $849 - $949 (Ask for discounts! [EMAIL PROTECTED])
* First 100 people to register get a CFUnited hat!
http://www.cfunited.com/2007/
Frameworks 2007 - Bethesda North Marriott - February 1st & 2nd 2007
Prices: $499 (Ask for discounts! [EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.frameworksconference.com/
CFUnited Europe 2008 - London - Tentative Dates March 12th - 13th 2008
New site, prices, call for speakers, location and information will
be announced early in 2007.
CFUNITED Express - One day events in NYC and Atlanta dates TBA in spring
2007.
--
Michael Smith, TeraTech Inc - Tools for Programmers(tm)
TeraTech voted Best Consulting Service by CFDJ readers!
CF/ASP Web, VB, Math, Access programming tools and consulting
405 E Gude Dr Ste 207, Rockville MD 20850 USA
Please check out http://www.teratech.com/ - email
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED],
or call us for more information; in the USA at 1-800-447-9120,
+1-301-424-3903 International, Fax 301-762-8185 Thanks!
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