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GCA.NET Case Study

Background Information

Summarize your current project

Redesign existing http://www.GCA.net Web site. Goals: Adapt from an existing proprietary framework into the a ColdBox Application; Improve code maintenance; Add SES URLs; Provide improved user experience to reduce bounce rate.

GCA Technology Services had recently reorganized the marketing department and replaced the prior Web development team. This project is the first effort of the new team.

How many developers in the team

Do you or your team have any framework experience?

Yes, prior experience with FuseBox and .NET

How long have you been working with ColdBox?

One developer began using ColdBox late in 2008, one developer was introduced to ColdBox at the start of this project.

Technical Information

What version of ColdBox are you using?

GCA is using ColdBox 2.6.3 as of 9/25/2009.

What CFML Engine are you using?

As of 09/25/2009 the application is using ColdFusion 7.

Was there a technical hurdle that ColdBox was able to overcome? If so, what was it?

ColdBox simplified development and provided better code maintainability.

Is there a particular feature in ColdBox that stands out to you and/or your team?

There are several features that appealed to us. The feature that most stands out is the extensive documentation. By adopting the ColdBox Framework we reduced our documentation demands. Documentation was only required for development of our model layer and augmentation to the Framework such as custom interceptors. The reduced documentation demand accelerated our development.

Other features that appealed to us are: Caching; Shared Scope Management through Plug-ins; The Auto-Wire Interceptor; The Bean Factory Plug-IN; SES Interceptor and the ColdFusion Configuration compared to XML configuration.

Did ColdBox help your application's maintainability, deployment and scalability?

Yes, ColdBox improved the maintainability of our application. Furthermore, it offered our team additional security that we could quickly bring future developers up to speed on the application given its model-view-controller and object-oriented approach combined with the framework’s extensive documentation.

The framework allowed us to maintain two slightly different versions of the application that automatically adjust given the environment which we have found useful for development. Additionally, the caching, shared scope management and the framework in general have provided us with an application that we feel will continue to scale with our needs.

What ColdBox tools are invaluable to your development?

Existing plug-ins; existing interceptors; Documentation; API Reference;

Did you integrate other technologies, libraries, frameworks with ColdBox? If so, how was the integration process?

We integrated customer jQuery. ColdBox made the rendering of JSON or Plain Text extremely simple. We relied on ColdBox’s beanFactory plugin for model management over other frameworks such as ColdSpring

Architecture

Where does ColdBox fit in your or your team's architecture long term? Does it have a primary role? Secondary role?

Future applications are expected to be developed as ColdBox applications. We have developed our model layer to be easily reached through multiple ColdBox applications. Future development will continue to be accelerated.

What made you choose ColdBox? What where ColdBox's main advantages?

The first motive was documentation. By choosing ColdBox we secured time to develop more and document less, without compromising the integrity of the application through any future development team changes.

General

What was your experience building your applications using ColdBox?

As we continue to maintain the application, we regularly validate our decision to build http://www.gca.net on the ColdBox framework.

What advice would you give to someone coming into using ColdBox?

Use the convention provided by ColdBox. Ensure you take advantage of custom interceptors to eliminate common tasks that could be repeated in multiple event handlers.

Was the ColdBox documentation and advantage to your development?

The ColdBox documentation was a primary motive for the selection of the framework. Much of the framework and best practices in using the framework were taught in person by the developer with prior knowledge of the framework; however, both developers use the API documentation daily.

Where your business goals address and accomplished?

The goals were achieved; specifically ColdBox allowed us to implement an application that will be easier to maintain going forward.