The Model-Glue Framework: Blog - Gesture is Coming

Model-Glue Training In Your Town

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:34:00 -0400

We've been knocking around the idea of a roving Model Glue training center. We've already done this in Claremont, CA to members of the Inland Empire ColdFusion User Group and folks got a lot out of it. That particular course was done over a single day, to prove out the material and to be useful to the IECFUG. For the next phase, the vision would be to travel to an area and run a practical, intense training in OO and Model-Glue 3 over a weekend. We want to take a shot out there and see which parts of the country were interested in being first in having this training. So if you think 4 - 8 people would be interested in hanging out for a weekend and learning some good OO and Model Glue stuff, leave a comment on this post. We'll take a week or so to get a plan together and then follow back up with more details.

Model Glue:Gesture - Final Release Available

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:17:00 -0400

Mid-Monday, we made available the final release for Model-Glue 3. This release has been tagged in SVN, for future reference. A new zip file is available at the Model Glue ColdFusion page and the latest code is in trunk, as always. We'll have a Birds of a Feather session at CFUnited on 8/12/2009 at 8:30 PM in the aptly named Matrix room. We'll discuss new features, the upcoming road map and open the project to community members. If you aren't at CFUnited, you can still apply to be a community member by commenting on this blog post. After CFUnited is over, we'll be doing a series of presentations on how to use MG 3 most effectively and will also work on a new set of jump start tutorials. For now, we'll be at the conference, enjoying the feeling from getting MG out the door and in the hands of the waiting public. --Dan

Capture the Essence of Model-Glue

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:55:00 -0400

After much requests by the Model-Glue fan base, we are pleased to announce a special product that captures the essence of Model-Glue. That's right! For a limited time, limited quantities of Model Glue Cologne Spray are available to the public letting you wear the alluring scent of Model-Glue. How did we pack ColdSpring Integration, Custom Scaffold Generation, Request Formats, Event Generation, all in an event-driven, inversion of control, dependency injected, implicit invocated XML driven container? You'll have to put in an order and see for yourself.

Model Glue:Gesture - Release Candidate Now Available

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:25:00 -0400

The release candidate for the much anticipated Model Glue:Gesture release is now available. The target date for this release will coincide with CFUnited.

What's going on at CFUnited?

There will be a Model-Glue:Gesture BoF session on Wednesday 8/12/2009 at 8:30 PM in the aptly named Matrix room where we'll announce the new framework and also go over some new opportunities for the MG community. There will also be 2 Model-Glue presentations on Thursday morning 8/13/2009. One by me (Dan Wilson) at 8:30 and one by the Illustrious and Handsome Mark Drew at 9:45.

What if you find a bug?

While we do our best to ensure the highest quality, occasionally something slips past us. Simply Add a ticket and we'll sort it out straight away.

Credits?

A number of folks were very helpful during this last and final push. Ezra Parker worked on some pretty deep scaffolding/relationship issues in this release. John Mason put in some good work with the AbstractRemotingService and also wrote the Unit Tests along with a new example application called Buster, showcasing how to use the RemotingService in ModelGlue:Gesture. Ray Camden provided the impetus for some new functionality and also ported over LighthousePro to Model-Glue:Gesture as a new example application. Chris Peterson and Ezra Parker worked out some issues with our infrastructure and Chris was especially helpful in helping out with other MG property issues. The road to the release has been paved with the efforts of many. I'm proud to see the 3.0 release coming up in just a week! Keep Sniffing The 'Glue --Dan

Model-Glue Updated for CF9 Beta

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:33:00 -0400

To coincide with the big CF9 beta released today, Model-Glue:3 (code named gesture), and Model-Glue:2 (code named Unity) have been updated for CF9 compatibility. You can download the latest from the Model-Glue ColdFusion page.

All unit tests, passed, but if you happen to notice any strange issues please report them to the Model-Glue Bug Tracker.

Model Glue:Gesture - New Feature For Review - Default Event Types

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:45:00 -0400

Your Input Requested

After a deep discussion on the Model-Glue mailing list about Default Event Types we've come up with something that seems to work for everyone. Here is a special build with an implementation of Default Event Types for your review.

Explanation

As you know, Model-Glue Event Types allow classification of functionality and assignment to Event-Handlers. Event Types increase reusability, code-clarity and increase line-potency of Model-Glue applications. You can read more on Model-Glue Event Types here.

Where You Come In

We want to have a community review on this feature. Please take it for a test drive. Here is how you use it:

A special thanks to Chris Blackwell for providing a patch to enable this feature. Another thanks to Doug Hughes for helping me get the XMLModuleLoader unit tests sorted out.

Model Glue:Gesture - In The News

Wed, 20 May 2009 08:30:00 -0400

Model-Glue Birds Of A Feather

Thanks to all who came to the BOF at CF.Objective() on Friday night. That was a lot of fun and generated a lot of good ideas. Look for posts on the Model-Glue mailing list to start nailing the features. Get your voice heard!!!

Some nice folks have been writing on MG as of late. In no particular order...

Dan Skaggs

Dan has a nice write up on his first few weeks with Model-Glue:Gesture. He explains some of the high level concepts with promise of more posts to come in the future. http://dan.skaggsfamily.ws/2009/05/20/modelglue-3-first-impressions-from-an-mg-newbie/

John Ramon

John is going to test drive a few frameworks starting with Model-Glue. He plans to get an app up and running in the next week. http://www.johnramon.com/index.cfm/id/9/Model-Glue-installed-and-tested.. Pssst.... John, I've got some tutorials here: http://www.nodans.com/page.cfm/Tutorials to help you get started.

If I've missed any recent news, drop us a line at model-glue@googlegroups.com and we'll post it here...

Model Glue:Gesture - Beta Available

Tue, 12 May 2009 14:56:00 -0400

Beta Available Now

The Model-Glue team is pleased to release the initial public beta of Model-Glue 3: Gesture, a return to Model-Glue's roots of dead-simple MVC+II development. Download the Model-Glue 3: Gesture Beta and give it a spin.

There will be a Model-Glue Birds Of A Feather Session at CF.Objective() on Friday at 8PM (Skyway Suite AB on the 2nd floor of the Hyatt) to talk about the new Beta release, answer questions and get an idea of who wants to help contribute.

Documentation

Model-Glue:Gesture documentation is located at http://docs.model-glue.com/ and all new features are well documented.

Bug Tracker

There is probably a bug somewhere in the Beta code, so if you happen to find it, report it at http://docs.model-glue.com/newticket (might need to register). Bug reports are Appreciated. Submitted Test Cases or Patches are Golden.

Fun New Features

Search Engine Safe URLs

Event Generation

Helpers

Bean Injection

Formats

Content Caching

Typed Events

Model-Glue Remoting (Flex + Ajax integration)

Application.cfc Integration

Most Valuable Contributors

This beta release is on time and of high quality thanks to the contributions of various community members. In alphabetical order:

Alagad

Bob Silverberg

Bucky Schwarz

Chris Peterson

Dan Skaggs

Doug Hughes

David Henry

Ezra Parker

Jared Rypka-Hauer

Jeff Chastain

Jim Priest

Joe Rinehart

John Mason

Marc Esher

Mark Mandel

Mark Drew

Paul Marcotte

Peter Bell

Ray Camden

Scott Stroz

Simeon Bateman

My appologies to those whom I left off... we still love you!

Next Steps

We are shaking-out the code for the next couple of weeks to make we've found all the bitrot. After a month or so, we'll wrap up a Release Candidate for 3.0 with the final release coming before CFUnited.

Coming Soon

More Video Tutorials

Releasing the Undocumented Custom Generation Patterns Feature

Example Applications

Web Tutorials

Wanna jump in the fun and join the Model-Glue team?

Send me an email and tell me how you'd like to help. We are always looking for smart people to help push MG to the next level

Don't know how you want to help? No problem. Just tell me how much time you want to contribute and we can get you something fun to do.

The State Of The Glue Part 2

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:05:00 -0400

The State Of The Glue

This post is part of our periodic status updates on progress and upcoming work on the Model-Glue project. The last week has been very productive and we appreciate all the offers of help and support. We will be circling back to each and every one of you with opportunities where you can contribute to the framework you know and love.

Timeline

The current timeline is to have the public beta out by CF.Objective(). This means in the short span of 2 weeks we'll have a documented, backwards compatible framework ready for production (we think). We'll allow a bake-in period (We have an internal target of 1 month) with the drop-dead final release date of CFUnited.

Work Done Since Last Update

We've made some really good progress in the last 3 weeks. A number of high-quality folks have stepped up to the plate and helped out.

Unit Tests

Marc Esher stepped up to help us get the unit tests consolidated on to the MX Unit framework. He helped reorganize the testing structure and answered my inane questions about unit testing. Joe Rinehart helped square away the tests for the EventContext, which were a little burly. The good news is, everything currently in SVN passes Unit Tests.

Patches/Bug Fixes

I've been fixing some bugs in the core code. Ezra Parker submitted 3 patches to fix 3 issues as well. A big thanks to him. Here at Model Glue, while we love bug reports because we want to maintain high code quality, we love patches even more!

Trac

We now have a complete environment set up to manage Model-Glue. Simeon Bateman, Ezra Parker and Chris Peterson have been a big help in taking charge and making sure the Trac instance is filled with the documentation, has all the right Trac Plugins and works well. Trac.Model-Glue.com is live and is the central bug repository, code repository and documentation repository.

The fine folks at Alagad are donating hosting and support for the Trac instances and we appreciate the time and resources they have put into the project.

ANT Script

Jim Priest has been reworking our deployment process and adding some fancy new ANT scripts into the mix. There will be a new ANT script for the ModelGlueApplicationTemplate, helping you jumpstart new projects in record time. Keep an eye open for that.

Video Tutorials

Bucky Schwarz is heading up the Video wing of Model Glue and has put together a really good process for Video Tutorials. If a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth 10,000 words. We expect these video tutorials to help train ModelGluians in the ways of the glue. Check out the first Model Glue Video Tutorial on creating a new application! More to come in the Video category!

Documentation

David Henry and Doug Hughes have headed up the documentation project for ModelGlue:3. This is a big job with lots of coordination and it is moving right along. We appreciate all the excellent folks that offered to pitch in to document features and review documentation. Documentation was a must-have for the Beta and thanks to this effort, we are on track for the Beta release at CF.Objective(). Expect another post thanking each contributor once the work is done.

Also, Ezra Parker (Man this guy has been a big help!) worked hard to get all the documentation and code samples in Trac formatted properly. This was especially important because we have the ability to print documentation pages and we certainly can't have code getting chopped off by the printer.

Work Left To Do

MG:3 Documentation

This project is on track and on time.

Scaffolding

I'm through the initial part of this. I'm back from my vacation now so I've gotta work on pleasing the clients. I'll hit this hard this weekend. We are on track and on time.

Example Applications

These are coming right along. We'll ship the beta with some, and add more as it makes sense.

Volunteer for the Model Glue Team

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0400

We are hard at work on the next version of Model-Glue. In focus this week is documentation of the new features. We have put together an easy way for you to contribute to the framework by completing a simple workflow process with us. You'd be asked to volunteer a few hours to explore and work up some documentation/short code samples that we'll use to wrap up the new framework docs.

If you've got a few hours between now and the end of the month, like working with the Model-Glue framework and you are reasonably intelligent, you'll fit right in. Heck, you gotta learn this stuff at one point or another, right? The one and only Doug Hughes will host/run a meeting on Tuesday the 21st (4PM EST) to explain the process and the short commitment we need from you. If you are on board, we'll work with you to get you up and running so we can get this stuff complete and finalize the docs.

Here's the text from Doug on the meeting:
If you want to contribute to the documentation please be sure to attend our meeting at 4pm EST on Tuesday the 21st and volunteer. To join the meeting call The Alagad Conference Line: 218-486-2209, participant code: 2621114.

In this meeting I'll review our plan for the documentation process, the format of the documentation we're collecting at this point, and the schedule. We'll then solicit one volunteers to write documentation for each section and two others to review and revise the documentation for each section. There are actually only about nine features we need to document at this point and each is fairly concise.

So if you've wanted to be a part of the team, here's an easy way to make a difference. No open ended commitment here, all you have to do is learn a single feature and fill out a form on how to use it. Sounds like fun right?

DW

The State Of The Glue

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:05:00 -0400

The State Of The Glue

This post is part of our periodic status updates on progress and upcoming work on the Model-Glue project. The last week has been very productive and we appreciate all the offers of help and support. We will be circling back to each and every one of you with opportunities where you can contribute to the framework you know and love.

Timeline

The current timeline is to have the public beta out by CF.Objective(). This means in the short span of 5 weeks we'll have a documented, backwards compatible framework ready for production (we think). We'll allow a bake-in period (We have an internal target of 1 month) with the drop-dead final release date of CFUnited.

Work Done Since Last Update

A number of folks have stepped up to the plate and helped out. We'd like to give a moment of thanks.

The fine folks at Alagad (Doug Hughes, Chris Peterson , Jeff Chastain in particular) are hard at work building us new infrastructure and helping to consolidate the myriad of Model-Glue web properties. Look for a new Trac instance soon.

Thanks go to Ezra Parker for being a trac expert and for also being clever enough to write scripts to convert our old MG:2 RoboHelp documentation into wiki based documentation.

Thanks also go to Bob Silverberg, Mark Mandel and Mark Drew for helping out with the scaffolding feature design and analysis.

Thanks also to Jim Priest for helping out with ANT and the Model Glue Application Template.

Thanks also to Ray Camden, Paul Marcotte for helping out with example applications.

Work Left To Do

MG:3 Documentation

I confess to not having used all the MG:3 features. SES Urls? I have no idea how that works and have never used any SES URLS on any site ever. Ideally, we'd get volunteers who HAVE worked with these features in a production scenario to write the initial documentation and provide a code sample. I'll post a list in a few days of the areas up for volunteering. When I do, if you like/use a particular feature, email me off list and I'll reserve it for you.

Scaffolding

I've been working with a few folks on the initial scheme for Scaffolding and it is coming along. I'm going to have some time away from work in the next few weeks to work on this so expect something working by the 3rd or 4th week of April. Meanwhile, if you have an application that uses scaffolding and you wouldn't mind helping me test this feature, please leave a comment on this post and you'll get an early preview.

Example Applications

This one is moving right along. The King of the Sample application, Ray Camden has volunteered to put some example applications together. His ideas are good ones and will be an asset to the project. Paul Marcotte is helping to design another example application that will showcase features of MG:3 specifically. This last application will tie in somehow with the MG:3 documentation and those who chip in a feature will get their name in lights!

My Availability

I'm happy to say that my Brother, Dave Wilson, is taking me on a Kayak/Camping trip deep in the Florida Everglades for my Batchelor party. I'm very very excited to go on this trip because I love my brother and want to get in some relaxing time before the wedding. Also, I'm taking a little time off from my client work to get personally organized and to knock out the remaining MG:3 tasks. As such, I might not return your emails for a few days. It doesn't mean I hate you, but I've yet to see a Palm Tree with WiFi, KnowWhatIMeanVern?

ModelGlue wants to hear from You!

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:14:00 -0400

Those of us who work in the labs of Model-Glue know a good idea when we see one. After taking the Transfer survey, we put together one of our own. We want to hear from you, Model-Glue user or not, on frameworks and what you find important.

Our Survey

The survey is really short, only a few questions, and we've thrown in a text area or two so you have room to give us a piece of your mind. The smart person you are, you can finish this survey in 10 minutes tops.

How we use the results

We'll use the information gained by this survey to drive development of the framework. As always, Model-Glue is by the people, for the people and of the people. Your input will be kept anonymous of course.

Wanna take it?

Take the Model-Glue Survey

New Model Glue 3 Feature: copyToScope()

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:25:00 -0400

We've just finished adding another feature to Model-Glue 3 called copyToScope(). This feature makes it easier to pull variables out of the event scope and place them into another scope. A big thanks to Paul Marcotte for suggesting this feature.

How does it work?

Say you want to pull 3 values from the event and use them in your view. Normally, you would run 3 separate commands: the end result being that each value: foot,hand,xe.nested is now in the variables scope ready for use in your view.

Here in the labs of Model-Glue, we want to reduce developer excise when possible. The new copyToScope() method can be used to short cut the same process.

The end result is the exact same as above, except only 1 line of code is needed to pull several values from the event at once.

What about default values?

As event.getValue() takes an optional argument to set default values, our new friend event.copyToScope() will take an optional array of default values. The position of the list elements pertain to the position of the value in the array. This means the 1st value in the list gets the 1st position in the array, the 2nd gets the 2nd and so on. Let's look at an example where I want to provide defaults to 2 items in the list:

Once the function executes, the value of variables.foot is DefaultForFoot and the value for variables.hand is DefaultForHand. If no value existed in the event for xe.nested, it will be set to an empty string as per normal when a value is requested from the event that has not been set yet.

Does it only work with the variables scope?

Nope. It will work with any scope you see fit. Session, Server, Application, even a plain ole struct, though I expect the variables scope will be most often used.

Where can I get the code?

You can update from SVN at http://svn.firemoss.com/modelglue and try the feature out. Several bugs have also been fixed including a bug with Railo compatibility submitted by Denny Valliant. Thanks to Denny for his contribution.

New MG3 Feature: Dynamic viewMappings

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:56:00 -0400
Some of the new features in MG3, such as its revised core, focus on work being done in the more "enterprise" arena. A specific case that I'm working hard to support is the case where many customers are running "their own instance" of a common code base and how to support per-customer modification. Realizing the use case, let's imagine that you host a blog platform. Customers can sign up and immediately have their own blog deployed. Each blog is running the exact same code base, all hosted on the same server/cluster. Inevitably, a customer will offer to pony up cash to have a view things change. On the service / controller side, MG3 has you covered by allowing ColdSpring-based definition of services and controllers, allowing you to use ColdSpring "overriding" to one-off services and controllers. For views, however, things were tricky. To support this case, the concept of "dynamic viewMappings" is implemented. Model-Glue crawls an array of "view mappings" looking for your application's views: it's defined in your app's Coldspring.xml file. With dynamic viewMappings added, you can manipulate this list at runtime. Let's solve our blog engine case, pretending that customer "acmeCorp" needs a suite of custom views, overriding the default views only when a custom is defined. All we have to do is update the viewMappings inside a listener function whenever the user is from acmeCorp: Et voila. See http://docs.model-glue.com/wiki/HowTos/HowToUseDynamicViewMappings for more information

Update on ModelGlue:3 Gesture

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:57:00 -0400

Version 3 of the Model-Glue framework is under development right now. Here is an update on where we stand...

Issue Tracker

Reporting bugs/enhancement requests for Model-Glue just got easier. We now have a fully licensed JIRA issue tracker. This will help us stay on top of bugs, features and such. A special thanks to the fine folks at Atlassian for making licenses available to the Model-Glue project at no charge.

Load Testing

I've been load testing a MG:3 application pretty heavily for the last couple of weeks. The framework holds up extremely well to load and shows no memory leakage or other misbehavior.

Fixed Bugs

The bug count has been reduced by 50%. Keep logging and reporting issues!

Want to try Model-Glue:3?

The framework still has an Alpha label for now and while we have a pretty active group of folks using the MG:3 alpha, others are still welcome. Download the latest framework code from http://svn.firemoss.com/modelglue/trunk/ModelGlue and tell us what you think.