For those of you interested in testing the upcoming 1.2.0 ColdBox release, please download it from the repository and give me your feedback. I have just finished uploading a stable version. Some of the new and interesting features are the following:

ColdBox Event Handler Caching

If you thought that ColdBox was a fast framework, well it just got faster. With the flick of a new setting HandlerCaching your application will cache the event handlers. This opens incredible opportunities for actually making your handlers into objects with more specific functions and processes. You can now implement an init method on them and instantiate services on them, etc. The possibilities are endless. NOTE: The init method's if implemented, will need to call super.init() mandatory. Look at documentation.

From some load testing I have done, I have seen execution improvements of around 35-40%. Which is extraordinary. Plus, it is Thread Safe. So you can implement AJAX interactions with peace of mind. So give them a test, you won't regret it.

ColdBox Event Handler Packages

This is a great feature in order to get ready for the 2.0 release. This enables the developer to actually create packages for your event handlers. So re usability and organization are expanded. You can create in your handlers directory a handler package for blog operations, for logging operations, etc. This is great if you want to place two,three, a thousand ColdBox applications into a single application. You will just create packages and place your handlers in specific package. The new ColdBox event registration system will find them and register them. You can then package your views and layouts. Multi-applications with one single configuration and structure. WOW!!! Ohh by the way, there is no long XML dialects in order to glue the events. Its pure ColdFusion, like it should be.

ColdBox for Compiled Code

Due to ColdBox's 1.1.0 event registration system, compiled applications would fail. NOT ANYMORE. The new registration system will now work with compiled code. Even more, you can even compile the framework. (Just make sure the config.xml.cfm's are not compiled, they are XML files not cfm)

Auto populate beans from a Request

This great feature was brought to you thanks to Sana Ullah. The beanFactory plugin now enables you to populate a named or instantiated bean with a request's data (request collection). So If you are using a IoC framework like Lightwire or ColdSpring. Then you will definitely benefit from the framework actually populating your beans without you doing it. Here is a cool snippet:

That is it. The bean is ready for update/delete/etc.

As always, this is still in development. So please give me all the feedback you can. You can find more on what features are coming, what bugs where fixed at the usual Trac Project site: http://ortus.svnrepository.com/coldbox/trac.cgi

There are also a few surprises coming to the 1.2.0 release which I will not discuss until they are done. Just let me say, that It will truly make ColdBox a Swiss Army Knife, like Mr. Gonda refers to this framework!! (You will like this one!!)