REST in ColdFusion

1. How We Rest

2. Who Am I?
@Francainath

3. This is what I do:
(+ )
(REST)

4. In the Beginning...

5. Changing landscape

6. Where we are today:

7. PROBLEM:
How can we make our app work on all
these devices?

8. solution #1: RESPONSIVE DESIGN

9. solution #2: CUSTOM APPS
Unique app for each environment

10. This requires:

11. Why REST?
When compared to SOAP
(Simple Object Access Protocol),
REST is considered:
lighter weight
easier to use (for the most part)
more flexible

12. REST basics
App architecture style
HTTP request-response model
hence web focused
REpresentational State Transfer
Supports HTTP methods:
GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS
Returns data in different formats
JSON, text, XML, etc.

13. How We Rest
5 key options
2 servers
3 frameworks

14. Natively available in CF10+
Uses separate servlet to run REST
Register your RESTful services
register/manage RESTful aspects in
CFC via metadata

15. Setup/Configuration
RestInitApplication(rootPath[,serviceMapping[,options]])
(in application.cfc)

16. Routing
{domain}/rest/{serviceMapping}/{subResource}
Example:
{domain}/rest/fantasyFootball/getQuarterback/{id}

17. CFC code
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/CF10quarterback.cfc
in github repo)

18. Considerations
"/rest" mapping
can change this by revising the context path for the REST
servlet in web.xml
Metadata in CFCs
Advocates: truly REST
Critics: verbose, confusing

19. Natively available in Railo 4+
Uses separate servlet to run REST
Register your RESTful services
register/manage RESTful aspects in
CFC via metadata

20. Setup/Configuration
RestInitApplication(rootPath[,serviceMapping[,options]])
(in application.cfc)

21. Routing
{domain}/rest/{service}/{action}
{domain}/rest/fantasyFootball/getRunningback/{id}

22. CFC code
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/RailoRunningBack.cfc
in github repo)

23. Considerations
"/rest" mapping
{domain}/rest/{service}/{action}
Metadata in CFCs
Advocates: truly REST
Critics: verbose, confusing

24. REST focused framework
Design: make REST simple for CF
works as far back as CF8
mostly conventions, some
configurations necessary

25. Setup/Configuration
Download from
Taffy.io
Github (github.com/atuttle/Taffy)
Unzip into web root (preferred) or API
subfolder
Application CFC attribute:
extends="taffy.core.api"

26. Routing
taffy:uri/taffy_uri attribute determines
route connection
url: {domain}/api/{players}
component extends="taffy.core.resource" taffy:uri="/players" {
//cfc code
}

27. CFC code
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/taffyApplication.cfc and
examples/taffyWideReceiver.cfc
in github repo)

28. Considerations
Simple implementation
Diverse: CF8+ (& corr. Railo)
Well documented
Tooling (Dashboard)
configuration: known issues w/Tomcat

29. Enterprise application framework
conventions based
diverse and extensible
REST as a module of your application

30. Setup/Configuration
Preferred workflow:
made directory for your app
install ColdBox & preferred app skeleton
install RELAX module
Takes roughly a minute
Best Practice: setup all your REST
CFCs in an API module

31. Routing
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/ColdBoxModuleConfig.cfc
in github repo)

32. CFC code
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/ColdBoxTeam.cfc
in github repo)

33. Unique Considerations
Simple implementation
Very extensible within Box family
RELAX as tester & documentation
well documented
Routes fully customizeable
Very little unique code in CFC

34. Lightweight framework
conventions based
very simple, accessible
REST as an application option

35. Setup/Configuration
Download from
fw1.riaforge.org
github.com/framework-one/fw1
coldbox.org/forgebox/view/fw1
setup app in application.cfc
set routes/return data

36. Routing
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/FW1Application.cfc
in github repo)

37. CFC code example
SHOW TIME!!!
(examples/FW1kicker.cfc
in github repo)

38. Unique Considerations
Simple framework
simple route setup
Very little unique code in CFC

39. Recommendations
Every option works
non-frameworks vs frameworks
application architecture style &
extensibility
what you wanna do "under the hood"
There is no universal "right option"

40. REST is not afancy or a gimic
Take security seriously
Make your API robust
get Creative!!!

41. Thank You
https://github.com/Francainath/CFSummit-
How-We-Rest