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2.5.0
2.5.0
  • INTRODUCTION
    • Getting Started
      • Running Local Development servers
      • Beginner Tutorial: Hello World
      • Beginner Tutorial: Hello Database
      • Tutorial: CFWheels, AJAX, and You
    • Frameworks and CFWheels
    • Requirements
    • Manual Installation
    • Upgrading
    • Screencasts
  • Command Line Tools
    • CLI Commands
    • wheels - commands
    • wheels generate - commands
    • wheels dbmigrate - commands
    • wheels plugins - commands
  • Working with CFWheels
    • Conventions
    • Configuration and Defaults
    • Directory Structure
    • Switching Environments
    • Testing Your Application
    • Contributing to CFWheels
    • Documenting your Code
  • Handling Requests with Controllers
    • Request Handling
    • Rendering Content
    • Redirecting Users
    • Sending Files
    • Sending Email
    • Responding with Multiple Formats
    • Using the Flash
    • Using Filters
    • Verification
    • Event Handlers
    • Routing
    • URL Rewriting
      • Apache
      • IIS
      • Tomcat
      • Nginx
    • Obfuscating URLs
    • Caching
    • Nesting Controllers
    • CORS Requests
  • Displaying Views to Users
    • Pages
    • Partials
    • Linking Pages
    • Layouts
    • Form Helpers and Showing Errors
    • Displaying Links for Pagination
    • Date, Media, and Text Helpers
    • Creating Custom View Helpers
    • Localization
  • Database Interaction Through Models
    • Object Relational Mapping
    • Creating Records
    • Reading Records
    • Updating Records
    • Deleting Records
    • Column Statistics
    • Dynamic Finders
    • Getting Paginated Data
    • Associations
    • Nested Properties
    • Object Validation
    • Object Callbacks
    • Calculated Properties
    • Transactions
    • Dirty Records
    • Soft Delete
    • Automatic Time Stamps
    • Database Migrations
      • Migrations In Production
    • Using Multiple Data Sources
  • Plugins
    • Installing and Using Plugins
    • Developing Plugins
    • Publishing Plugins
  • External Links
    • Source Code
    • Issue Tracker
    • Sponsor Us
    • Community
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  1. Working with CFWheels

Directory Structure

Finding your way around a Wheels application.

After downloading and unzipping Wheels, here's the directory structure that you will see:

config/ controllers/ events/ files/ global/ images/ javascripts/ migrator/* miscellaneous/ models/ plugins/ stylesheets/ tests/ views/ wheels/ Application.cfc index.cfm rewrite.cfm root.cfm

Quick Summary

Your configuration settings will be done in the config directory.

Your application code will end up in four of the folders, namely controllers, events, models, and views.

Static media files should be placed in the files, images, javascripts and stylesheets folders.

Place anything that need to be executed outside of the framework in the miscellaneous folder. The framework does not get involved when executing .cfm files in this folder. (The empty Application.cfc takes care of that.) Also, no URL rewriting will be performed in this folder, so it's a good fit for placing CFCs that need to be accessed remotely via <cfajaxproxy> and Flash AMF binding, for example.

Place Wheels plugins in the plugins folder.

And the last directory? That's the framework itself. It exists in the wheels directory. Please go in there and have a look around. If you find anything you can improve or new features that you want to add, let us know!

Detailed Overview

Let's go through all of the files and directories now starting with the ones you'll spend most of your time in: the code directories.

controllers

This is where you create your controllers. You'll see two files in here already: Controller.cfc and Wheels.cfc. You can place functions inside Controller.cfc to have that function shared between all the controllers you create. (This works because all your controllers will extend Controller.) Wheels.cfc is an internal file used by Wheels.

models

This is where you create your model files (or classes if you prefer that term). Each model file you create should map to one table in the database.

The setup in this directory is similar to the one for controllers, to share methods you can place them in the existing Model.cfc file.

views

This is where you prepare the views for your users. As you work on your website, you will create one view directory for each controller.

events

If you want code executed when ColdFusion triggers an event, you can place it here (rather than directly in Application.cfc).

config

Make all your configuration changes here. You can set the environment, routes, and other settings here. You can also override settings by making changes in the individual settings files that you see in the subdirectories.

files

Any files that you intend to deliver to the user using the sendFile() function should be placed here. Even if you don't use that function to deliver files, this folder can still serve as file storage if you like.

global

For application-wide globally accessible functions

images

This is a good place to put your images. It's not required to have them here, but all Wheels functions that involve images will, by convention, assume they are stored here.

javascripts

This is a good place to put your JavaScript files.

stylesheets

This is a good place to put your CSS files.

tests

This is where unit tests for your application should go

miscellaneous

Use this folder for code that you need to run completely outside of the framework. (There is an empty Application.cfc file in here, which will prevent Wheels from taking part in the execution.)

This is most useful if you're using Flash to connect directly to a CFC via AMF binding or if you're using <cfajaxproxy>in your views to bind directly to a CFC as well.

plugins

Place any plugins you have downloaded and want installed here.

migrator *

Database Migration CFC files and generated SQL files (This directory will only visible once you start using the migrator)

wheels

This is the framework itself. When a new version of Wheels is released it is often enough to just drop it in here (unless there has been changes to the general folder structure).

.htaccess

This file is used by Apache, and you specifically need it for URL rewriting to work properly. If you're not using Apache, then you can safely delete it. No longer included by default in 2.x

urlrewrite.xml

web.config

URL rewriting for version 7 of IIS. If you're not using IIS, then you can safely delete it. No longer included by default in 2.x

Application.cfc, index.cfm, root.cfm, and rewrite.cfm

These are all needed for the framework to run. No changes should be done to these files.

You can add more directories if you want to, of course. Just remember to include a blank Application.cfc in those directories. Otherwise, Wheels will try to get itself involved with those requests as well.

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Last updated 1 year ago

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If you use Tomcat and Tuckey, or CommandBox , you'll need this file. Otherwise, you can safely delete it. No longer included by default in 2.x

URL Rewriting