Blog

Tip of the Week: ColdBox Routes

Brad Wood November 28, 2012

Spread the word

Brad Wood

November 28, 2012

Spread the word


Share your thoughts

 

Hopefully you are already familiar with the format of a default ColdBox URL when using the SES interceptor.  
 
mysite.com/index.cfm/myHandlerName/myActionName
 
Of course, a simple rewrite rule can simplify that even further to:
 
mysite.com/myHandlerName/myActionName
 
What you may not realize is that URL pattern is called a "route" and not only can be changed, but you can add as many customized routes as your application desires.  The magic happens in your /config/routes.cfm file where all the routes are declared in the order they should be processed.  You'll find the default route in that file:
 
addRoute(pattern=":handler/:action?");
 
The syntax for adding a new custom route looks like this:
 
addRoute(pattern="/URLStringToMatch", handler="handlerName", action="actionName");
 
That means, you could set up a route like so:
 
addRoute(pattern="/blog", handler="entryHandler", action="listEntries");
 
Now, the following two URLs would point to the exact same thing (with the second option being obviously preferable):
 
mysite.com/entryHandler/listEntries
mysite.com/blog
 
You can even clean up URLs that have variables.  Consider the following page on your site:
 
mysite.com/services/products/productDetail/productID/1234
 
Just add a new route that looks like this:
 
addRoute(pattern="/product/:productID", handler="services.products", action="productDetail");
 
And now the following URL will give you the same page:
 
mysite.com/product/1234
 
As you can see, routes are a very powerful way to keep those URLs looking sharp, but we're barely scratching the surface of what you can do.  Don't get intimidated though-- read through the docs dive in!
 
 

Add Your Comment

Recent Entries

BoxLang 1.0.0 Beta 23 Launched

BoxLang 1.0.0 Beta 23 Launched

The latest release of BoxLang, Beta 23, marks a significant step forward in our journey to create the ultimate dynamic language for the JVM. Packed with powerful new features, important bug fixes, and thoughtful optimizations, this update is designed to make your development experience smoother, faster, and more reliable, especially after now starting to take 100s of comments and bug reports from our community.

Luis Majano
Luis Majano
November 23, 2024
TestBox Latest Updates and News!

TestBox Latest Updates and News!

We’re thrilled to have launched the new TestBox website and TestBox 6.0! If you haven’t had a chance to explore yet, visit TestBox to discover updated documentation, powerful resources, and features that make testing more efficient than ever.

Maria Jose Herrera
Maria Jose Herrera
November 21, 2024
Is Your ColdFusion Application Ready for the Future?

Is Your ColdFusion Application Ready for the Future?

In a rapidly evolving digital world, maintaining performance, security, and scalability for ColdFusion applications is more challenging than ever. Whether you're using Lucee or Adobe ColdFusion, legacy systems can become a bottleneck for growth, innovation, and user satisfaction. The need to future-proof your ColdFusion applications has never been more critical.

But where do you start?


The Hidden Costs of an Outdated ColdFusion Application

As you...

Cristobal Escobar
Cristobal Escobar
November 21, 2024