• Interview for Power onTap

• "Power onTap" interview with Isaac Dealey
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• Michael Smith: This time we are talking with Isaac Dealey about his Fusebox and Frameworks-05 talk "Power onTap". So why should a developer come to your session Isaac ?
• Isaac Dealey: The onTap framework core components are much larger and much more comprehensive than most other frameworks available for ColdFusion. There's been a lot of talk recently in the community about both AJAX and Ruby on Rails, and the onTap framework includes integrated tools which bear a significant resemblance to both technologies. These can both significantly improve the user experience and simultaneously shorten development times.
• MS: That is cool, but what about the database?
• ID: The onTap framework also includes a database-agnostic SQL abstraction layer (for working with MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and MS Access) and a robust set of presentation libraries for creating modular (x)html displays, both of which are currently unique in the ColdFusion community.

• MS: Does that mean you can switch databases without recoding?
• ID: Yes in most cases variations in database syntax will not mean variations in the code of an onTap framework application. Obviously there are limitations: you can't use the stored procedure tools with a database that doesn't support them. Great pains have been taken however to ensure that most common features, even when inconsistently implemented in the database are consistently implemented in the framework, including outer joins, unions, string concatenation and case-insensitive select statements. There are also a number of convenience features to make common data retreival tasks easier, such as creating sortable search-results.
• MS: Tell me more about the display libraries...
• ID: The display library tools along with a unique method of using the file-system to abstract application logic provides a method of integrating plugin applications, which reduces or eliminates many of the problems involved in upgrading customized or branded applications. This became poignant recently when I heard Jared Rypka-Hauer mentioning recent upgrades to Ray Camden's BlogCFC application and saying he was too invested in his modifications to upgrade his blog.
MS: Yes that is a big problem - how does onTap solve that exactly?
• ID: Unlike other frameworks which use a prescriptive approach in which the entire application must be mapped out in configuration files, the onTap framework handles the execution of code templates automatically, using some simple naming conventions for directories. If you want to make modifications to a particular page, you simply add a new template to the appropriate directory. This new template can use ColdFusion markup or XSL to modify the variables representing the display before it's returned to the browser.

• MS: Why is that a good thing?
• ID: The inherent advantage in this architecture is that your modifications to the functional application (what the user sees) are isolated from the original application. You don't modify the original application code, and likewise when you upgrade, the newest version of the application doesn't modify any of your custom code.

  It's not a magic bullet: it's still necessary to test the application after an upgrade to ensure that the new application code works with your existing modifications however the process of upgrading in this case is much easier to manage.

• MS:Is onTap hard to learn?
• ID: I think it's pretty easy myself, although I did architect it. :) I like to think the onTap framework, much like ColdFusion could be described as a technology that requires little to learn and a lifetime to master. I published a Quick Start guide recently as part of the core framework in response to some developers comments that the learning curve had been steep. It seems to be well received.
• MS: Cool - I will look forward to seeing you at the conference.