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System Requirements

Let's get started with some system requirements for running ContentBox sites:

Java

ContentBox will run in any Java 1.7+ enabled servlet container as a WAR or self-contained express edition.

ColdFusion (CFML) Engine

ContentBox source can be also be deployed to the following ColdFusion CFML engines:

  • Adobe ColdFusion 11+

  • Lucee 4.5+

Databases

ContentBox can run on any database engine that Hibernate ORM supports (https://developer.jboss.org/wiki/SupportedDatabases2), but we officially support the following:

  • MySQL 5+ (InnoDB ONLY!)

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008+

  • Oracle

  • PostgreSQL

  • Hypersonic

  • H2

  • Apache Derby

If you have another database engine that needs ContentBox support, please let us know and we will be able to help you (http://www.ortussolutions.com/contact).

IMPORTANT: Dialect Choice

We would highly recommend that you choose the dialect of choice for your database via the Application.cfc in ContentBox. This would avoid you pains and headaches as sometimes Hibernate will not detect the database correctly. The available dialects can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/developing-applications/coldfusion-orm/configure-orm/orm-settings.html.

Example Code

this.ormsettings = {
    dialect = "MicrosoftSQLServer
};

Dialects We Support

  • Derby

  • PostgreSQL

  • MySQL

  • MySQLwithInnoDB

  • MySQLwithMyISAM

  • Oracle10g

  • MicrosoftSQLServer

Tip If you are using the H2 or Hypersonic Databases, just leave the dialect empty or use the MySQL dialects for compatibility purposes.

MSSQL Caveats

If you are running MSSQL server then we would recommend you update the Application.cfc with the ORM dialect for MSSQL. We have seen many weird dialect issues with MSSQL if this is not done:

this.ormsettings = {
    dialect = "MicrosoftSQLServer
};

We have also seen an issue where an error will be reported that cbPermission cannot be inserted. This is an issue where for some reason the JDBC driver will switch context and create the tables in the master schema and not the schema you chose. So please verify that the master schema has tables that start with cb_* and remove them and re-run the installer.

MySQL Caveats

If you are running MySQL server with MyISAM as your default table engine, you will need to either make the default InnoDB or use the InnoDB dialect. You can do this by adding a dialect section to the ORM settings in the Application.cfc: dialect = "MySQLWithInnoDB"

this.ormsettings = {
    dialect = "MySQLWithInnoDB
};

PostgreSQL Caveats

We have seen some issues on some versions of PostgreSQL where Boolean values of numerical 1 and 0 are not been translated correctly. If this is the case in your version of PostgreSQL you will see some cannot cast Boolean to Integer exceptions. If this is the case please contact us and we will show you how to update your installation to allow for these conversions.

URL Rewriting

ContentBox relies on Search Engine Safe (SES) URLs and URL Routing. The majority of CFML engines already allow for these types of URLs out of the box and ContentBox supports it out of the box. However, if you would like to use full URL rewriting (which we recommend, that's where the index.cfm is not showing in the URLs) you will need to use a web server rewriting tool and ContentBox will configure it for you. So before you install Contentbox make sure that you are using one of the supported rewriting engines show below:

  • Apache mod_rewrite

  • IIS 7 rewrite module

  • Tuckey rewrite filter

  • Nginx

The ContentBox installer will create rewrite files automatically for you for Apache, IIS7 and express editions. For Nginx or other rewrite engines you will need to add the rewrites yourself and then manually modify the routing file.

ContentBox 4.0+

Edit config/Router.cfc and set setFullRewrites to true. That's it!

function configure(){
    // Configuration
    setValidExtensions( 'xml,json,jsont,rss,html,htm,cfm,print,pdf,doc,txt' );
    // Process Full Rewrites then true, else false and an `index.cfm` will always be included in URLs
    setFullRewrites( true );

    // Mappings
    route( ":handler/:action" ).end();
}

Older Versions of ContentBox

Edit config/routes.cfm and remove any reference to index.cfm. That's it!

// Base URL
if( len(getSetting('AppMapping') ) lte 1){
    // Remove the index.cfm
    setBaseURL("http://#cgi.HTTP_HOST##getContextRoot()#/index.cfm");
} else {
    // Remove the index.cfm
    setBaseURL("http://#cgi.HTTP_HOST##getContextRoot()#/#getSetting('AppMapping')#/index.cfm");
}

File Permissions

ContentBox needs some files/folders to be writable at runtime. We use this for our installer, ForgeBox cloud deployments, auto-updates and more. The following directories need read/write permissions for the installer only to work:

Installer

{Root}/Application.cfc
{Root}/config/ColdBox.cfc
{Root}/coldbox/system/aop/tmp

Engine

Here are the folders for the core engine to work accordingly

# Engine Operation (REQUIRED)
{Root}/coldbox/system/aop/tmp

# Media Manager
{Root}/modules/contentbox/content

# Auto-udpates
{Root}/modules/contentbox/updates

# If you want ForgeBox enabled downloads
{Root}/modules/contentbox/modules_user
{Root}/modules/contentbox/themes
{Root}/modules/contentbox/widgets

Danger If you will not be using any ForgeBox download deployments then you do not need to enable write permissions for themes, modules_user, and widgets.

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