Rick, Having managed many many such sites I can tell you that your choices and approach are pretty standard. I think you are on track (though careful testing is of course warranted).
-mark Mark A. Kruger, MCSE, CFG (402) 408-3733 ext 105 Skype: markakruger www.cfwebtools.com www.coldfusionmuse.com www.necfug.com -----Original Message----- From: Rick Faircloth [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 11:28 AM To: cf-talk Subject: Feedback on this approach to "many sites, one codebase" (MSOC) Hi, all... I've been tinkering around the edges with "many sites, one codebase" (MSOC) for awhile and was interested in getting some feedback on an approach I'm taking. The most basic part is that I use the domain name to determine variable values for a site. I'll start with that. I use application.cfc to set up the following: <cfset this.name = "#cgi.server_name#"> Any issues with that? Then I have use the onApplicationStart cffunction to clear session and application variables. Then I use the cgi.server_name, determined from the URL visited by a user, of course, and run this query to get needed values for site variables from a database: <cfquery name = "qGetApplicationVariables" datasource="globalSiteManager"> select * from siteApplicationSettings where (select strcmp(siteName, '#cgi.server_name#')) = -1 </cfquery> Then, I set site variables as follows: <cfset application.dsn = "#qGetApplicationVariables.applicationDSN#'> etc... At this point, I'm entering all a site's variables into a database manually, although if I continue with this approach, I'll develop an automated solution. The site menu is determined also by values in a database for the site by using code such as the following: <cfset application.calendar = '#qGetApplicationVariables.applicationCalendar#'> If the qGetApplicationVariables.applicationCalendar value is 'yes', then the menu item is shown, if it's 'no', then the menu choice is not shown. The last piece of this approach is setting path variables, etc, for image and document uploads, image paths, etc, with this type of code: <cfset application.userImagesPathAbsolute = '#qGetApplicationVariables.applicationUserImagesPathAbsolute#'> etc. This seems to be working fine so far... speed is good, etc., but I'd like to know, from those of you who have been down this road before, if I'm heading for a show-stopping issue, or if this is a workable solution. And, I'm really not interested in frameworks...not at this point. Thanks for taking the time to read this and offer any feedback. I'm just ready to develop some applications that I can sell *more than once*!! "Work smarter, not harder" approach. Watching people getting rich selling apps for $.99, such as "Angry Birds", is just killing me. I thought, surely there has got to be a better way to be a freelancer than "one-off" projects! Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/message.cfm/messageid:342390 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/unsubscribe.cfm
