Download and Install

Check out the cfturbine prototyping engine and unzip the file contents to a new folder “cfturbine” under your local website root directory (e.g. for IIS this will be “c:\inetpub\wwwroot”).

Open Coldfusion administrator and create a DSN to one of the following databases MSSQL, MYSQL or SQLite.

Open a new browser and launch your cfturbine prototype engine by navigating to URL. (In most cases, this should be http://localhost/cfturbine/index.cfm). Welcome to cfturbine! You should be able to see the following page

Creating your first application

Key in the newly created DSN in the field. (NOTE: The field is auto-suggest enabled. If you don’t see the suggestion list as soon as you start typing, try “refresh” button for the DSNs).

Select the appropriate DATABASE VENDOR from the drop down.

Type in the CONTEXT/APPLICATION NAME. This should be the is the name of your new application (e.g. mysite1).

Key in the MODEL NAME for the above table (ex. USER).
HINT: By convention follow singular names for your models

Key in the TABLE NAME you want to create (ex. USERS).
HINT: By convention follow singular names for SQL tables

Now you can add fields for the application’s model/table. CFTurbine engine provides an easy interface for the some essential columns like “ID”, “CREATED_DATE”, “UPDATED_DATE”, “IS_ACTIVE”. You can define data-type, uniqueness, mappings, default text (among others) for your models’ attributes.

Once you are done with creating your table, click the FINALIZE button. This action will allow you to review DDL and the Model for your application as shown in the figure below.

Now click the GENERATE SCAFFOLDING button to create your first CFTurbine application.

Running Migrations (Creating or dropping SQL tables):

Don’t forget to run migrations. Follow the link to “Run Migrations”. Retrieve the migrations list  and run the desired migration (create/drop table) as shown in the screenshot below. 

You are now ready to use your newly created application. You can access it by going to http://localhost/mysite1/index.cfm?context_name.