Introduction

When creating web sites there are stages. One useful but seldom available stage is the prototype stage. While this concept originated for us in our COOP technology it can be made available in any SOS methodology. There are two faces where a methodology can make the prototype available. The first is with the logic and the second with the view.

Details

Using prototype with Logic/Controllers.

The main function of prototype with the logic is to create a pseudo data structure before databases and such are created. This technology can be used beyond the build and beta phases but it is created to be used only there. We do not yet recommend using it for test or live site stage modes.

The defacto method of creating prototype data is to create a file in the same directory as the view file with the name of the requested "controller" similar to this.

_{controller name}__prototype.cfm

Using prototypes with the view.

When using prototype with the view you will either be pulling special data via a library tag like the <coop:data /> tag or it will be managed by the controller logic. This data then will interact with and/or feed the view logic. It is possible to create hybrid technology like COOP to automatically consume this logic in a preDOM like fashion but it certainly can be done old school also.