Packages are quite simply a folder that contains some code and a box.json file. A package can be a simple CFC, a self-contained library, or even an entire application. ColdBox and ContentBox modules also make great "smart" packages.

Remember, packages aren't just the things you install into your application, but your application is a package too! That's why when you install something in your app, we'll create a /box.json if it doesn't exist to start tracking your dependencies.

Your box.json file describes your package, dependencies, and how to install it. To turn a boring folder into a sweet package just run the init command in the root of the folder.

init name="My Package" version="1.0.0"

That's it. Your folder now has extra meta data in the box.json file that describes it in a way that is meaningful to ForgeBox and CommandBox.

Distribution

When making a package available on ForgeBox, each version of that package has its own location. Most download locations point to a zip file, that when extracted, contains a folder with a box.json in it. The box.json designates the root of the package. However, the location property of your box.json can be any valid endpoint ID. An example would be:

{
  "name":"my project",
  "slug":"my-project",
  "version":"1.0.0",
  "location":"githubUser/repoName#v1.0.0"
}

In that case, the location for version 1.0.0 of this package is the v1.0.0 tag in that GitHub repository.

Storing Package Binaries on ForgeBox

ForgeBox can store the binaries for your packages in the ForgeBox Cloud. This provides you with an easy way to store multiple versions of your package distributed across the globe.

To utilize ForgeBox Storage, simply set forgeboxStorage as the value of your package's location.

package set location=forgeboxStorage

When you publish a package, CommandBox will automatically zip up your package and send it to ForgeBox.

Publishing to ForgeBox from start to finish

Below is an example of the commands that would take you from scratch to a published package:

# Create user (first time only)
forgebox register username password your@email.com firstName lastName
forgebox login username password

# Create package
mkdir mypackage --cd
package init slug=my-package type=modules
bump --major

# Publish it
publish

# Viewable and installable by the world!
forgebox show my-package
install my-package

Private Packages

ForgeBox supports private packages. Private packages are only visible to the user who created it.

To create a private package, pass the private flag to the package init command.

CommandBox:my-package> package init slug=my-package --private
- Set name = My Package
- Set slug = my-package@username
- Set version = 0.0.0
- Set private = true
- Set shortDescription = A sweet package
- Set ignore = ["**/.*","test","tests"]
Package Initialized & Created /Users/username/code/sandbox/my-package/box.json

ForgeBox.io can be used as a general purpose community extension provider for Lucee 5 compatible extensions. All you need to do is publish your extensions to Forgebox just like you would with any other package, and then anyone who adds https://www.forgebox.io to their Lucee server as an extension provider will be able to see you extension and install any version of it that they choose. This allows anyone to share their extensions with the world without the need to create, host, and maintain their own publish extension provider.

Requirements

In order to publish you extension (or any other package for that matter) to ForgeBox you just need three things

1. A forgebox account (use forgebox register if you don’t have one)

2. A box.json with the correct metadata in your package.

3. Run the publish command from that folder.

A new package will be created if it doesn’t exist, otherwise it will be updated. A new version will also be created if it doesn’t exist matching the version in your box.json or it will be updated. Review our generic docs on how to creating and publishing packages here: https://ortus.gitbooks.io/commandbox-documentation/content/packages/creating_packages/creating_packages.html

Package Metadata

In your box.json, you’ll want to minimally have the following properties set:

• The slug property in your box.json to be the unique GUID of your extension from your manifest file. Lucee's docs state this needs to be a UUID. It needs to match what’s in your manifest or updates won’t work.

• The version needs to be the current version of your package that you want to publish. To add a new version, you’ll just update the json and re-run the publish command. One thing to watch out for is that Lucee likes to use the x.y.z.q version format which does not quite match the npm-style x.y.z-prerelease+build format of ForgeBox. I usually stick with just three digits x.y.z so it’s compatible across the board.

• You want the type property in your json to be lucee-extensions

• Set your publicly-acessable thumbnail URL in a thumbnail property in the json

• The actual download URL of the lex file needs to be set in the location property in the json. Please note Lucee has some bugs where it doesn’t like servers that don’t set the right content type that it expects. Someone else I was helping had to rename it to a zip file on GitHub so get Lucee to accept it. (A lex file is just a zip file) Perhaps go give a vote on this ticket.

• Fill out any other info like name (human readable), author, etc

Package Description

The publish command will pick up any readme.md file in your current directory where you run the publish command and will put it on ForgeBox as the description. This is very handy so make sure you have a good readme so your package home looks good. If you want to update it, simply edit the readme file and re-run the publish command at any time.

Sample box.json

Here is the box.json file used for the Ortus Couchbase Extension.

{
    "name":"Ortus Couchbase Cache",
    "version":"3.0.0",
    "author":"Brad Wood",
    "location":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.ortussolutions.com/ortussolutions/couchbase-extension/couchbase-cache-3.0.0.lex",
    "slug":"14B0C2A7-5CFC-4606-9167C93959A8B82C",
    "description":"A Lucee caching extension allow you to connect to a Couchbase Cluster for caching, session, and client storage",
    "type":"lucee-extensions",
    "thumbnail":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.ortussolutions.com/ortussolutions/couchbase-extension/couchbase-cache-logo.png"
}

Advanced properties

Lucee extensions have additional metadata that can be provided in their manifest that an extension provider reports. These additional properties can be specified in your box.json and the ForgeBox Lucee Extension provider will pick them up and report them. Please refer to the Lucee docs on what each of these do.

• lucee-extension-category

• lucee-extension-releasetype

• lucee-extension-minloaderversion

• lucee-extension-mincoreversion

• lucee-extension-price

• lucee-extension-currency

• lucee-extension-disablefull

• lucee-extension-trial

• lucee-extension-promotionlevel

• lucee-extension-promotiontext

We've seen how any folder can be turned into a package with the init command. Initial properties can be set as named parameters to the init command.

init name="My Package" version=1.0.0

The init command can be called more than once on a package and it will keep existing properties and only overwrite the ones you specify. Once you've created your box.json, you can edit the file directly, or there are other commands to help manage it programmatically.

Each of these commands support tab-complete that is dynamic based on what properties are currently in your box.json.

package show

The package show command can be used to out put any part of the box.json. You can specifiy any property name from your box.json.

Outputs package name and keywords

package show name
package show keywords

Nested attributes may be accessed by specifying dot-delimited names or using array notation. If the accessed property is a complex value, the JSON representation will be displayed

Outputs testbox runner(s)

package show testbox.runner

Outputs the first testbox notify E-mail

package show testbox.notify.emails[1]

Output the entire box.json

package show

using JmesPath with package show

package show jq:slug

# grab contributors and split each result by spaces
package show "jq:contributors|split(@,' ')" 

# get an array of all engine names
package show "jq:engines[].type"

# filter struct values and add in an additional value => { "myprop":"test", "name":"MyPackageName" }
package show "jq:{name:name, myprop:'test'}"

# return struct values in an array => [MyPackageName,2.4]
package show "jq:[name,version]"

package set

Any property in your box.json can be set from the command line with the package set command.

Set package name

package set name=myPackage

Nested attributes may be set by specifying dot-delimited names or using array notation. If the set value is JSON, it will be stored as a complex value in the box.json.

Set the repository type.

package set repository.type=Git

Set first testbox notify E-mail.

package set testbox.notify.email[1]="brad@bradwood.com"

Set multiple params at once by passing as many named parameters as you like.

package set name=myPackage version="1.0.0.000" author="Brad Wood" slug="foo"

Set a complex value as JSON.

package set testbox.notify.emails="[ 'test@test.com', 'me@example.com' ]"

Appending Complex Values

Objects and arrays can be appended to using the append parameter. This only works if the property and incoming value are both of the same complex type.

Add an additional contributor to the existing contributors array.

package set contributors="[ 'brad@coldbox.org' ]" --append

Add an additional dependency to the existing dependencies object.

package set dependencies="{'cbcommons':'1.0.0'}"  --append

package clear

If you need to remove a property entirely from your box.json, use the package clear command. It also works on nested properties using "dot" or array notation.

Remove the package description entirely.

package clear description