Lesson 9: CI Tools: Your Fellowship for Integration

[CFL2M] Perform CF Security Checks In 10 Minutes

*Note: This content is from our free ColdFusion Legacy 2 Modernization E-Course [CFL2M]. Interested in getting the full course? Click here to sign up.

Continuous Integration will boost the quality of your code, refine your developers' skills, and cut down time and expenses.

If you do regular builds of your CF code from your source control repo to production then you can (and should) automate them with CI (Continuous Integration tools). 

These let you do builds automatically every day instead of once every few weeks. With baked-in QA tests and security checks. Literally, you can press a button, take a 5-minute break, and when you come back it either says “Your codes great” or “You’ve got these problems.”

In the last lesson, I told you about three awesome tools to make your code more secure and automatically tested and formatted. If you haven’t yet downloaded them, please do so now. 

Also, you’re well over halfway done with this e-course (and modernizing your CF app!), keep up the good work! 

This lesson is all about how to automate those tools so you can be as cool as Frodo riding a giant eagle over Mount Doom.

By automating the build, security, and testing phases, CI enables rapid feedback on the impact of code changes. It allows your fellow developers to address issues immediately and improve code quality continuously.

CI keeps sloppy coders on your team accountable, training them to do the stuff right in the first place (they get immediate feedback). And you may configure CI to prevent bad code commits from even getting to QA or heaven forbid, production servers. 

The longer a bug is in the system, the more costly it is to fix it. If you check your builds often, it’ll save you a lot of time and money.

Automated CI acts as the vigilant watch of the Elves at Helm's Deep, meticulously guarding and testing your code to ensure a flawless deployment.

If you do this stuff manually, it takes a long time and allows for the possibility of human error. In short, you need software that does CI.

For those who do CI integration, Jenkins is a popular program. Here are some other options: 

• GitLab
• Bamboo
• Ant
• Grunt
• Travis CI
• Gulp
• Bitbucket Pipelines

Aragorn Action Step: Check out one of these CI tools and install it. 

Then, take a breath of relief knowing you’re one step closer to CF Modernization! 

Next week, we’ll talk about the harms of deadwood (unused code) and what to do about it. 

Best,

Michaela Light, CEO TeraTech

PS If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the DIY approach, I just want to remind you that we have experts ready to do it for you. If you want our help, click here.