Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

[Kristin Gitler]

Hi All,

 

I am getting ready to add “friendly urls” (getting rid of query strings) to 2 websites on the same server.  The server is Windows 2003, IIS6, CF8, and hosts 2 live sites (and  2 dev sites, if it matters).  I am leaning towards using Ionic IIRF rather than Helicon’s ISAPI ReWrite, it seems simpler to install and configure.  Have any of you used both (or either?) - are there are pros and cons to each that I should be aware of?  The licensed cost of Helicon is not an issue, so I’m more concerned about implementation issues.

 

An added issue – we MAY be upgrading the server at some point soon (4-6 months), which means we’d likely have IIS7, which I understand has rewrite capabilities.  So if we do that, then I presume I would need to change over to use the IIS Rewrite, and reconfigure all my rules?

 

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

 

Kristin

 

Kristin Gitler
Web Developer
office + 585.899.4879

ITX
6780 Northern Blvd., Ste 201
E. Syracuse, NY 13057
www.itx.com

 

[Brian Love]

Kristen:

I would recommend Helicon's ISAPI rewrite extension.  It works very well, and is very fast.  I haven't used IIRF extensively, but chose the Helicon extension because it was very close in syntax to mod_rewrite for Apache.

Once you do upgrade to IIS7, you do not have to do anything with Helicon, other than install the ISAPI extension again.  You can use the IIS rewrite capabilities along with it, and migrate over if needed/desired at any time.  You can also disable the rewrite engine for IIS if you do not want to use it at all.

Hope that helps!

Brian

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[Charlie Arehart]

Two thoughts:

First, fortunately (at least from my quick recollection), most rewrite tools for IIS (including I’m pretty sure those two, and the IIS 7 feature) seem to use “standard” rewrite rule syntax. Of course, like with SQL, there can be vendor-specific variations, where perhaps some couple of things don’t work exactly the same way. Most times when I’ve looked into things with these and other rewrite tools for IIS, they have been pretty clear about such inconsistences (things they add, or things they don’t support that others might).

Second, all that said, here’s one other thing to consider: did you know that CF already supports a form of “search engine safe URLs” (another term for what you call “friendly urls”) out of the box? It may not be quite what you want, but it’s worth at least exploring.

It’s a feature added in CF7 that seems to have gone unnoticed by most (http://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/kb/coldfusion-mx-7-search-engine.html). The approach this enables (which may not suit your needs) is that it lets you call a page like somepage.cfm/someval1/someval2, and you can then access that value by various ways in the CGI scope. That page shows stripping it from cgi_script_name, but you may find it just appears in the cgi.path_info as (/someval1/someval2), whereas when you don’t offer such “extra path info” on the URL, the path_info holds the same value as cgi.script_name. This has been a source of confusion for many over the years, and things do vary based on the version of CF, the web server used, and more.

Anyway, if this may interest you at all, just create a test page which does a cfdump var=”#cgi#” and watch to see where what you type after the filename appears. But I realize that people may want to hide the .cfm and more, in which case other rewrite approaches (or still other approaches, just to hide the .cfm) may be better.

Hope that’s helpful.

/charlie

--

[Marc Funaro]

Fan of Ionics IIRF rewrite here.  Was first turned on to it via CFWheels.  Now using it on all the sites we host, for CFWheels as well as Adaptive Images which is a really nice way to render images for specific screen sizes without having to generate them separately.  Free is nice, too.  =)

 

My 2c

 

Marc Funaro

Advantex LLC

607-336-6895

 

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kristin Gitler
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 12:31 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Hi All,

--

[Kristin Gitler]

Thanks Charlie! I didn’t know about that feature in CF7 – funny that went unnoticed.    I think the other approaches will work better for me, but it’s good to know that it’s there.

 

Thanks,

 

Kristin

 

Kristin Gitler
Web Developer
office + 585.899.4879

ITX
6780 Northern Blvd., Ste 201
E. Syracuse, NY 13057
www.itx.com

 

[Charlie Arehart]

Hey Marco, that Adaptive images does sound interesting. Would it be something with enough to discuss that it might be a good presentation? If so, would you consider it? And I’d be happy to have it on the Online CFMeetup, though I’d understand if there was any preference to offer it first locally there. :-)

 

/charlie

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Marc Funaro

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:27 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

[Charlie Arehart]

Yep. Glad to help. :-)

Is it the “keeping the .cfm” that’s the problem? It may actually not even be a requirement. There are ways that requests can get passed into CF with other extensions, or no extension. Again, this SES feature in CF has been little-explored, I think.

Not denying the power/value of doing web server rewrites. Just trying to further an unsung possible alternative. :-)

 

/charlie

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kristin Gitler
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:38 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Thanks Charlie! I didn’t know about that feature in CF7 – funny that went unnoticed.    I think the other approaches will work better for me, but it’s good to know that it’s there.

 

Thanks,

 

Kristin

 

[Kristin Gitler]

Yes, that’s the problem.  It may be worth looking into, but it may be quicker to do it the other way, for now, as I think there’s much more documentation on the rewrite software.

 

Thanks!

 

Kristin

 

Kristin Gitler
Web Developer
office + 585.899.4879

ITX
6780 Northern Blvd., Ste 201
E. Syracuse, NY 13057
www.itx.com

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Charlie Arehart
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 3:56 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Yep. Glad to help. :-)

Is it the “keeping the .cfm” that’s the problem? It may actually not even be a requirement. There are ways that requests can get passed into CF with other extensions, or no extension. Again, this SES feature in CF has been little-explored, I think.

Not denying the power/value of doing web server rewrites. Just trying to further an unsung possible alternative. :-)

 

/charlie

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kristin Gitler
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:38 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Thanks Charlie! I didn’t know about that feature in CF7 – funny that went unnoticed.    I think the other approaches will work better for me, but it’s good to know that it’s there.

 

Thanks,

 

Kristin

 

--

[Kristin Gitler]

Thanks Marc,

 

That does sound interesting, I hadn’t heard of it used for that purpose.

 

Thanks,

 

Kristin

 

Kristin Gitler
Web Developer
office + 585.899.4879

ITX
6780 Northern Blvd., Ste 201
E. Syracuse, NY 13057
www.itx.com

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Marc Funaro

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:27 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com

[Kristin Gitler]

Thanks Brian – that may be the deciding factor, the upgrade issue.

 

Kristin

 

Kristin Gitler
Web Developer
office + 585.899.4879

ITX
6780 Northern Blvd., Ste 201
E. Syracuse, NY 13057
www.itx.com

 

[Charlie Arehart]

Yep, that’s certainly true, and a reasonable point! :-)

 

/charlie

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kristin Gitler
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 4:00 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Yes, that’s the problem.  It may be worth looking into, but it may be quicker to do it the other way, for now, as I think there’s much more documentation on the rewrite software.

 

Thanks!

 

Kristin

 

[Jamie Krug]

+1 for Helicon for being (nearly) identical to Apache's mod_rewrite -- portability and lots of good community documentation, examples, etc.

I'm stuck using IIRF on a few sites right now, and I've run into numerous edge case issues or quirks that were easy to handle with mod_rewrite, but not IIRF.

+2 if you can just use Apache or nginx ;-)

Best,
Jamie

--

[Marc Funaro]

Hadn’t really thought of it.  I guess in my old age I figured I have little to offer the CF community that they don’t already know or have access to via google.  I learned and implemented Adaptive Images through the original PHP implementation combined with Ray Camden’s port of it… you can find info on his website about it.  If after that you feel this would be worthy of a presentation, I’d probably want to do it at my local CFUG (Liverpool NY, typically) first to see how it goes over.  Like I said, I can’t imagine just exposing everyone to Ray’s implementation wouldn’t be enough for developers, as it describes the problem, the solution, and the exact steps… and includes code that is pretty well structured... I don’t know where I fit in, in the CF community anymore.  =)

 

Marc Funaro

Advantex LLC

607-336-6895

 

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Charlie Arehart
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 3:56 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Hey Marco, that Adaptive images does sound interesting. Would it be something with enough to discuss that it might be a good presentation? If so, would you consider it? And I’d be happy to have it on the Online CFMeetup, though I’d understand if there was any preference to offer it first locally there. :-)

 

/charlie

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Marc Funaro
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:27 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Fan of Ionics IIRF rewrite here.  Was first turned on to it via CFWheels.  Now using it on all the sites we host, for CFWheels as well as Adaptive Images which is a really nice way to render images for specific screen sizes without having to generate them separately.  Free is nice, too.  =)

 

My 2c

 

Marc Funaro

 

--

[Charlie Arehart]

Well, we could say about most any presentation that the attendees could learn what’s offered by just reading the docs for the thing, right? ;-)

Put it another way, I had not heard about this before it came up here. As cool as Ray’s blog is, I just can’t keep up with his and those of so many out there. And I suspect there are many others out there in the same boat. So, sure, if one could just somehow point people to it (http://www.raymondcamden.com/index.cfm/2011/9/6/Check-out-Adaptive-Images) then many would take that ball and run with it.

But a talk that discussed it, the benefits, the fork (the code, its use), the challenges (from reading comments, there are some of the same issues with rewriting that came up here), and such would probably have a welcoming audience.

Finally, let’s say that only 10% of a given audience might be interested in the topic. One challenge in local groups is that could mean only a few people show up to the meeting. With the Online meetup, 10% is 280 people. :-) Of course, it’s rare that a CFMeetup brings out 200 people—then again, when we consider those who might just watch a meeting recording, even a meeting with a small turnout might still “reach” far more people.

Anyway, I don’t say that to at all discourage your presenting it locally first. To be clear, I proposed that you may prefer that. I’m never trying to “poach” meeting topics from a local group. Just trying to encourage people to present. You mention feeling a little out of touch with the community. This is indeed where the online cfmeetup can help, whether as a place for you to present, or certainly for you to be able to stay in touch with things people do present. :-)

 

/charlie

 

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Marc Funaro
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 7:58 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

Hadn’t really thought of it.  I guess in my old age I figured I have little to offer the CF community that they don’t already know or have access to via google.  I learned and implemented Adaptive Images through the original PHP implementation combined with Ray Camden’s port of it… you can find info on his website about it.  If after that you feel this would be worthy of a presentation, I’d probably want to do it at my local CFUG (Liverpool NY, typically) first to see how it goes over.  Like I said, I can’t imagine just exposing everyone to Ray’s implementation wouldn’t be enough for developers, as it describes the problem, the solution, and the exact steps… and includes code that is pretty well structured... I don’t know where I fit in, in the CF community anymore.  =)

 

Marc Funaro

 

[Pete Freitag]

Mark - that would actually make a great presentation (we February open still) even if you didn't write the code, I think there would be a good deal of benefit in explaining the problem, showing the solution implementation and code, and any gotchas you might have ran into on the way. If you don't think you can fill a full hour with this we can always combine it with another short talk on something else (I know Charlie would also be happy to have you on the meetup at whatever time length it ends up at).

Like Charlie I haven't seen Ray's blog entry on it yet, there is far too much information out there for all of us to consume, that's where the CFUG and CFMeetup can help us a great deal!

--

Pete Freitag - Adobe Community Professional
http://foundeo.com/ - ColdFusion Consulting & Products
http://hackmycf.com - Is your ColdFusion Server Secure?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubESB87vl5U - FuseGuard your CFML in 10 minutes

[Marc Funaro]

What date is the gathering in February?  May need to push it to March as February is pretty busy for me.  I think you’d need to combine it because it’s a fairly straightforward setup.

[Brian Love]

Marc:

I agree.  I would really like to see this presentation, whether it is in February or in March.

Brian

[Pete Freitag]

Hi Marc,

We always shoot for second tuesday of the month, so it would be February 12th or March 12th.

Thanks,

--

Pete Freitag - Adobe Community Professional
http://foundeo.com/ - ColdFusion Consulting & Products
http://hackmycf.com - Is your ColdFusion Server Secure?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubESB87vl5U - FuseGuard your CFML in 10 minutes

[Marc Funaro]

I will be able to do March 12^th, as long as everyone is patient… I haven’t done a “presentation” of any kind in a very long time and I’m probably pretty rusty.  I don’t even have a laptop to demonstrate with anymore…  =)

 

Marc Funaro

Advantex LLC

607-336-6895

 

 

[Pete Freitag]

That's great Marc, we'll add you to the schedule! We can lend you a laptop during the presentation, and I can assure you we have one of the best groups in the world to present in front of, it's a great place to hone your skills.

--

Pete Freitag - Adobe Community Professional
http://foundeo.com/ - ColdFusion Consulting & Products
http://hackmycf.com - Is your ColdFusion Server Secure?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubESB87vl5U - FuseGuard your CFML in 10 minutes

[Marc Funaro]

Sounds good… what time should I be there?

[Pete Freitag]

Probably best to get there a few minutes after noon to setup, etc.

--

Pete Freitag - Adobe Community Professional
http://foundeo.com/ - ColdFusion Consulting & Products
http://hackmycf.com - Is your ColdFusion Server Secure?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubESB87vl5U - FuseGuard your CFML in 10 minutes

[Marc Funaro]

Got it.  I’m not sure I even know the current location where the meetings are held… send it along when you get a moment!

[Charlie Arehart]

Great to hear, and dittoing what Pete said, first, yes, even if it’s only 30 minutes it’s welcome on the Online CF Meetup. And to your feeling you’re perhaps “rusty” as a speaker, our group too is a patient bunch, so don’t worry about being polished. :-) So if you’d like to contact me off-list we can get you on the calendar (even tentatively if you like) for a meetup session for some Thursday (12p or 6p) from Mid-March onward. Drop me a note at cha...@carehart.org. If you prefer to wait until after you present, I’d understand that too. Whatever you prefer. Hope it goes well.

And let this be a lesson to all: there’s really no talk that’s “too niche” nor any presenter who’s “too green” to offer a talk. I find that most CFUG audiences are very patient and appreciative for whatever one may offer. If there’s some topic you notice no one’s talked about, feel free to propose it to your local group or to me. Especially in the Online CF Meetup, there’s always an audience for any topic. :-)

/charlie

From: cfu...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cfu...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Pete Freitag
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 3:18 PM
To: cfu...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [cfugcny] Helicon or IIRF for rewrite?

 

That's great Marc, we'll add you to the schedule! We can lend you a laptop during the presentation, and I can assure you we have one of the best groups in the world to present in front of, it's a great place to hone your skills.

 

--

Pete Freitag - Adobe Community Professional

 

On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 3:13 PM, Marc Funaro <ma...@advantex.net> wrote: