Calling DLL as .NET object in ColdFusion

[Joyrex]

We are trying to implement dtSearch in replacement for the anemic built-in search that is in our CFML application server, BlueDragon.NET.

One of the advantages of BlueDragon.NET is you can call .NET objects in CFML via CFHTTP or CFOBJECT - assuming of course you have experience with .NET, which we do not.

dtSearch (http://www.dtsearch.com) is an amazing search and indexing tool; the Firm I work for uses the desktop version and it blows almost anything out of the water - it can support terabyte-sized index files, etc.

We are attempting to implement the Web version of their product, and they have an extensive API for integrating it in a .NET application - the issue here is we can't seem to figure out the correct class name to call via CFOBJECT to return a list of methods so we can then call those methods and control our search output.

Their API documentation is here: http://support.dtsearch.com/webhelp/dtSearchNetApi2/frames.html?frmname=topic&frmfile=dtSearch__Engine.html and I've read it back and forth - the problem is I'm not sure if I have to register the .dll with the GAC or not, etc. - .NET is a mystery to us despite our best efforts.

If anyone has any experience or advice, I'd love to hear it - we're getting to the point of considering a contractor to implement this as time is ticking, but I'd really like to figure it out ourselves if we can.

Thanks in advance for any advice/help.

James

[Charlie Arehart]

Have you read the BD.NET docs, which show how to integrate CFML and .NET? Here’s the doc for BD.NET 7.1:

http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/self_help/docs/7_1/BlueDragon_71_Integrating_CFML_with_ASPNET.pdf

See pages 26-29, which show both compiling and calling a .net object, or using an existing one, including the steps to making the DLL available via .NET, and thus CFML from within BD.NET. You can put it in the GAC, or in site’s BIN.

At least that’s how it worked when I wrote those docs back in about 2005, and I see the doc was updated in 2009 (3 years after I left New Atlanta). The BD 9 doc was updated in 2013, and the steps there appear about the same.

Let us know if that gets you going. If not, and we reach the end of the rope (I have not used that capability in about 10 years, myself), there are also the BD.NET forums, with a CFML/.NET specific one at:

http://forums.newatlanta.com/threads.cfm?forumid=3CADDAB0-D17F-432B-8E48E633B2557D59

which shows a post as recently as this month.

/charlie

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[James Thomas]

Charlie,

Thanks for the reply - I recall meeting you at my Firm back in 2006 when we got BD.NET 😀

The BD docs were the first place I turned to - I guess the issue here is I don't understand classes and methods in .net, so I'm not sure if what I'm doing is correct or not.

I can post code examples and links to dtSearch's API, which is impressive if I understood it....

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[Charlie Arehart]

Long time, no see. :-) We made many passes through Texas (Brian O’Reilly, and I) showing the wonders of BD.NET back then. It’s still a compelling solution, for any wanting to run CFML on .NET (versus Java, as CF, BD, Lucee, and Railo do it, for those with such a need. Funny how the world has changed, though, with respect to the openness to “other” CFML engines, compared to back in 2003-2006.)

Anyway, as for your continued challenge, did you see those specific pages, where it shows how to access a .net object, whether it’s in the GAC or the bin?

If that’s not doing it for you, I don’t think you’ll get more help here on the Houston CFUG. I’d really recommend you ask on the BD/.NET forum I linked to. That’s where folks of that ilk (and New Atlanta folks) do meet to help each other.

/charlie