If you've ever worked with jars or raw java in ColdFusion, you will love the JavaLoader module for ColdBox. The JavaLoader module will interface with Mark Mandel's JavaLoader to allow you to do a network class loader, compiler and proxy. You can keep jars with your application's code instead of putting them in ColdFusion classpath, and you can even dynamically compile java code to use in your app.

To get started, simply install the module using CommandBox:

box install cbjavaloader

The module registers a new WireBox DSL called javaloader. You can then use this custom DSL for injecting direct java class loaded classes very easily:

property name="name"  inject="javaloader:{class-path}";
property name="hello" inject="javaloader:HelloWorld";
property name="buffer" inject="javaloader:org.class.path.StringBuffer";

With some basic configuration in your Coldbox.cfc, you can load jars or compile java:

// JavaLoader settings
javaloader = {
    // The array paths to load
    loadPaths = getJars( getDirectoryFromPath( getCurrentTemplatePath() ) & "lib" ),
    // Load ColdFusion classes with loader
    loadColdFusionClassPath = false,
    // Attach a custom class loader as a parent
    parentClassLoader = "",
    // Directories that contain Java source code that are to be dynamically compiled
    sourceDirectories = [],
    // the directory to build the .jar file for dynamic compilation in, defaults to ./tmp
    compileDirectory = getDirectoryFromPath( getCurrentTemplatePath() ) & "model/javaloader/tmp",
    // Whether or not the source is trusted, i.e. it is going to change? Defaults to false, so changes will be recompiled and loaded
    trustedSource = false
};

Happy Java-ing!