Blog

Tip of the Week: WireBox Debug Output

Brad Wood February 06, 2013

Spread the word

Brad Wood

February 06, 2013

Spread the word


Share your thoughts

 

If you've used WireBox for autowiring the CFCs in your application, you may have reached a point where you were having trouble figuring out what was going on behind the scenes.  This can be especially true if you've added auutowire metdata to a CFC, but the dependencies still aren't getting injected.
 
WireBox actually has pretty robust debug-level logging built in via LogBox that will tell you everything it is doing, but the question might be, "How do I see it?"  Wirebox's debug logging is kind of like the light in your fridge-- it's only on when you're looking at it.  
 
First, you need to have at least one LogBox appender enabled.  Depending on which application template you used, you may alread have a ColdboxTracerAppender appender configured which shows up when debug mode is on.  My favorite appender to set up an AsyncRollingFileAppender and then watch the text file with a tail program.
 
logBox = {
    appenders = {
        myAsycFile = {
            class="coldbox.system.logging.appenders.AsyncRollingFileAppender",
            properties={
                filePath=expandPath("/common/logs"),autoExpand=false
            }
        }
    }
};
 
Now, even if you already have an appender configured, you're probably not seeing any debug logs from WireBox; or any part of the ColdBox framework for that matter.  This is a good default, since ColdBox can be a bit chatty in debug mode.  The reason you're not seeing anything is because the "coldbox.system" category is turned off.  Remember that loggers in LogBox are named after the CFC they're in, and inherit logging settings in a hierarchical manner.  Look for a line of code similar to this in your config:
 
info = ["coldbox.system"]
 
This sets a maximum log level of "info" for anything logged inside of "coldbox.system".  Since all of WireBox's logs are debug level, they don't make the cut and get ignored.  To tell wirebox to start logging debug-level messages from WireBox, you can add the following line in the LogBox config:
 
debug = ["coldbox.system.ioc"]
 
After a quick reinit, LogBox will start logging debug messages from within coldbox.system.ioc (which is WireBox) to whatever appenders you have configured.  Don't forget to turn debug logs back off when you are done for performance reasons.  
 
 
P.S. You can also use environment overrides so debug messages are logged on your development machine, but not on higher environments. 

Add Your Comment

Recent Entries

The CFML Talent Gap Is Real: Scale Your ColdFusion Team Without Hiring Full-Time

The CFML Talent Gap Is Real: Scale Your ColdFusion Team Without Hiring Full-Time

ColdFusion applications still power critical systems across industries.

From universities and healthcare platforms to financial services and enterprise internal tools, CFML continues to run many systems organizations depend on every day.

But there’s a growing challenge many teams are quietly facing:

Finding experienced CFML developers is getting harder.

And when internal teams are already stretched thin, even small projects or performance issues can quickly turn ...

Cristobal Escobar
Cristobal Escobar
March 06, 2026
Discover the tools, tricks, and techniques every modern CFML and BoxLang developer needs!

Discover the tools, tricks, and techniques every modern CFML and BoxLang developer needs!

Into the Box 2026 is officially on the horizon, and it’s shaping up to be our most impactful conference yet.

Our mission this year is simple: **Make modernization approachable for everyone.** Whether you’re a seasoned ColdFusion veteran or a developer just starting your BoxLang journey, we’ve priced this event to ensure the entire community can join us in person.

Victor Campos
Victor Campos
March 05, 2026
From Lucee to Modern JVM Architectures for German Enterprises

From Lucee to Modern JVM Architectures for German Enterprises

How German companies running Lucee and CFML can evolve toward cloud-native JVM platforms

Across Germany, many enterprises rely on Lucee and CFML-based applications to run critical internal systems, customer portals, and business workflows.

Germany has one of the most active Lucee communities in Europe, supported by long-standing adoption of CFML across industries such as:

  • Manufacturing
  • Logistics
  • <...

Cristobal Escobar
Cristobal Escobar
March 04, 2026