1.3.0

June 23, 2025

We're excited to announce BoxLang v1.3.0, a significant update that brings new features, performance improvements, and important bug fixes to enhance your development experience.

🎉 New Features

Compression & Serialization Enhancements

Enhanced Zip Component (BL-1508)

Added compressionLevel parameter to zip component and utilities for better control over compression settings. The default compressionLevel is 6 which is a balanced approach.

Example:

// Zip Component
bx:zip compressionLevel="9"

// Compress BIF
compress( compressionLevel: 9 )

Pretty JSON Serialization (BL-1542)

Added pretty argument to jsonSerialize() function to enable formatted JSON output for improved readability and storage.

Example:

data = {
    name: "John Doe",
    age: 30,
    address: {
        street: "123 Main St",
        city: "Anytown",
        country: "USA"
    },
    hobbies: ["reading", "cycling", "photography"]
};

// Standard compact JSON (default behavior)
compactJson = jsonSerialize( data );
// Output: {"name":"John Doe","age":30,"address":{"street":"123 Main St","city":"Anytown","country":"USA"},"hobbies":["reading","cycling","photography"]}

// Pretty formatted JSON (new feature)
prettyJson = jsonSerialize( data, pretty=true );
/* Output:
{
  "name" : "John Doe",
  "age" : 30,
  "address" : {
    "street" : "123 Main St",
    "city" : "Anytown",
    "country" : "USA"
  },
  "hobbies" : [ "reading", "cycling", "photography" ]
}
*/

// Useful for debugging and configuration files
writeFile( "config.json", jsonSerialize( appConfig, pretty=true ) );

Array, List, Query & Struct Operations

New xNone() Functions (BL-1533)

Introduced xNone() functions for BIF operations across arrays, lists, queries, and structs to check if no elements match specified criteria.

Array Example:

numbers = [ 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 ]

// Using BIF with lambda notation
hasNoEvens = arrayNone( numbers, num -> num % 2 == 0 )
// Returns: true (no even numbers found)

hasNoneGreaterThan10 = arrayNone( numbers, num -> num > 10 )
// Returns: true (no numbers greater than 10)

// Using member method with lambda notation
hasNoEvens = numbers.none( num -> num % 2 == 0 )
// Returns: true (no even numbers found)

hasNoneGreaterThan10 = numbers.none( num -> num > 10 )
// Returns: true (no numbers greater than 10)

// More complex example with multiple conditions
products = [
    { name: "laptop", price: 999, category: "electronics" },
    { name: "book", price: 15, category: "education" },
    { name: "phone", price: 599, category: "electronics" }
]

// BIF: Check if none are free products
hasNoFreeProducts = arrayNone( products, product -> product.price == 0 )

// Member method: Check if none are luxury items (over $2000)
hasNoLuxuryItems = products.none( product -> product.price > 2000 )

List Example:

fruits = "apple,banana,cherry,date"

// Using BIF with lambda notation
hasNoZFruits = listNone( fruits, fruit -> left( fruit, 1 ) == "z" )
// Returns: true (no fruits start with 'z')

// Using member method with lambda notation
hasNoZFruits = fruits.none( fruit -> left( fruit, 1 ) == "z" )
// Returns: true (no fruits start with 'z')

Query Example:

users = queryNew( "name,age,status", "varchar,integer,varchar", [
    [ "Alice", 25, "active" ],
    [ "Bob", 30, "active" ],
    [ "Charlie", 35, "inactive" ]
] )

// Using BIF: Check if none of the users are minors
hasNoMinors = queryNone( users, row -> row.age < 18 )
// Returns: true (no users under 18)

// Using member method: Check if none have empty names
hasNoEmptyNames = users.none( row -> len( trim( row.name ) ) == 0 )
// Returns: true (all users have names)

Struct Example:

config = {
    database: "mysql",
    port: 3306,
    ssl: true,
    timeout: 30
}

// Using BIF: Check if none of the values are null or empty
hasNoEmptyValues = structNone( config, ( key, value ) -> isNull( value ) || value == "" )
// Returns: true (all config values are populated)

// Using member method: Check if none of the keys contain "password"
hasNoPasswordKeys = config.none( ( key, value ) -> findNoCase( "password", key ) > 0 )
// Returns: true (no password-related keys found)

Build & Security Improvements

Binary Checksums (BL-1512)

Added checksums to all binary creations in the build process for enhanced security and integrity verification.

Usage in CI/CD:

# Example GitHub Actions step to verify BoxLang binary integrity
- name: Verify BoxLang Binary
  run: |
    wget https://downloads.boxlang.io/boxlang-1.3.0.jar.sha256
    sha256sum -c boxlang-1.3.0.jar.sha256
    echo "Binary integrity verified ✓"

🚀 Improvements

Documentation & Developer Experience

• Enhanced Documentation (BL-1471): Added comprehensive examples to documentation for Built-in Functions (BIFs) and Components

• Command Line Help (BL-1521, BL-1522): Added --help and -h flags to Mini Server, Feature Audit, CFTranspiler, Scheduler, BoxRunner, and other command-line tools

Performance & Architecture

• HTTP Response Compression (BL-1511): Added support for compressed HTTP responses to improve performance

• Query Concurrency (BL-1534): Significant improvements to query concurrency handling, resolving inconsistencies when adding data to queries in parallel threads

• Lazy Cache Expiration (BL-1528): Implemented lazy expiration for caching to optimize memory usage and performance

• Scope Security (BL-1494): Prevented scopes from being overridden through scope hunting for better security

Error Handling & Type Safety

• Array Type Matching (BL-1516): Updated arrayFind() to handle mismatched types gracefully without throwing exceptions

• Compile-time Annotations (BL-1537): Refactored @NonNull and @Nullable annotations to use compile-time checkers instead of runtime dependencies

Dependency Updates

• Semver4j Update (BL-1526): Bumped org.semver4j:semver4j from 5.7.0 to 5.7.1

• Jackson Update (BL-1536): Bumped com.fasterxml.jackson.jr:jackson-jr-stree from 2.19.0 to 2.19.1

• Runtime Dependencies (BL-1519): Optimized to ensure only runtime dependencies are stored in the lib folder

CFML Compatibility

• CFQuery Parameter Mapping (BL-1544): Created transpiler rule for cfquery params, mapping cfsqltype to sqltype for better CFML compatibility

🐛 Bug Fixes

Image Processing

• Image Scaling (BL-1216): Fixed issue where scaleToFit was creating black images

• Member Function Resize (BL-1217): Resolved image resize functionality when used as member function

Database & Transactions

• JDBC Transaction Handling (BL-1472): Fixed transaction defaults to use app-default datasource instead of ignoring named datasources in queries

• DATETIME Parameter Aliasing (BL-1527): Resolved issue where DATETIME was not being properly aliased by query parameters in prepared statements

Mathematical Operations

• Timestamp Math Operations (BL-1501): Updated math operations encountering timestamps to cast as fractional days for CFML compatibility

• fix() Function Behavior (BL-1513): Aligned fix() function behavior with Lucee's implementation

Parallel Processing

• Tiered Execution (BL-1503): Updated parallel computations (xSome, xEvery, xMap, xFilter, xEach) to use improved tiered execution approach

• Loop Group Handling (BL-1504): Fixed issue where looping groups would break instead of continuing properly

File Handling & HTTP

• File Upload Errors (BL-1507): Resolved HTTP errors occurring during file uploads

• Multi-part Form Fields (BL-1523): Fixed issue where all multi-part form fields were being unnecessarily written to disk

Exception Handling

• CFCatch Support (BL-1524): Improved CFCatch support when catch variable is defined in bx-compat-cfml

Caching System

• Cache Concurrency (BL-1529): Resolved several concurrency issues affecting cache entries, creation timeouts, and last access timeouts

• Cache Entry Collisions (BL-1530): Fixed cache entry equals evaluation that was incorrectly evaluating hash codes and causing collisions

Class & Component System

• Remote Method Templates (BL-1531): Improved base template setting for remote methods in super classes

• Class Metadata (BL-1541): Fixed type property in class metadata to properly reference "class" instead of "component"

• XML Object Duplication (BL-1547): Resolved issue with duplicate function being broken when using XML objects

Path Handling

• Servlet Path Resolution (BL-1532): Enhanced handling of ../ patterns in servlet paths for better security and reliability

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📋 Summary

BoxLang v1.3.0 delivers significant improvements across performance, reliability, and developer experience. With enhanced concurrency handling, improved caching mechanisms, and comprehensive bug fixes, this release strengthens BoxLang's foundation while maintaining excellent CFML compatibility.

Key Highlights:

• New compression and serialization capabilities

• Major query concurrency improvements

• Enhanced caching with lazy expiration

• Comprehensive documentation updates

• Critical bug fixes for image processing, database operations, and parallel processing

We recommend all users upgrade to v1.3.0 to benefit from these improvements and fixes.

For technical support or questions about this release, please visit our documentation or contact our support team.

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Raw Release Notes

New Feature

BL-1508 Add `compressionLevel` to the zip component and utilities

BL-1512 Add checksums to all binary creations in the build process

BL-1533 xNone() for bif operations: array, list, query, struct

BL-1542 Added `pretty` argument to jsonSerialize() to allow for pretty serialization

Improvement

BL-1471 Add Examples to docs for BIFs and Components

BL-1494 Don't allow scopes to be "overridden" with scope hunting

BL-1511 Add Support for Compressed HTTP responses

BL-1516 arrayFind shouldn't throw on mismatched types

BL-1519 Small update to make sure only runtime dependencies are stored in the `lib` folder using our maven pom in the Boxlang home.

BL-1521 Add --help -h to Mini Server

BL-1522 Add --help -h to Feature Audit, CFTranspiler, Scheduler, BoxRunner and more

BL-1526 Bumps org.semver4j:semver4j from 5.7.0 to 5.7.1.

BL-1528 Add lazy expiration for caching

BL-1534 Query Concurrency Improvements : There are some inconsistencies and issues when dealing with adding data to queries in parallel threads

BL-1536 Bumps com.fasterxml.jackson.jr:jackson-jr-stree from 2.19.0 to 2.19.1.

BL-1537 Refactor @NonNull and @Nullable to use compile time checkers instead of runtime dependencies

BL-1544 Create a transpiler rule for cfquery params: `cfsqltype` to `sqltype`

Bugs

BL-1216 Image scaleToFit creating black images

BL-1217 Image resize not working as member func.

BL-1472 JDBC - Transaction defaults to app-default datasource, and ignores the datasource named in the first query

BL-1501 Compat: Math Operations Which Encounter Timestamps Should Cast as Fractional Days

BL-1503 Update parallel computations to use a tiered execution approach; xSome, xEvery, xMap, xFilter, xEach

BL-1504 looping groups breaks when it should continue

BL-1507 HTTP Errors When Uploading File

BL-1513 fix() behaviour is not equal to Lucee's behaviour

BL-1523 All multi-part form fields are being written to disk

BL-1524 CFCatch support when catch variable defined in bx-compat-cfml

BL-1527 DATETIME is not being aliased by query parameters in prepared statements

BL-1529 Several concurrency issues on cache entries created and last access timeouts

BL-1530 cache entry equals evaluating the hash codes incorrectly and causing collisions

BL-1531 Set base template for remote methods in super class

BL-1532 Better handle ../ in servlet paths

BL-1541 The `type` property in class metadata still references "component" instead of being "class"

BL-1547 duplicate function broken when using xml objects