ColdBox ContentBox Theme Development (BoxLang)
Build custom themes for ContentBox CMS using BoxLang. Themes control the visual presentation of all public-facing content — blog entries, pages, archives, search results, and error pages.
Theme Structure
A ContentBox theme is a directory under modules_app/contentbox-custom/_themes/ (custom) or modules/contentbox/themes/ (core) containing:
MyTheme/
├── Theme.bx ← Theme metadata, settings, lifecycle callbacks
├── screenshot.png ← Theme preview image (shown in admin)
├── layouts/
│ ├── blog.bx ← MANDATORY: Blog entry layout
│ └── pages.bx ← MANDATORY: Page layout
│ ├── maintenance.bx ← Optional: Maintenance mode layout
│ └── search.bx ← Optional: Search results layout (defaults to pages)
├── views/
│ ├── index.bx ← MANDATORY: Home page (blog entry listing)
│ ├── entry.bx ← MANDATORY: Single blog entry with comments
│ ├── page.bx ← MANDATORY: Single page rendering
│ ├── archives.bx ← MANDATORY: Blog archives view
│ ├── error.bx ← MANDATORY: Error display
│ ├── notfound.bx ← Optional: Entry not found view
│ └── maintenance.bx ← Optional: Maintenance mode view
├── templates/
│ ├── entry.bx ← Collection template for entry iterations
│ ├── category.bx ← Collection template for category iterations
│ └── comment.bx ← Collection template for comment iterations
├── widgets/ ← Theme-specific widget overrides
│ └── MyWidget.bx ← Overrides core widgets of the same name
└── includes/ ← Help files, assets, etc.
Theme.bx
The Theme.bx defines metadata, settings, and lifecycle callbacks:
// Theme Metadata
this.name = "My Custom Theme";
this.description = "A beautiful custom theme for ContentBox";
this.version = "1.0.0";
this.author = "Your Name";
this.authorURL = "https://example.com";
this.screenShotURL = "screenshot.png";
// Theme Settings — array of setting structs
this.settings = [
{
name : "siteTitle",
defaultValue : "My Site",
type : "text",
label : "Site Title:",
required : true,
group : "General"
},
{
name : "primaryColor",
defaultValue : "#3b82f6",
type : "color",
label : "Primary Color:",
group : "Colors"
},
{
name : "showSidebar",
defaultValue : true,
type : "boolean",
label : "Show Sidebar:",
group : "Layout"
},
{
name : "layoutStyle",
defaultValue : "grid",
type : "select",
label : "Entry Layout:",
options : "grid,list,masonry",
group : "Layout"
},
{
name : "footerText",
defaultValue : "",
type : "textarea",
label : "Footer Text:",
group : "General"
}
];
/**
* Called when the theme is activated
*/
function onActivation(){
// Run setup logic, create default content, etc.
}
/**
* Called when the theme is deactivated
*/
function onDeactivation(){
// Cleanup logic
}
/**
* Called when the theme is deleted
*/
function onDelete(){
// Cleanup logic
}
Setting Types
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
text |
Single-line text input (default) |
textarea |
Multi-line text area |
boolean |
Checkbox toggle |
select |
Dropdown select box |
color |
Color picker |
Setting Struct Keys
| Key | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
name |
Yes | Setting name (saved as cb_themeName_settingName) |
defaultValue |
Yes | Default value |
type |
No | HTML control type (default: text) |
label |
No | HTML label (defaults to name) |
required |
No | Whether the setting is required (default: false) |
title |
No | HTML title attribute |
options |
No | For select: comma-separated list or array of values, or array of {name, value} structs |
optionsUDF |
No | UDF name (no parentheses) that returns options, e.g., getColors |
group |
No | Group name for organizing settings |
groupIntro |
No | Description text for a group |
fieldDescription |
No | Description for an individual field |
fieldHelp |
No | HTML for a modal help popup (use loadHelpFile() helper) |
Accessing Theme Settings in Views
Theme settings are available via the cb helper:
// Get a theme setting
cb.getThemeSetting( "siteTitle" )
cb.getThemeSetting( "primaryColor" )
// With fallback default
cb.getThemeSetting( "showSidebar", true )
Layout Files
blog.bx — Blog Entry Layout
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>#{cb.getContent().getTitle()}# — #{cb.getThemeSetting( "siteTitle" )}#</title>
#{renderView( view = "_assets/head" )}#
</head>
<body>
#{renderView( view = "_assets/header" )}#
<main class="container">
#{renderView()}#
</main>
#{renderView( view = "_assets/footer" )}#
</body>
</html>
pages.bx — Page Layout
Similar structure to blog.bx, used for rendering static pages.
View Files
index.bx — Home Page
// Render entries using collection template
cb.renderCollection(
template : "entry",
collection : prc.entries,
counter : prc.start,
totalItems : prc.totalRecords
)
// Pagination
cb.paginator(
totalRecords : prc.totalRecords,
maxRows : prc.maxRows,
page : prc.page,
pageLink : cb.siteURL() & "/page/{page}",
align : "center"
)
entry.bx — Single Blog Entry
entry = cb.getContent()
<article class="entry">
<header>
<h1>#{entry.getTitle()}#</h1>
<div class="meta">
By #{entry.getAuthor().getFullName()}#
on #{dateFormat( entry.getCreatedDate(), "mmmm d, yyyy" )}#
</div>
</header>
<div class="content">
#{entry.getHTMLContent()}#
</div>
// Categories
if( entry.getCategories().recordCount ){
writeOutput( '
<div class="categories">
#{cb.renderCollection(
template : "category",
collection : entry.getCategories()
)}#
</div>
' )
}
// Comments
cb.widget( "CommentForm" )
</article>
page.bx — Single Page
page = cb.getContent()
<article class="page">
<h1>#{page.getTitle()}#</h1>
<div class="content">
#{page.getHTMLContent()}#
</div>
</article>
archives.bx — Archives View
<h1>Archives</h1>
// Monthly archives
<div class="archives-by-month">
#{cb.renderCollection(
template : "entry",
collection : prc.entries
)}#
</div>
// Pagination
#{cb.paginator(
totalRecords : prc.totalRecords,
maxRows : prc.maxRows,
page : prc.page
)}#
error.bx — Error Display
<div class="error-page">
<h1>Error</h1>
<p>#{prc.errorMessage ?: "An unexpected error occurred."}#</p>
<a href="#{cb.siteURL()}#" class="btn">Return Home</a>
</div>
Collection Templates
Templates in templates/ are used with cb.renderCollection(). Each template receives:
_counter— Current iteration index (1-based)_items— Total number of items in the collection{templateName}— The object being rendered (e.g.,entry,category,comment)
templates/entry.bx
<article class="entry-preview">
<h2>
<a href="#{cb.entryURL( entry )}#">#{entry.getTitle()}#</a>
</h2>
<div class="meta">
#{dateFormat( entry.getCreatedDate(), "mmmm d, yyyy" )}#
by #{entry.getAuthor().getFullName()}#
</div>
<div class="excerpt">
#{entry.getHTMLContentExcerpt()}#
</div>
</article>
templates/category.bx
<a href="#{cb.categoryURL( category )}#" class="category-tag">
#{category.getCategory()}#
</a>
templates/comment.bx
<div class="comment">
<div class="comment-author">#{comment.getAuthor()}#</div>
<div class="comment-date">#{dateFormat( comment.getCreatedDate(), "mmmm d, yyyy" )}#</div>
<div class="comment-body">#{comment.getComment()}#</div>
</div>
Widget Overrides
Place widgets in widgets/ to override core widgets of the same name:
// widgets/Menu.bx — overrides the core Menu widget
component extends="contentbox.models.ui.BaseWidget" singleton {
function init(){
setName( "Menu" )
setVersion( "1.0.0" )
setDescription( "Custom menu widget override" )
}
any function renderIt( string menuName = "main" ){
// Custom menu rendering
}
}
The CB Helper
The cb helper (CBHelper@contentbox) is the primary API for theme development:
// Site info
cb.site() // Current site entity
cb.siteURL() // Site base URL
cb.siteName() // Site name
// Content
cb.getContent() // Current content (entry/page)
cb.entryURL( entry ) // Entry permalink
cb.pageURL( page ) // Page URL
cb.categoryURL( category ) // Category URL
// Theme settings
cb.getThemeSetting( "name" )
// Widgets
cb.widget( "WidgetName", { arg1 : "value" } )
// Rendering
cb.renderCollection( template : "entry", collection : query )
cb.renderView( view = "partial" )
// Menus
cb.menu( "main" )
// RSS feeds
cb.rssURL()
cb.rssCommentsURL()
// Search
cb.searchURL()
cb.searchURL( "query" )
// Subscriptions
cb.subscribeURL()
cb.unsubscribeURL()
Theme Discovery and Registration
ContentBox discovers themes from two locations:
- Core themes:
modules/contentbox/themes/ - Custom themes:
modules_app/contentbox-custom/_themes/
The ThemeService@contentbox builds the theme registry at startup. Custom themes override core themes of the same name.
Theme Switching
Themes can be switched per-site via admin settings. The active theme is resolved at runtime:
// In a handler or service
property name="themeService" inject="themeService@contentbox"
activeTheme = themeService.getActiveTheme()
themePath = themeService.getThemePath( activeTheme )
Best Practices
- Always include mandatory files:
Theme.bx,blog.bx,pages.bx,index.bx,entry.bx,page.bx,archives.bx,error.bx - Use
cbhelper for all URL generation — never hardcode paths - Use collection templates for iterating over entries, categories, comments
- Group theme settings logically using the
groupkey - Provide
screenshot.pngfor admin theme preview - Use
loadHelpFile()for field help that reads fromincludes/help/ - Keep theme-specific widgets in the theme's
widgets/folder - Test with multiple content types — entries, pages, categories, search results
- Use
prcscope for handler-passed data in views - Leverage BoxLang features — null coalescing (
?:), Elvis operator, modern syntax
Engine Compatibility
This skill targets BoxLang engine. For CFML-specific syntax (Lucee 5+, Adobe ColdFusion 2018+), see the CFML variant of this skill.
Key BoxLang advantages:
- Use
#{...}#for inline expression output in.bxtemplates - No
<cfoutput>wrapper needed - Modern syntax:
?:null coalescing,?.safe navigation - Cleaner function calls without parentheses when no arguments
- Native support for modern data structures