Tag and function examples

This section provides remedies for some of the compatibility issues listed in "CFML tags and attributes" and "CFML functions and variables".

Note: For the most current information on ColdFusion MX compatibility, see the Support section of the Macromedia website (http://www.macromedia.com/supporthttp://www.macromedia.com/support).

Using cfregistry in ColdFusion MX

The cfregistry tag is deprecated for UNIX and Linux platforms. Therefore, you must remove it on UNIX-based versions of ColdFusion to avoid compatibility problems when migrating to a later version of ColdFusion MX.

As an alternative, you can use the store variables in the following scopes:

Client
Text file
Encoded text file
Database
LDAP server

In Windows, you can continue to store client variables in the registry as in ColdFusion 5. However, you should not use the cfregistry tag to read ColdFusion server settings from the registry, such as the mail root and information about Verity collections and scheduled tasks, because much of this information is no longer stored in the registry, or it is in a different location in the registry. The ColdFusion server settings that are stored in the registry are subject to change. Therefore, you should not rely on registry keys that ColdFusion creates to store its system settings.

Following are two common examples of using the cfregistry tag in ColdFusion 5 that are not compatible with ColdFusion MX.

Incompatible example

In ColdFusion 5, the following sample code checks if a Verity collection exists, and if not, creates one in the appropriate directory relative to the installation path. In ColdFusion MX, this sample code throws an error, because ColdFusion MX does not store information about Verity collections and the installation directory in the registry.

<CFREGISTRY ACTION = "GETALL"

  Branch = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Allaire\ColdFusion\CurrentVersion\
Collections" 
  Type = "KEY"
  Name = "Collections">
<CFSET CollectionFound = 'No'>
<CFLOOP QUERY = "Collections">
  <CFIF Collections.Entry IS request.datasource>
    <CFSET CollectionFound = 'Yes'>
  </CFIF>
</CFLOOP>
<CFIF CollectionFound IS 'No'>
<!--- Create the collection --->
  <CFREGISTRY ACTION = "GET"
    Branch = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Allaire\ColdFusion\CurrentVersion\
Collections"
    Entry = "RootDirectory"
    Type = "STRING"
    Variable = "CFRootDir">
  <CFIF Server.OS.Name IS NOT "UNIX">
    <CFSET CollectionPath = "#CFRootDir#\Verity\Collections\">
  <CFELSE>
    <CFSET CollectionPath = "#CFRootDir#/verity/collections/">
  </CFIF>
    <CFCOLLECTION Action = "CREATE" 
      Collection = "#request.datasource#"
      Path = "#CollectionPath#"
      Language = "english">
</CFIF>

Compatible example

In ColdFusion MX, you cannot retrieve a list of Verity collections that are registered by ColdFusion or the K2 Server using the registry. Instead, use cfcollection with action="list", perform a Query of Queries on the queryResult that is specified in the name attribute of cfcollection, and use cfdump to display the collections. Following is sample code to accomplish these tasks:

<cfcollection action = "list" name = "verity" >

<cfoutput>List of all known verity collections.<br><br></cfoutput>
<CFDUMP var = "#verity#"> 
<br> 
<cfoutput>Searching for a specific collection by name.<br><br></cfoutput>
<cfquery name = "qoq" dbtype = "query">
select * from verity where verity.name = 'test_db_neo' 
</cfquery> 
<br> 
<CFDUMP var = "#qoq#">

This returns a table of every collection that is registered by ColdFusion or the K2 Server. The table has the following columns:

Name The name of the CF registered collection or the alias collection name for the K2 Server registered collection. ColdFusion MX saves the K2 Server registered collection information, so it is available even when the K2 Server is not running.
Registered "CF" if the collection is registered by ColdFusion, or "K2" if the collection is registered by the K2 Server.
Path The path to the collection. If the collection is external or registered by the K2 Server, the path includes the collection name.
Mapped (CF collections only) "YES" or "NO" if the collection is mapped or not.
External (CF collections only) "YES" or "NO" if the collection is external or not.
Language (CF collections only) The language used by the collection.
Online (CF collections only) "YES" or "NO" if the collection is available for searching or not.

Incompatible example

The following example to retrieve ColdFusion mappings throws an error because ColdFusion MX does not store ColdFusion mappings in the registry.

<cfregistry action = "get"

 branch = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Allaire\ColdFusion\CurrentVersion\
Templates"
 entry = "/cfdao/" type = "String" variable = "RegValue">
<cfif isdefined("regvalue")>
   <cfset request.cfdao_mappeddir = "#regvalue#">
<cfelse>
  <cfoutput>
  Please create a CF Mapping named cfdao which points to your cfdao files before
trying to run this template.
  </cfoutput>
  <cfabort>
</cfif>
<cfinclude template = "/cfdao/dao_application.cfm">

Compatible example

To work around this, you can include error handling in your templates that would notify the system administrator if a cfinclude failed due to a missing mapping. In the event of a missing mapping, the system administrator must create it in the ColdFusion Administrator.

For more information on performing registry operations in ColdFusion MX, see cfregistry in the CFML Reference.

Using ListSort() in ColdFusion MX

When sorting with textnocase in a descending order, ColdFusion 5 and ColdFusion MX return the results in a different order. However, both are correct because in a textnocase sort, "apple" is equal to "APPLE".

In ColdFusion MX, a descending textnocase sort returns the elements in the exact reverse order as in an ascending textnocase sort. This is different than in ColdFusion 5.

The following code produces different results in ColdFusion MX than in ColdFusion 5:

<cfset list = "orange,Orange,apple">

<cfset listAsc = ListSort(#list#, "textnocase", "asc")>
<cfset listDesc = ListSort(l#list#, "textnocase", "desc")>
<cfdump var = #listAsc#>
<cfdump var = #listDesc#>

This code produces the following results for ascending and descending sort operations in ColdFusion 5 and ColdFusion MX:

Sort order

ColdFusion 5 results

ColdFusion MX results

Ascending (listAsc)

apple, orange,Orange

apple,orange,Orange

Descending (listDesc)

orange, Orange, apple

Orange,orange,apple

Sort order	ColdFusion 5 results	ColdFusion MX results
Ascending (`listAsc`)	apple, orange,Orange	apple,orange,Orange
Descending (`listDesc`)	orange, Orange, apple	Orange,orange,apple

For more information, see ListSort() in CFML Reference.

Using the cfindex tag in ColdFusion MX

To populate a collection with the contents of the query results, you can now use the cfindex tag with the query attribute and type = "file" or type = "path", for all actions that require information from the key attribute. You can also still use type = "custom".

When you use type = "file" or type = "path" with a query, the action attribute queries to get filenames or file paths from the key attribute, and passes the query results to its actions. The actions use the filenames or file paths to execute their code.

The following table shows a sample database for an application on a Windows server:

BookID

URL

Title

Description

bookid1

url1

title1

description1

bookid2

url2

title2

description2

bookid3

url3

title3

description3

file

http://localhost/cfdocs/snippets

title4

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfdocs\snippets\file.cfm

path1

http://localhost/cfdocs/snippets/

title5

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfdocs\snippets\

path2

http://localhost/cfdocs/cfmlsyntaxcheck

title6

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfdocs\cfmlsyntaxcheck

BookID	URL	Title	Description
bookid1	url1	title1	description1
bookid2	url2	title2	description2
bookid3	url3	title3	description3
file	http://localhost/cfdocs/snippets	title4	c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfdocs\snippets\file.cfm
path1	http://localhost/cfdocs/snippets/	title5	c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfdocs\snippets\
path2	http://localhost/cfdocs/cfmlsyntaxcheck	title6	c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfdocs\cfmlsyntaxcheck

You can populate a collection using either of the following scripts:

Populate the snippets collection with files specified in the description column of the database, as shown in the following example:

<CFQUERY NAME = "bookquery"
DATASOURCE = "book"> 
SELECT * FROM book where bookid='file' 
</CFQUERY> 

<CFOUTPUT QUERY = "bookquery"> 
#url#,#description# <BR> 
<cfindex collection = "snippets" action = "update" type = "file"
query = "bookquery" key = "description" URLPath = "url">
</CFOUTPUT>

Populate the snippets collection with paths specified in the description column of the database, as shown in the following example:

<CFQUERY NAME="bookquery" 
DATASOURCE="book"> 
SELECT * FROM book where bookid='path1' or bookid='path2' 
</CFQUERY> 
<CFOUTPUT QUERY="bookquery"> 
#url#,#description# <BR> 
<cfindex collection="snippets" action="update" 
type="path" query="bookquery" key="description" URLpath="url" > 
</CFOUTPUT>

Migrating ColdFusion 5 Applications
Migrating ColdFusion 5 Applications

Tag and function examples

Using cfregistry in ColdFusion MX

Incompatible example

Compatible example

Incompatible example

Compatible example

Using ListSort() in ColdFusion MX

Using the cfindex tag in ColdFusion MX

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