cfset

Description

Define a ColdFusion variable. If the variable exists, cfset resets it to the specified value.

Syntax

<cfset variable_name = expression>

Usage

Arrays

The following example assigns a new array to the variable "months".

<cfset months = ArrayNew(1)>

This example creates a variable "Array_Length" that resolves to the length of the array "Scores".

<cfset Array_Length = ArrayLen(Scores)>

This example assigns to index position two in the array "months" the value "February".

<cfset months[2] = "February">

Dynamic variable names

In this example, the variable name is itself a variable.

<cfset myvariable = "current_value">

<cfset "#myvariable#" = 5>

COM objects

In this example, a COM object is created. A cfset defines a value for each method or property in the COM object interface. The last cfset creates a variable to store the return value from the COM object's "SendMail" method.

<cfobject action = "Create"

  name = "Mailer" 
  class = "SMTPsvg.Mailer"> 

<cfset MAILER.FromName = form.fromname> 
<cfset MAILER.RemoteHost = RemoteHost> 
<cfset MAILER.FromAddress = form.fromemail> 
<cfset MAILER.AddRecipient("form.fromname", "form.fromemail")> 
<cfset MAILER.Subject = "Testing cfobject"> 
<cfset MAILER.BodyText = "form.msgbody"> 
<cfset Mailer.SMTPLog = "logfile"> 

<cfset success = MAILER.SendMail()> 

<cfoutput> #success# </cfoutput>

Example

<!--- This example shows how to use cfset --->
<cfquery name = "GetMessages" dataSource = "cfsnippets">
SELECT  *
FROM   Messages
</cfquery>
<html>
<head>
<title>
cfset Example
</title>
</head>

<body bgcolor = silver>
<H3>cfset Example</H3>

<P>cfset allows you to set and reassign values to local or
global variables within a CF template.

<cfset NumRecords = GetMessages.recordCount>
<P>For example, the variable NumRecords has been declared on
this template to hold the amount of records returned from
our query (<cfoutput>#NumRecords#</cfoutput>).

<P>In addition, cfset can be used to pass variables from other 
pages, such as this example which takes the url parameter
Test from this link 
(<a href = "cfset.cfm?test = <cfoutput>#URLEncodedFormat("
hey, you, get off of my cloud")#</cfoutput>">click here</A>) to display 
a message: 
<P><cfif IsDefined ("url.test") is "True">
  <cfoutput><B><I>#url.test#</I></B></cfoutput>
<cfelse>
  <H3>The variable url.test has not been passed from
  another page.</H3>
</cfif>

<P>Finally, cfset can also be used to collect environmental
variables, such as the time, the IP address of the user, or any
other function or expression possible in ColdFusion.

<cfset the_date = 
 #DateFormat(Now())# & " " & #TimeFormat(Now())#>
<cfset user_ip = CGI.REMOTE_ADDR>
<cfset complex_expr = (23 MOD 12) * 3>
<cfset str_example = Reverse(Left(GetMessages.body, 35))>
...