Adobe 38043740 - ColdFusion Standard - Mac Development Manual page 112

DEVELOPING COLDFUSION 9 APPLICATIONS
The CFML Programming Language
CFScript provides a compact and efficient way to write ColdFusion logic. Typical uses of CFScript include the
following:
• Simplifying and speeding variable setting
• Building compact JavaScript-like flow control structures
• Creating user-defined functions
Because you use functions and expressions directly in CFScript, you do not have to surround each assignment or
function in a tag. Also, CFScript assignments are often faster than
cfset
CFScript provides a set of decision and flow-control structures that are more familiar than ColdFusion tags to most
programmers.
In addition to variable setting, other operations tend to be slightly faster in CFScript than in tags.
You can use CFScript to create user-defined functions, or UDFs (also known as custom functions). You call UDFs in
the same manner that you call standard ColdFusion functions. UDFs are to ColdFusion built-in functions what
custom tags are to ColdFusion built-in tags. Typical uses of UDFs include data manipulation and mathematical
calculation routines.
You cannot include ColdFusion tags in CFScript. However, some functions and CFScript statements are equivalent to
commonly used tags. For more information, see
Comparing tags and CFScript
The following examples show how you can use CFML tags and CFScript to do the same thing. Each example takes data
submitted from a form and places it in a structure; if the form does not have a last name and department field, it
displays a message.
Using CFML tags
<cfif IsDefined("Form.submit")>
<cfif (Form.lastname NEQ "") AND (Form.department NEQ "")>
<cfset employee=structnew()>
<cfset employee.firstname=Form.firstname>
<cfset employee.lastname=Form.lastname>
<cfset employee.email=Form.email>
<cfset employee.phone=Form.phone>
<cfset employee.department=Form.department>
<cfoutput>
Adding #Form.firstname# #Form.lastname#<br>
</cfoutput>
<cfelse>
<cfoutput>
You must enter a Last Name and Department.<br>
</cfoutput>
</cfif>
</cfif>
"Tag equivalents in CFScript" on page 109.
Last updated 1/20/2012
tags.
cfset
107