CFSaveContent And THISTAG.GeneratedContent Tip
Posted February 18, 2008 at 7:27 AM
Over the weekend, when I was working on my Dig Deep Fitness prototype, I thought of a neat little trick. I am sure that this has been done by many people, but it had never occurred to me. I was working with a ColdFusion custom tag in which I needed to replace the generated content of the tag. Normally, when I would do something of this nature, I would simply store the new content in a CFSaveContent tag buffer and then set that variable into the THISTAG.GeneratedContent variable:
Launch code in new window » Download code as text file »
- <!---
- We only want to execute this after the tag has
- executed. That way, we will know all the child
- tags and content that has been generated.
- --->
- <cfif (THISTAG.ExecutionMode EQ "End")>
-
- <!--- Create the new tag content. --->
- <cfsavecontent variable="VARIABLES.NewContent">
- <cfoutput>
-
- <!---
- Put the new content in here that you want the
- ColdFusion custom custom to actually produce.
- --->
-
- </cfoutput>
- </cfsavecontent>
-
-
- <!--- Set the tag's new content. --->
- <cfset THISTAG.GeneratedContent = VARIABLES.NewContent />
-
- </cfif>
But this weekend, as I was writing a tag like that, it hit me! Why not just store the CFSaveContent buffer directly into the GeneratedContent of the tag? Why bother even going through an intermediary variable:
Launch code in new window » Download code as text file »
- <!---
- We only want to execute this after the tag has
- executed. That way, we will know all the child
- tags and content that has been generated.
- --->
- <cfif (THISTAG.ExecutionMode EQ "End")>
-
- <!--- Reset the tag content. --->
- <cfsavecontent variable="THISTAG.GeneratedContent">
- <cfoutput>
-
- <!---
- Put any content in here that you want the
- ColdFusion custom custom to actually
- produce. By storing the content diretly into
- the GeneratedContent, it will set the output
- that is displayed.
- --->
-
- </cfoutput>
- </cfsavecontent>
-
- </cfif>
Notice that the CFSaveContent tag is now storing its buffer directly into the THISTAG.GeneratedContent variable, which will, thereby, replace the content of the ColdFusion tag.
So, like I said, this is a really minor tip, but I think it has a big logical and visual impact on the layout of the ColdFusion custom tag. Thought I would share this with anyone who hadn't realized this shortcut yet.
Download Code Snippet ZIP File
Comments (2) | Post Comment | Ask Ben | Permalink | Other Searches | Print Page
Reader Comments
Another good tip Ben, thanks
Posted by Michael Sharman on Feb 19, 2008 at 2:14 AM
It will come in handy. Go Ben go. :)
Posted by phpnuke on Feb 26, 2008 at 9:17 PM
