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Ben Nadel at the New York ColdFusion User Group (Jun. 2010) with: Andy Matthews
Ben Nadel at the New York ColdFusion User Group (Jun. 2010) with: Andy Matthews

ColdFusion Error: The Column Name "3a" Is Invalid

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I was writing some test code for a query I am working with and I got the error: The column name "3a" is invalid. I was trying to run this line of code:

qTest = QueryNew( "id, name, 3a" );

While "3a" might seem like a strange column name, that is indeed the name of a column (along with MANY others that start with a number) in an actual client database. It works fine when writing SQL statements:

SELECT
	id,
	name,
	[3a]
FROM
	test

... because I can use the [ ] notation: [3a]. I tried to use the similar notation in the QueryNew() method, but to no avail:

qTest = QueryNew( "id, name, [3a]" );

This gives me the same error. I guess you can't simulate poorly named columns in QueryNew(). I would say that's a bug, but is it? If anything it's a flag that says "Don't name your columns with numbers."

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