Evaluate function in ColdFusion 6.1

[NemaNada]

Hi,

I'm a newbie that has inherited code that I need to maitain and I would appreciate some guidance.

I am having problems with the Evaluate function.

eg.

<cfif Evaluate(#table# & ".RecordCount") GT 0>

This has an Exception

Variable TableName.RecordCount is undefined


If I change to

<cfif Evaluate(table & "." & RecordCount) GT 0>

it works, the other code worked on version 6.0. Were there changes to the Evaluate function in 6.1 that is causing this or it a server configuration issue.

TIA

 

[cfSearching]

ColdFusion 6.1 is an old version. But you can always check the online documentation to find out what changed between versions

http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/coldfusion/

But first I would question why the code is using evaluate() at all. In later versions most "scopes" are available as a structure (ie #variables# scope, #form#, #url#, etcetera). So evaluate() is rarely needed. Personally, I do not use evaluate() because I think it is more reduces code readability and is more difficult to debug. But here is an example of both methods

http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2007/11/16/Ask-a-Jedi-Dynamic-evaluation

But back to your original question. The two code snippets are doing two different things. In the second example, "RecordCount" is treated as a variable. So ultimately ColdFusion is evaluating two different statements:

Code 1:
evaluate(theValueOfTable &".RecordCount")

Code 2:
evaluate(theValueOfTable &"."& theValueOfRecordCount)

Which probably explains why one statement works and the other does not. Try revising the code to eliminate evaluate().





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