About CFScript

The ColdFusion server-side scripting language, CFScript, offers ColdFusion functionality in script syntax.

This JavaScript-like language offers the same control flow, but without tags. CFScript regions are bounded by <CFSCRIPT> and </CFSCRIPT>. You can use ColdFusion expressions, but not CFML tags, inside a CFScript region.

See the CFML Language Reference for more information about CFML expressions.

CFScript example

The following example shows how a block of CFSET tags can be rewritten in CFScript:

Using CFML tags

<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>About to add #FORM.firstname# #FORM.lastname#
</CFOUTPUT>

Using CFScript

<CFSCRIPT>
    employee=StructNew();
    employee.firstname=FORM.firstname;
    employee.lastname=FORM.lastname;
    employee.email=FORM.email;
    employee.phone=FORM.phone;
    employee.department=FORM.department;
    WriteOutput("About to add " & FORM.firstname & " " &
FORM.lastname);
</CFSCRIPT>

The WriteOutput function appends text to the page output stream. Although you can call this function anywhere within a page, it is most useful inside a CFSCRIPT block. See the CFML Language Reference for information on the WriteOutput function.

Supported statements

CFScript supports the following statements:

if-else
while
do-while
for
break
continue
for-in
switch-case

For more information

The following JavaScript references may be useful in understanding the concepts and control flow statements in CFScript:

Netscape's JavaScript Guide
Netscape's JavaScript Reference
David Flanagan's JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, published by O'Reilly & Associates, 1996, 1998, http://www.oreilly.com.

Developing Web Applications with ColdFusion
Chapter 20 : Extending ColdFusion Pages with CFML Scripting