User Guide

146 Chapter 2: ColdFusion Tags
cffunction
Description
Defines a function that you can call in CFML. Required to defined ColdFusion component
methods.
Category
Extensibility tags
Syntax
<cffunction
name = "methodName"
returnType = "dataType"
roles = "securityRoles"
access = "methodAccess"
output = "yes" or "no"
displayName = "name"
Hint = "hint text">
See also
cfargument, cfcomponent, cfinvoke, cfinvokeargument, cfobject, cfproperty,
cfreturn
Attributes
Attribute Req/Opt Default Description
name Required A string; a component method that is used within the
cfcomponent tag.
returnType Required for a
web service;
Optional,
otherwise.
any String; a type name; data type of the function return
value:
• any
• array
• binary
• boolean
• date
• guid – The argument must be a UUID or GUID of the
form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx where
each x is a character representing a hexadecimal
number (0-9A-F).
• numeric
• query
• string
• struct
• uuid – The argument must be a ColdFusion UUID of
the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx where
each x is a character representing a hexadecimal
number (0-9A-F).
• variableName: a string formatted according to
ColdFusion variable naming conventions.
• a component name – If the type attribute value is not
one of the preceding items, ColdFusion treats it as the
name of a ColdFusion component. When The function
executes, it generates an error if the argument that is
passed in is not a CFC with the specified name.