User Guide

342 Chapter 2: ColdFusion Tags
Usage
You cannot put application code within this tag. (This avoids problems that can occur if you
disable debugging.)
This tag is useful for debugging CFML code during application development.
You can display
cftrace tag output in the following ways:
• As a section in the debugging output
• In-line in an application page, and as a section in debugging output. If you specify in-line
tracing, ColdFusion flushes all output up to the
cftrace tag, and displays the trace output
when it encounters the tag.
This is an example of a log file entry:
"Information","web-4","04/08/02","23:21:30", ,"[30 ms (1st trace)]
[C:\cfusion\wwwroot\generic.cfm @ line: 9] -
[thisPage = /generic.cfm] "
"Information","web-0","04/08/02","23:58:58", ,"[5187 ms (10)]
[C:\cfusion\wwwroot\generic.cfm @ line: 14] - [category]
[thisPage = /generic.cfm] [ABORTED] thisPage "
For a complex variable, ColdFusion lists the variable name and the number of elements in the
object; it does not log the contents of the variable.
The following example traces a FORM variable that is evaluated by a
cfif block:
Example
<cftrace var="FORM.variable"
text="doing equivalency check for FORM.variable"
category="form_vars"
inline="true">
<cfif isDefined("FORM.variable") AND #FORM.variable# EQ 1>
<h1>Congratulations, you're a winner!</h1>
<cfelse>
<h1>Sorry, you lost!</h1>
</cfif>
type Optional Information Corresponds to the
cflog type attribute; displays an
appropriate icon.
• Information
• Warning
• Error
• Fatal Information
var Optional The name of a simple or complex variable to display.
Useful for displaying a temporary value, or a value that does
not display on any CFM page.
Attribute Req/Opt Default Description