User Guide

Table Of Contents
Strings 55
Assigning objects to scopes
You can give a query or structure a different scope by assigning it to a new variable in the other
scope. For example, the following line creates a server variable, Server.SScopeQuery, using the
local myquery variable:
<cfset Server.SScopeQuery = myquery>
To clear the server scope query variable, reassign the query object, as follows:
<cfset Server.SScopeQuery = 0>
This deletes the reference to the object from the server scope, but does not remove any other
references that might exist.
Copying and duplicating objects
You can use the Duplicate function to make a true copy of a structure or query object. Changes
to the copy do not affect the original.
Using a query column
When you are not inside a cfloop, cfoutput, or cfmail tag that has a query attribute, you can
treat a query column as an array. However, query column references do not always behave as you
might expect. This section explains the behavior of references to query columns using the results
of the following
cfquery tag in its examples:
<cfquery dataSource="cfdocexamples" name="myQuery">
SELECT FirstName, LastName
FROM Employee
</cfquery>
To reference elements in a query column, use the row number as an array index. For example,
both of the following lines display the word "ben":
<cfoutput> #myQuery.Firstname[1]# </cfoutput><br>
<cfoutput> #myQuery["Firstname"][1]# </cfoutput><br>
ColdFusion behavior is less straightforward, however, when you use the query column references
myQuery.Firstname and myQuery["Firstname"] without using an array index. The two reference
formats produce different results.
If you refer to myQuery.Firstname, ColdFusion automatically converts it to the first row in the
column. For example, the following lines print the word "ben":
<cfset myCol = myQuery.Firstname >
<cfoutput>#mycol#</cfoutput>
But the following lines display an error message:
<cfset myCol = myQuery.Firstname >
<cfoutput>#mycol[1]#</cfoutput><br>
If you refer to Query["Firstname"], ColdFusion does not automatically convert it to the first
row of the column. For example, the following line results in an error message indicating that
ColdFusion cannot convert a complex type to a simple value:
<cfoutput> #myQuery['Firstname']# </cfoutput><br>