i am converting Application cfm to a CFC there is a custom f

Question

i am converting Application cfm to a CFC there is a custom function in Application outside of any inbuild Application cfc methods i have like ParaFormat2 and in the whole Application it is not referred to any scope it is just called in the pages as is like paraFormat2 data how can i achieve the functionality of this functions to be avaliable without modifying the whole legacy app here is an Example of What i am trying ``` lt cffunction name= OnRequest gt lt cfinclude template= custom cfm gt lt cffunction gt ``` custom cfm ``` lt cffunction name= convert returntype= numeric gt lt cfargument name= argText gt lt cf calculate data= argText key= 500 gt lt cfreturn Val calculate value gt lt cffunction gt ``` all i am getting is an empty Page if i exclude the function onrequest i get a page but it starts throwing errors

David Buck · Answer

If you include the `OnRequest` method in your application cfc ColdFusion won t automatically process requested cfm pages That s why you re getting a blank page You have to explicitly `cfinclude` requested pages in the `OnRequest` method <https helpx adobe com coldfusion cfml reference application cfc reference onrequest html|See documentation>

David Buck · Answer

And you really do need to read the full documentation in this case The OnRequest method is going to cause problems for you if you don t I never use it myself

David Buck · Answer

If you google coldfusion global udf you ll find a couple blog posts by Ben Nadel describing alternative ways to create global functions that don t involve OnRequest though I haven t used them and probably wouldn t recommend them Note that it s often considered bad practice to pollute the global namespace with custom functions

Simone · Answer

my worry is if i did not used onRequest what else can i use for my custom functions because i do not see any other way to have them included and get it to work unless i put them in some persistent scope then i have to change in thousands of files which is not feasible i tried even extends in the Application cfc but that did not seems to be working i am not sure if i extebnds application cfm to Application cfc might do some magic here

David Buck · Answer

Sounds like your app already makes extensive use of global functions so it might be too late for best practices believe me I ve been there If you can t do a global find replace to add a scope to all of the function references then maybe you are going to need to use OnRequest or one of Ben s methods

Simone · Answer

ben s method = gt whuch one

Simone · Answer

found it

Simone · Answer

ok i used that globalscope shared by ben and it worked even this is a bad practice but eventually its working

Simone · Answer

and now i was looking at this code ` lt cffunction name= onRequest returnType= void gt lt cfargument name= targetPage type= String required=true gt lt cfinclude template= Arguments targetPage gt lt cffunction gt `

Simone · Answer

now in my Application cfm i have a code like this ``` lt Alternate cycle through the 3 accounts based on the minute gt lt cfif Second Now MOD 3 EQ 0 gt lt cfset Request APIKey = 1 gt lt cfelseif Second Now MOD 3 EQ 1 gt lt cfset Request APIKey = 2 gt lt cfelse gt lt cfset Request APIKey = 3 gt lt cfif gt ``` how should i handle this in my Application cfc should i create a function and just use the above technique and ignore onRequest method or should i create an included page and call that included page in onRequest Method

David Buck · Answer

The main problem I have with `OnRequest` is that it prevents you from using remote access cfc methods If your app doesn t currently have any such methods and you re sure it never will then maybe it s okay to use `OnRequest` you would need to put the above code before the target page include If you want to be able to have remote cfc methods then use `OnRequestStart` instead It doesn t require the target page include

David Buck · Answer

Your above code should work if you put it in the OnRequestStart method That would be my recommendation

cfvonner · Answer

< Simone> while < David Buck> is correct that `onRequest` is not called for remote CFC request there is a corresponding `onCFCRequest` method just for that purpose

cfvonner · Answer

So you can use `onRequest` and still handle remote CFC requests if you also add a `onCFCRequest` function to your application cfc