Reading the Adobe doc on onMissingTemplate(), it says to use an include, something like

include application.urls.404

instead of relocating to another page ala

location(url=application.urls.404, addToken=false)

Why is the include the "right" way and the relocate the "wrong" way?

Include hides/protects the 404 template

Because cflocation sends a 302 (or a 301? Can't remember); you want to return a 404

Include stays on the missing Url/location But Adam’s explanation is better

Returning a 3xx in a 4xx situation is wrong. There's no opinion going on here 😉 One can choose to do it wrong - sure, knock yerself out - but it's still wrong.

so maybe something like:`public boolean function onMissingTemplate(required string targetPage) {`

cfheader(statuscode = "404", statusText = "file not found");

include application.urls.404;

return true;

}

Doesn't onMissingTemplate fire when cf tries to cfinclude or cfmodule to file file that doesn't exist, not just when you navigate there directly? I wouldn't think 404 is right in that case, should be 500.

It's poorly named. It's a 404 handler, not a missing file handler

so it doesn't fie on missing includes etc? memory aint what it used to be, if it ever was.

I had to check 😉 And no, it doesn't fire if the top-level file is there (eg: the

woo.cfm

in

<http://example.com/woo.cfm>

), but then

woo.cfm

includes a file that doesn't exist. It only fires if

woo.cfm

doesn't exist.

404 handler, you're right.

@Adam Cameron thank you. Inherited a very legacy app (cue Jeff Goldblum "thats a big pile" meme) when a colleague retired. Trying to use the app cfc file in a better way to handle lifecycle events in the thing. Been on the DB, data, and reporting side of things for a while, so trying to get spun back up on CF.