Defining component methods

You define component methods using cffunction tags. The following example defines a CFC that contains two methods, getall and getsalary:

<cfcomponent> 
    <cffunction name="getall" output="false" returntype="query"> 
        <cfset var queryall=""> 
        <cfquery name="queryall" datasource="cfdocexamples"> 
            SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE 
        </cfquery> 
        <cfreturn queryall> 
    </cffunction> 
    <cffunction name="getsalary" output="false"> 
        <cfset var getNamesandSalary=""> 
            <cfquery name="getNamesandSalary" datasource="cfdocexamples"> 
                SELECT FirstName, LastName, Salary FROM EMPLOYEE 
            </cfquery> 
        <cfreturn getNamesandSalary> 
    </cffunction> 
</cfcomponent>

Because component methods are ColdFusion functions, most of their features and coding techniques are identical to those of user-defined functions. For more information on using the cffunction tag to create functions, see Writing and Calling User-Defined Functions. Like other ColdFusion functions, CFC methods can display information directly by generating output, or can return a value to the code or client that invoked the method.

You use the following cffunction tag attributes only for CFCs:

  • The displayname and hint attributes, which document the CFC; for more information, see Documenting CFCs.

  • The access attribute, which controls access to the CFC; for more information, see Using access security.

For detailed reference information on the cffunction tag, see the CFML Reference.