Reserved CF word used in java library

adam20174248  wrote I need to use a java library from Coldfusion 2018.  Everything's great except one method in the library is named ".is()", and Coldfusion throws an error on it thinking it's an operator.  I cannot modify the java library to rename this method.

Even if you could, it would be unwise to do so. Modifying a library might lead to unexpected errors. (Recall the O in object-oriented programming's SOLID principles: classes should be Open for extension, but closed for modification)

I would suggest you go with what works. For example, your first code snippet. I suspect it works because, in it, the method is() is called directly on an object defined in integrated Java code. Nevertheless, that is rather circumstantial and therefore unreliable as a solution.

You could create a better, lasting solution as follows:

• create a java class, say, CFTransactionSearchRequest.class. It imports com.braintreegateway.TransactionSearchRequest and has a method, say, cfIs(). It's unclear from your post whether CustomerId is an object. If it is, you may also have to import its class;
• cfIs accepts 2 arguments: one of type TransactionSearchRequest, the other of the CustomerId type. The method cfIs has the same return-type as is();
• compile the Java code and add the new class to ColdFusion's classpath;
• use the class as follows, for calls to is();

        <cfset local.tsrequest         = createObject("java", "com.braintreegateway.TransactionSearchRequest").init()>

        <cfset local.CFtsrequest    = createObject("java", "CFTransactionSearchRequest")>

        <cfset local.requestResult = local.CFtsrequest.cfIs(local.tsrequest, arguments.customer_id)>

stumbled upon an interesting scenario

this works, Coldfusion interprets "is" as a method:

<cfset local.tsrequest = CreateObject("java", "com.braintreegateway.TransactionSearchRequest").init().customerId()>

<cfset local.tsrequest = local.tsrequest.is(#arguments.customer_id#)>

but this fails, Coldfusion interprets "is" as an operator:

<cfset local.tsrequest = CreateObject("java", "com.braintreegateway.TransactionSearchRequest").init()>

<cfset local.tsrequest = local.tsrequest.customerId().is(#arguments.customer_id#)>