2 Correct answers
Not exactly reserved, but it's intended for use with CF's server-side validation. The field name "example_date" is used to ensure "example" is a date. There are a handful of these validation suffixes. They've been around since a very early version of CF - maybe 2.0?
Dave Watts, Eidolon LLC
Well, no. I did understand it completely, having read your note and Dave's before I replied.
I meant what I said, that the problem (of the field not being in the form.fieldnames) not happening for me except in cf10 (which would jive with the so post from so long ago). FWIW, I tested _date and _required. I didn't show code as it seemed everyone was on the same page.
So are you saying you tested things and confirm what he saw? As I asked him, I'll be curious what cf version and update that's
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10
Replies
Charlie, I suspect that you misunderstand it as I, too, did initially. The issue is not about the form field xxx_date. It is about the list form.fieldnames.
Apparently, when a form field is named xxx_date, then that name is missing from the list form.fieldnames. This has been known for quite some time. The Stackoverflow link in my previous post points to a report of the issue over 15 years ago.
It is clear that, regarding form field names, ColdFusion treats words that end in _date as reserved words. In fact, the same goes for words ending in _integer ,_time ,_eurodate ,_range or _float, as the following demonstration shows.
That this has to do with validation is no surprise. The name endings, integer, time, date, etc., are among the values of the type attribute of the isValid function.
Demo:
- Launch the CFM page and press the submit button.
<cfif structKeyExists(form, "fieldnames")>
<h2>
Field names in <i>form.fieldnames</i>
</h2>
<p>
<cfscript>
// The list form.fieldnames
fieldNamesList=form.fieldnames;
closure=function(item){
WriteOutput( item & "<br>"); // list each item on separate line
}
fieldNamesMap=listMap(fieldNamesList,closure);
</cfscript>
<h2>
Field names not in <i>form.fieldnames</i>
</h2>
<p>
<cfscript>
//The form fields not in form.fieldsname
closure=function(key, value){
if (!listContainsNoCase(fieldNamesList, key)){
// list on separate line each not in fieldNamesList
WriteOutput( key & "<br>");
}
}
formFieldsMap=structMap(form,closure);
</cfscript>
</p>
<cfelse>
<p>
<cfoutput><form action="#cgi.script_name#" method="post"></cfoutput>
xxx_array: <input type="text" name="xxx_array"><br>
xxx_boolean: <input type="text" name="xxx_boolean"><br>
xxx_creditcard: <input type="text" name="xxx_creditcard"><br>
xxx_date: <input type="text" name="xxx_date"><br>
xxx_eurodate: <input type="text" name="xxx_eurodate"><br>
xxx_email: <input type="text" name="xxx_email"><br>
xxx_float: <input type="text" name="xxx_float"><br>
xxx_guid: <input type="text" name="xxx_guid"><br>
xxx_integer<input type="text" name="xxx_integer"><br>
xxx_numeric<input type="text" name="xxx_numeric"><br>
xxx_query: <input type="text" name="xxx_query"><br>
xxx_range: <input type="text" name="xxx_range"><br>
xxx_regex: <input type="text" name="xxx_regex"><br>
xxx_ssn: <input type="text" name="xxx_ssn"><br>
xxx_string: <input type="text" name="xxx_string"><br>
xxx_struct: <input type="text" name="xxx_struct"><br>
xxx_telephone: <input type="text" name="xxx_telephone"><br>
xxx_time: <input type="text" name="xxx_time"><br>
xxx_uuid: <input type="text" name="xxx_uuid"><br>
xxx_usdate: <input type="text" name="xxx_usdate"><br>
xxx_xml: <input type="text" name="xxx_xml"><br>
xxx_zipcode: <input type="text" name="xxx_zipcode"><br>
<br><input type="submit" name="submitForm" value="submit">
</form>
</p>
</cfif>
<cfdump var="#form#" >
Result:
On the subject of form field names, there is yet another curiosity. ColdFusion treats words that end in _required as reserved words.
And I'll repeat that I did not experience that with CF2023 (or earlier) back to CF11, only in CF10. Here is the simple code I was using:
<form action="" method="post">
<input type="text" name="my_date" value="test"><br>
<input type="submit">
</form>
<cfif cgi.request_method is "post">
<cfdump var="#form#">
</cfif>
Is serversideformvalidation enabled? <cfoutput>#getApplicationMetadata()["serversideformvalidation"]#</cfoutput>
<br>
CF version: <cfoutput>#server.coldfusion.productversion#</cfoutput>
And here is the application.cfc, and is seems not to matter what the setting is (note that I show in code above outputting it, to confirm the setting):
<cfcomponent>
<cfset this.serversideformvalidation=true>
</cfcomponent>
Here is the output I get (on submission of the form) in CF2023:
Do you get something different?
Hmmm, if the submit form field has a name attribute, then my_date will not appear in the form.fieldnames list:
<form action="" method="post">
my1st_date:<input type="text" name="my1st_date" value="test1"><br>
my2nd_date:<input type="text" name="my2nd_date" value="test2"><br>
my3rd_date:<input type="text" name="my3rd_date" value="test3"><br>
<br><input type="submit" name="submitForm" value="submit">
</form>
<cfif cgi.request_method is "post">
<cfdump var="#form#">
</cfif>
The result:
Let's go one step further: an all-in-one demo
<form method="post">
xxx_date: <input type="text" name="xxx_date" value="x"><br>
xxx_eurodate: <input type="text" name="xxx_eurodate"value="x"><br>
xxx_float: <input type="text" name="xxx_float" value="x"><br>
xxx_integer<input type="text" name="xxx_integer"value="x"><br>
xxx_range: <input type="text" name="xxx_range"value="x"><br>
xxx_time: <input type="text" name="xxx_time"value="x"><br>
<p>
<!--- Named submit field--->
<input type="submit" name="sbmt_btn" value="Send Using Named Submit Button"><br>
<!--- Unnamed submit field--->
<input type="submit">
</p>
</form>
<cfif cgi.request_method is "post">
<cfdump var="#form#">
</cfif>
Result:
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