Is it possible to call CF functions dymanically?

[Homestar9]

Is it possible to call a ColdFusion function dynamically? For example you might have a date variable: myDate that you want to apply a ColdFusion date function to. However, the function itself needs to be dynamic because you might want to call "dateFormat", "timeFormat", "dateAdd", etc.

Is there a way to evaluate an expression like this?

<!-- defined the function to call and encapsulate the dynamic variable name with brackets -->
<cfset functionToCall = "DateFormat([myVariable],'MM/DD/YYYY')">
<cfset myDate = CreateODBCDate('03/19/1977')>

<!-- now replace the bracketed name with the actual variable data (myDate) -->
<cfset fullString = ReplaceNoCase(functionToCall,'[myVariable]','#myDate#','ALL')>

<!-- display the output -->
<cfoutput>
#evaluate(fullString )#
</cfoutput>

What I get here is an error message because there are invalid characters in "fullString". When I simply cfoutput fullString the text it produces looks perfect, its just that I need to find a way to evaluate it.

Any ideas?

Thanks for taking the time to help.

[Newsgroup_User]

presumably, which function you need to use depends on some condition...
so you can just use a <cfif> or <cfswitch> block to check the condition
and use appropriate function...

you can even encapsulate it into your own function that uses built-in cf
functions depending on some other argument passed.
e.g:
<cffunction name="myveryowndatefunction">
<cfargument name="mydate" required="yes">
<cfargument name='myotherargument" required="yes">
<cfif arguments.myotherargument eq something>
<cfreturn use_one_cf_function>
<cfelseif ...>
<cfreturn use_other_cf_function
<cfelse>
<cfreturn use_yet_another_cf_function>
</cfif>
</cffunction>


Azadi Saryev
Sabai-dee.com
http://www.sabai-dee.com/

[fober1]

Hi,

You need to feed something to evaluate that is executable, so you should include something like "x= {dynamic stuff}" with "x' being a variable.

cheers,
fober

<cfset myDate = "2008-10-15 14:21:37">

<cfset functionToCallS = "DateFormat([myVariable],'MM/DD/YY')">
<cfset functionToCallL = "DateFormat([myVariable],'MMM/DD/YYYY/HH:mm')">

<cfset targetvar = "shortdate">
<cfset x= evaluate("#targetvar# =" & ReplaceNoCase(functionToCallS,"[myVariable]","'#myDate#'","ALL")) >

<cfset targetvar = "longdate">
<cfset x= evaluate("#targetvar# =" & ReplaceNoCase(functionToCallL,"[myVariable]","'#myDate#'","ALL")) >


<cfoutput>
VAR1(): #shortdate#<br>
VAR2(): #longdate#<br>
</cfoutput>