Description

Does either of the following:

• Invokes a component method from within a ColdFusion page or component.
• Invokes a web service.

This tag works as follows:

• Transiently instantiates a component or web service and invokes a method on it.
• Invokes a method on an instantiated component or web service.

This tag can pass parameters to a method in the following ways:

• With the cfinvokeargument tag
• As named attribute-value pairs, one attribute per parameter
• As a structure, in the argumentCollection attribute

Category

Extensibility tags

Syntax 

<!--- Syntax 1: This syntax invokes a method of a component. --->
<cfinvoke
    component = "component name or reference"
    method = "method name"
    returnVariable = "variable name"
    argumentCollection = "argument collection"
    ...>

OR

<!--- Syntax 2: This syntax can invoke a method of a component only from within the component. --->
<cfinvoke
    method = "method name"
    returnVariable = "variable name"
    argumentCollection = "argument collection"
    ...>

OR

<!--- Syntax 3: This syntax invokes a web service. --->
<cfinvoke 
    webservice = "Web service name or WSDL URL" 
    method = "operation name"
    password = "password"
    proxyPassword = "password for proxy server"
    proxyPort = "port on proxy server"
    proxyServer = "WSDL proxy server URL"
    proxyUser = "user ID for proxy server"
    returnVariable = "variable name"
    refreshWSDL = "yes|no"
    servicePort = "WSDL port name"
    timeout = "request timeout in seconds"
    username = "user name"
    wsdl2javaArgs = "argument string">

OR

<!--- Syntax 4A: This syntax invokes a component.
    This syntax shows instantiation with the cfobject tag. 
    This cfinvoke syntax applies to instantiating a component 
    with the cfobject tag and to instantiating a component 
    with the CreateObject function. --->
<cfobject
    component = "component name"
    name = "name for instantiated component">
    <cfinvoke 
    <!--- Value is object name, within number signs. --->
    component = "#name of instantiated component#"
    method = "method name"
    returnVariable = "variable name"
    argumentCollection = "argument collection"
    ...>

OR

<!--- Syntax 4B: This syntax invokes a web service.
    This syntax shows instantiation with the cfobject tag. 
    This cfinvoke syntax applies to instantiating a web service with the cfobject tag and to
    instantiating a web service with the CreateObject function. --->
<cfobject
    webservice = "web service name or WSDL URL"
    name = "name for instantiated object"
    (optional cfobject attibutes)>
<cfinvoke 
    webservice = "#cfobject name attribute value#"
    method = "method name"
    password = "password"
    proxyPassword = "password for proxy server"
    proxyPort = "port on proxy server"
    proxyServer = "name or IP address of WSDL proxy server"
    proxyUser = "user ID for proxy server"
    returnVariable = "variable name"
    refreshWSDL = "yes|no"
    servicePort = "WSDL port name"
    timeout = "request time-out in seconds"
    username = "user name"
    wsdl2javaArgs = "argument string">

See also

cfargument, cfcomponent, cffunction, cfinvokeargument, cfobject, cfproperty, cfreturn

History

ColdFusion 8: Added the following attributes: refreshWSDL, wsdl2javaArgs attributes.

ColdFusion MX 7: Added the servicePort attribute.

ColdFusion MX 6.1: Added the following attributes: timeout, proxyServer, proxyPort, proxyUser, and proxyPassword.

ColdFusion MX: Added this tag.

Attributes

Usage

The following table shows when you can use each attribute:

If the component attribute specifies a component name, the component with the corresponding name is instantiated, the requested method is invoked, and then the component instance is immediately destroyed. If the attribute contains a reference to an instantiated component object, no instantiation or destruction of the component occurs.

On UNIX systems, ColdFusion searches first for a file with a name that matches the specified component name, but is all lower case. If it does not find the file, it looks for a file name that matches the component name exactly, with the identical character casing.

Method arguments can be passed in any of the following ways. If an argument is passed in more than one way with the same name, this order of precedence applies:

1. Using the cfinvokeargument tag
2. Passing directly as attributes of the cfinvoke tag (they cannot have the same name as a registered cfinvoke attribute: method, component, webservice, returnVariable)
3. Passing as struct keys, using the argumentCollection attribute

For example, the params struct contains three keys: a=1, b=1, c=1. The following call is evaluated as if the arguments were passed to the method in the order a=3, b=2, c=1:

<cfinvoke ... a=2 b=2 argumentCollection=params>
        <cfinvokeargument name="a" value="3">
    </cfinvoke>

Example1

This example uses Syntax 1.

<!--- Immediate instantiation and destruction. --->
<cfinvoke 
    component="nasdaq.quote" 
    method="getLastTradePrice" 
    returnVariable="res">
    <cfinvokeargument 
        name="symbol" 
        value="macr">
</cfinvoke>
<cfoutput>#res#</cfoutput>

Example2

This example uses Syntax 1.

<!--- Passing the arguments using argumentCollection. --->
<cfset args = StructNew()>
<cfset args.symbol = "macr">
<cfinvoke 
    component="nasdaq.quote" 
    method="getLastTradePrice" 
    argumentCollection="#args#" 
    returnVariable="res">
<cfoutput>#res#</cfoutput>

Example3

This example uses Syntax 2.

<!--- Called only from within a component, MyComponent. --->
<cfinvoke
    method = "a method name of MyComponent"
    returnVariable = "variable name">

Example4

This example uses Syntax 3.

<!--- Using cfinvoke to consume a web service using a ColdFusion component. --->
<cfinvoke 
    webservice="http://www.xmethods.net/sd/2001/TemperatureService.wsdl"
    method="getTemp"
    returnvariable="aTemp">
<cfinvokeargument name="zipcode" value="55987"/>
</cfinvoke>
<cfoutput>The temperature at zip code 55987 is #aTemp#</cfoutput>

For more information on web services, see "Using Web Services" in the ColdFusion Developer's Guide.

Example5

This example uses Syntax 4A.

<!--- Separate instantiation and method invocation; useful for multiple invocations using
    different methods or values. --->
<cfobject 
    name="quoteService" 
    component="nasdaq.quote">
<cfinvoke 
    component="#quoteService#" 
    method="getLastTradePrice" 
    symbol="macr" 
    returnVariable="res_macr">
<cfoutput>#res#</cfoutput>
<cfinvoke 
    component="#quoteService#" 
    method="getLastTradePrice" 
    symbol="mot" 
    returnVariable="res_mot">
<cfoutput>#res#</cfoutput>