Application scoped variables are getting refreshed for each requests - coldfusion

We've migrated a ColdFusion application from ColdFusion 10 to ColdFusion 2016. After Migration, Application variables are not staying in its scope, it is refreshing on each and every request.
Consider the following example,
Application.cfm
<cfsetting enablecfoutputonly="true" />
<CFAPPLICATION NAME="Test App"
SETCLIENTCOOKIES="YES"
CLIENTMANAGEMENT="YES"
SESSIONMANAGEMENT="YES"
SESSIONTIMEOUT="#CREATETIMESPAN(0,8,0,0)#"
APPLICATIONTIMEOUT="#CREATETIMESPAN(1,0,0,0)#">
<cfdump var="#Application#" label="app">
<CFLOCK SCOPE="APPLICATION" TYPE="EXCLUSIVE" TIMEOUT="10">
<CFSET Application.Email = "test#test.com">
<CFSET Application.DataSource="test">
</cflock>
Test.cfm
<CFLOCK SCOPE="APPLICATION" TYPE="READONLY" TIMEOUT="10">
<cfset Application.one = 1>
<cfset Application.two = 2>
<cfset Application.three = 3>
</cflock>
OnRequestEnd.cfm
<cfsetting showdebugoutput="false" />
<cfdump var="#Application#" label="onRequestEnd">
So if we request /test.cfm
it'll throw the following output
Again refreshing the page also giving the same output
Not sure why the Application scoped variables are losing its persistence.
the following is the expected output..
Any idea of Why the application variables are lost and getting refreshed on each and every request ?

I haven't tested this code, but what you're seeing is the procedural order of operation performed by Application.cfm. You're essentially redefining the application on every request, which is why on the name exists in your initial dump and the rest exist on the dump in onRequestEnd.
If you update your code to use Application.cfc, you can ditch the cflock code, better organize your "triggers" and define your application variables once, when needed, using onApplicationStart.
<cfcomponent>
<cfset this.name = "Test App">
<cfset this.SETCLIENTCOOKIES="YES">
<cfset this.CLIENTMANAGEMENT="YES">
<cfset this.SESSIONMANAGEMENT="YES">
<cfset this.SESSIONTIMEOUT="#CREATETIMESPAN(0,8,0,0)#">
<cfset this.APPLICATIONTIMEOUT="#CREATETIMESPAN(1,0,0,0)#">
<cfsetting enablecfoutputonly="true" />
<cffunction name="onApplicationStart" access="public" returnType="void" output="false">
<cfset application.Email = "test#test.com">
<cfset application.DataSource="test">
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="onRequestStart" access="public" returntype="boolean" output="false">
<cfset application.one = 1>
<cfset application.two = 2>
<cfset application.three = 3>
<cfreturn true>
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="onRequestEnd" access="public" returntype="boolean" output="false">
<cfsetting showdebugoutput="false" />
<cfdump var="#application#" label="onRequestEnd">
<cfreturn true>
</cffunction>
</cfcomponent>
This should define email and datasource in the application scope one time, when the app first loads. The variables one, two and three will be created at the start of each request, but you can add a check to set them only if they don't already exist.
You can then use child Application.cfc files to help modularize your application using sub-folders and sub-application specific variables. They'll still exist in the scope of the larger application, but you'll be able to manage them from a location specific to a sub-app this way.

Related

ColdFusion session variables are not accessible in other pages

My dept. has just bought CF10 and I'm finally updating my existing web app to CF10 from CF8.
My first problem with CF10 is using session variables. When using the lower versions of CF (CF4 to CF8) I have never had any problem setting up session variables and getting or using these variables in other pages after a successful login. With CF 10 it seems setting session variables and using them in other pages are major problems. I'm not sure what have I done wrong in the code.
First I'm setting the session in my Application.cfc this way:
<cfcomponent displayname="Application" output="true">
<cfset THIS.Name ="MyNewApp"/>
<cfset THIS.ApplicationTimeout = CreateTimeSpan(0,0,20,0) />
<cfset THIS.SessionManagement ="YES"/>
<cfset THIS.SessionTimeout = CreateTimeSpan( 0, 0, 20, 0 ) />
<cfset THIS.SetClientCookies = false />
<cffunction name="OnApplicationStart" access="public" returntype="boolean"
output="false">
<cfset application.Main_DSN = "TESTDB">
<cfreturn true />
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="onApplicationEnd" output="false">
<cfargument name="applicationScope" required="true">
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="OnSessionStart" access="public" returntype="void" output="false"
hint="Fires when user session initializes.">
<cfset session.loggedin = "NO">
<cfset session.username = "">
<cfset session.userrights = "">
<cfset session.usergroup = "">
</cffunction>
</cfcomponent>
After login, user is validated and set values to those session.variables:
........user validation codes here......................
<cfif mylogin NEQ true>
<cflocation url="/login/login.cfm">
<cfabort
<cfelse>
<cfset session.loggedin="Yes">
<cfset session.username="#Trim(Form.username)#">
<CFSET qUserRights = LoginObj.getUserRights('#Trim(Form.username)#')>
<cfset session.userrights = qUserRights><!--- it's a query --->
<CFSET qUserGroup = LoginObj.getUserGroup('#Trim(Form.username)#')>
<cfloop query="qUserGroup">
<cfset session.usergroup = user_group>
<cfbreak>
</cfloop>
<!--- ******* ?????????????????????????
When I do cfdump in at this level, I can see that all of these session variables have
been assigned to their values.
But these session variables are not accessible from other pages. Other pages still show
these session variable without its value.
So, when I use these cfdumps in the index.cfm it is shown as they're not yet assigned
with any values ********* --->
<cfdump var="#session.loggedin#">
<cfdump var="#session.username#">
<cfdump var="#session.userright#">
<cfdump var="#session.usergroup#">
</cfif>
In index.cfm, Before Login I got:
session.loggedin = NO
session.username = ["empty string"]
session.userrights = ["empty string"]
session.usergroup = ["empty string"]
After a successful Login:
session.loggedin = NO
session.username = ["empty string"]
session.userrights = ["empty string"]
session.usergroup = ["empty string"]
Have I done something wrong? This code works on CF8.
I need to mention: CF10 is in Linux and my web app is under https not http. But these session variables should be shared between http and https because some older pages are still in http and can not be moved to https.
I do not have a direct answer to this question. However, the problem is not only in CF10. I am experiencing this in CF8. I create session variables in my application.cfc however they cannot be seen (accessed) in other pages. I believe in your case you may want to consider case sensitive checks since you are on a Linux platform as rudimentary as this may seem if all else fails.

Setting up Session variable in Application.cfc

Hi I'm very new with ColdFusion 10 especially with Application.cfc. It is very confusing.
I created Application.cfc and inside this cfc I created the following:
My questions are:
1. Why do I get session error? (see my codes below)
2. What should I put in sessionEnd function?
<!--- Application.cfc --->
<CFCOMPONENT displayname="Application" output="true">
<cfset THIS.Name = "MyTestApp" />
<cfset THIS.ApplicationTimeout = CreateTimeSpan(0,0,60,0) />
<cfset THIS.SessionManagement = true />
<cfset THIS.SessionTimeout = CreateTimeSpan( 0, 0, 30, 0 ) />
<cfset THIS.SetClientCookies = false />
<cfset THIS.SetClientCookies = false />
<cffunction name="OnApplicationStart" access="public"
returntype="boolean" output="false">
<cfset application.Main_DSN = "MyTestDB">
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="onApplicationEnd" output="false">
<cfargument name="applicationScope" required="true">
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="OnSessionStart" access="public" returntype="void" output="false"
hint="Fires when user session initializes">
<cfset session.loggedin = "NO">
<cfset session.username = "">
<cfset session.userrights = "">
<cfset session.usergroup = "">
</cffunction>
<!--- After user login, I have checklogin.cfm --->
<cfif mylogin NEQ true><!--- Login failed, go redirect to login page --->
<cflocation url="login.cfm">
<cfelse>
<cfset session.loggedin = "YES"><!--- ??? error: see below --->
<cfset session.username = "#Trim(Form.username)#">
<cfset session.userrights = "#Trim(Form.userrights )#">
<cfset session.usergroup = "#Trim(Form.usergroup)#">
</cfif>
<cffunction name="onSessionEnd">
<!--- Not sure what can I put in here????? --->
</cffunction>
Your login code is outside any of the event handlers in your Application.cfc file, so that code will run first... before any of the event handlers!
The execution sequence of code in Application.cfc is:
code outside of any event handler (irrespective of where it is in the file)
onApplicationStart()
onSessionStart()
onRequestStart()
etc
So you cannot have code referencing the session scope (or application scope for that matter) outside the other event handlers. You can only start using session variables once onSessionStart() has fired. Not before.
What is the error message that you are getting?
You can really put anything in the session end. Anything that you would need to run to clean up after a session.
Maybe you want to update a log or send an email, clear a cookie, or redirect to a certain page.
EDIT:
Is everything else in the Application.cfc working for you? It seems like the onSessionStart event is not firing.
EDIT 2:*
Sorry for doing this via an answer but I need more rep to leave comments.
The session should start as soon as you connect to the application, you do not need to wait to be "logged in" as in verify credentials.
If the session variables do not exist then the event is not firing for some reason. Make sure you have the file name correctly and it is in the root folder of the application.
EDIT 3:
Your login code is not in the onSessionStart function, not in any function. Unless I misunderstood your comment and you were saying that code section is in the "checklogin.cfm" file and not in the Application.cfc file.
EDIT 4:
I need to jump on a client call but I can help some more after. We might need to take a look at part of the checklogin.cfm file.
EDIT 5:
Any luck?
EDIT 6:
Sorry for the delay, volume is ramping up this afternoon.
At this point I think I would either need to see the code that is doing the validation checking or ask if you are sure the validation is working correctly.
I assume you are connecting to a database, if you take the query you are using to verify the login credentials and run it in SQL server or whatnot inserting the values you would type into the form, do you get any results?
EDIT 7:
Figure it out, OP?

How to display <cfreturn> output from a CFC being called from a form

I have a web form which uses the action attribute to call a CFC like this:
<form action="mycfc.cfc?method=registeruser">
The CFC processes the data in the form and then I want it to return a variable telling the user if their form submission has been successful or not.
So within my CFC, I put this:
<cffunction name="registeruser" access="remote" hint="registers a new user" returnformat="JSON">
... PROCESSES FORM HERE THEN...
<cfset Msg = 'Success'>
<cfreturn Msg>
<cflocation url = "/registrationpage.cfm">
</cffunction>
How do I display the Msg variable in the registrationpage.cfm page? My output is set to JSON so I guess I have to DeSerialize but I have no idea how to actually reference/access this output from the method.
My whole answer is for educationnal purposes only and I strongly advise you to use an existing framework rather than reinventing the Wheels. Have a look at Picking a ColdFusion MVC Framework
You can store the value in the session scope. A lot of frameworks does it using a flash memory concept, which is a temporary memory (implemented as a struct) that destroys members when accessed.
Have a look at http://cfwheels.org/docs/1-1/chapter/using-the-flash it's quite straight forward to implement an API that does this.
Client code could look like (depending on your implementation):
<cfset session.flash.set('importantMsg', 'some important msg')>
<cflocation ...>
Then from the other page:
<cfif session.flash.has('importantMsg')>
<!--- The following line should also destroy the 'importantMsg' key --->
#session.flash.get('importantMsg')#
</cfif>
Here's an implementation example (not that the implementation is not thread-safe):
FlashMemory.cfc
<cfcomponent>
<cffunction name="init" returntype="FlashMemory">
<cfset variables.instance = {flash = {}}>
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="set" returntype="void">
<cfargument name="key" type="string" required="true">
<cfargument name="value" type="any" required="true">
<cfset variables.instance.flash[arguments.key] = arguments.value>
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="get" returntype="any">
<cfargument name="key" type="string" required="true">
<cfset var v = variables.instance.flash[arguments.key]>
<cfset structDelete(variables.instance.flash, arguments.key)>
<cfreturn v>
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="has" returntype="boolean">
<cfargument name="key" type="string" required="true">
<cfreturn structKeyExists(variables.instance.flash, arguments.key)>
</cffunction>
</cfcomponent>
onSessionStart
<cfset session.flash = new FlashMemory()>
Also please note that in your case, your remote CFC methods shouldn't return anything. You will use the flash memory to pass data around instead. That means when the method has finished it's work you can simply redirect the client.
You probably shouldn't use remote CFC methods in this particular case:
I have never really used remote CFC methods as stateful web services. The various advantages of remote CFC methods like their ability to spit out data in multiple data-interchange formats (JSON, WDDX...) is lost with your implementation.
You could simply do something like:
registration.cfm
<cfset errors = session.flash.get('registrationErrors')>
<cfif arrayLen(errors)>
<!--- Display errors --->
</cfif>
<form method="post" action="register.cfm">
...
</form>
register.cfm
<cfset registration = new Registration(argumentcollection = form)>
<cfset validator = new RegistrationValidator(registration)>
<cfif validator.validate()>
<cfset application.userService.register(registration)>
<!--- You can also redirect to a page that represents the correct state --->
<cflocation url="registered.cfm" addtoken="no">
<cfelse>
<!--- Store the errors collection in the flash memory --->
<cfset session.flash.set('registrationErrors', validator.errors())>
<!--- Redirect to the page the user came from --->
<cflocation url="#cgi.http_referer#" addtoken="no">
</cfif>
Take the cflocation tag out of your function. It will not execute anyway because it's after the cfreturn tag.
Also, post your form to a .cfm page, not the .cfc. From that .cfm page, do this:
<cfset MyObject = CreateObject(stuff for your cfc goes here)>
<cfset MessageFromFunction = MyObject.registeruser()>
<cfoutput>#MessageFromFunction</cfoutput.

How to inherit from another Application.cfc

I have a test application structured like so:
Application.cfc
ApplicationProxy.cfc
index.cfm
sub_app/
Application.cfc
index.cfm
and I want my sub app to inherit all variables and events from the top level Application.cfc.
I have read and implemented Sean Corfield's ApplicationProxy method for extending an Application component but I can't get it to work as when I visit sub_app/index.cfm I get this error:
Could not find the ColdFusion Component or Interface ApplicationProxy.
From the error I can only guess that the application is looking in the wrong place, how do I correct this?
Application.cfc:
<cfcomponent name="Application" output="true">
<cfset THIS.name = "testAppA">
<cfset THIS.sessionManagement="Yes">
<cfset THIS.applicationTimeout = createTimeSpan(0,0,10,0)>
<cfset THIS.sessionTimeout = createtimespan(0,0,10,0)>
<cfset THIS.clientManagement = true>
<cfset THIS.clientStorage = "cookie">
<cfset THIS.loginStorage = "cookie">
<cfset THIS.setDomainCookies = false>
<cfset THIS.setClientCookies = true>
<cfset THIS.scriptProtect = true>
<cfset THIS.secureJSON = true>
<cffunction name="onApplicationStart" returntype="void">
<cfset APPLICATION.name = "testAppA">
<cfset APPLICATION.test = "test var">
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="onSessionStart" returntype="void">
<cfset SESSION.loggedIn = 1>
</cffunction>
</cfcomponent>
ApplicationProxy:
<cfcomponent name="ApplicationProxy" extends="Application">
</cfcomponent>
index.cfm:
Sub app
sub_app/Application.cfc:
<cfcomponent extends="ApplicationProxy" output="true">
<!---
Uses parent Application settings
--->
</cfcomponent>
sub_app/index.cfm:
Parent app
<cfdump var="#Application#">
Best way to do is create ApplicationProxy.cfc file with all function you need to inherit and then extends in Application.cfc wherever needed. I am using this method since long time and no issue face with this approach.

Unable to access variables when converting from application.cfm to application.cfc

I am trying to convert an application I support from application.cfm to application.cfc. I followed Ben Nadel's ColdFusion Application.cfc Tutorial And Application.cfc Reference, but my pages cannot access any of the variables in the APPLICATION scope, without adding APPLICATION. to the variable. As a side note, this application uses 0 cfc's currently.
here is my application.cfc.
<cfcomponent displayname="Application" hint="Handle the application" output="true">
<cfset THIS.Name = "AAS" />
<cfset THIS.ApplicationTimeout = CreateTimeSpan( 0, 60, 0 , 0) />
<cfset THIS.SessionManagement = true />
<cfset THIS.setClientCookies = false />
<cfset THIS.versionNum = '1'>
<cfset THIS.genericUserID = 'o005265'>
<cfset THIS.genericPassword = 'zo005265'>
<cffunction
name="OnApplicationStart"
hint="Fires when the application is first created."
access="public"
output="false"
returntype="boolean">
<cfset APPLICATION.aasURL = 'http://127.0.0.1:8500/aaas'>
<cfset APPLICATION.dsn = 've0_aaas'>
<cfset APPLICATION.aas_system = 'development (studio)'>
<cfreturn true />
</cffunction>
</cfcomponent>
Basically I just copied what was in the application.cfm page, and figured it would work the same. I am guessing that I have to invoke this somewhere? That is the only thing that I can think of. Any help would be great.
--- EDIT ---
I have added the OnRequest and OnApplicationStart methods after #EvikJames answer
<cffunction name="OnApplicationStart" access="public" returntype="boolean" output="false" hint="Fires when the application is first created.">
<!--- Return out. --->
<cfset APPLICATION.aasURL = 'http://127.0.0.1:8500/aaas'>
<cfset APPLICATION.datasource = 've0_aaas'>
<cfset APPLICATION.aas_system = 'development (studio)'>
<cfreturn true />
</cffunction>
<cffunction name="OnRequest" access="public" returntype="void" output="true" hint="Fires after pre page processing is complete.">
<!--- Define arguments. --->
<cfargument name="TargetPage" type="string" required="true">
<!--- Include the requested page. --->
<cfinclude template="#ARGUMENTS.TargetPage#" />
<cfset VARIABLES.dsn = APPLICATION.dsn>
<cfset VARIABLES.aasURL = APPLICATION.aasURL>
<cfset VARIABLES.aas_system = APPLICATION.aas_system>
<!--- Return out. --->
<cfreturn />
</cffunction>
You aren't really trying to use "application" variables (which always need to be scoped). I suspect your old application.cfm page had something like.
<cfapplicatin name="blah"...>
<cfset dsn = 'mydsn'/>
And then you were able to do:
<cfquery datasource="#dsn#">
This approach does not utilze the application scope ... it is merely taking advantage of the fact that your application.cfm always runs no matter what. What it is actually doing is putting variables in the variables scope. Because CF always checks the "variables" scope first you soemthing like #dsn# works - but that is not the same as the application scope.
To mimic this behavior in Application.cfc (as has been suggested) you will need to put your variable in the "onRequest()" function instead of the "onApplicationstart()" function - like so:
<cffunction name="onRequest">
<cfset dsn = 'mydsn'/>
</cffunction>
That is expected. To reference application variables you need to prefix them with application.
In your onApplication start method, do this:
<cfset APPLICATION.datasource = 'MyDSN'>
In your onRequest method, do this:
<cfset VARIABLES.DSN = APPLICATION.datasource>
Then, this query will work:
<cfquery datasource="#dsn#">
// sql
</cfquery>
I should add that when you are fully upgraded, you can remove all of the code above just set the default datasource:
<cfset THIS.datasource = 'MyDSN'>
If the variable is in the application scope, you will always need to identify it that way in your .cfm pages. If you use a variable name without the scope prefix, the application scope is not looked at.
if you want to declare variables in the application.cfc that can be accessed without the application scope in your other pages, simply declare the variables outside of any functions.
<component>
<cfset this.name = "applicationName">
<cfset otherVar = 'something'>
<cfset otherVar2 = 'something else'>
<cffunction name="onApplicationStart>.....</cffunction>
</component>
otherVar and otherVar2 can be called without scope prefix on all .cfm pages.
It sounds like you were not originally using application scoped variables. If the variables were not originally scope with "application." then they were simply in "variables scope" (confusing wording I know) which is accessible by the cfm page hit and others included. That is one big change when moving between application.cfm and application.cfc. The general idea there follows the principle that included CFM files share variables scope and CFC files do not.
If the only change you have to make is changing #dsn# to #appplication.dsn# then just do it and get it over with. There are tools such as WinGrep or even Notepad++ which have find and replace across multiple files.