> <cfif fileExists(ExpandPath(action & ".cfm"))>
> <cfinclude template="#action#.cfm">
> </cfif>
> Nice idea, Isaac... So the above ExpandPath
> function assumes my processing templates
> are in the same directory as the display page?
> If so, what how would the code change if I put
> my processing templates in directory called
> "processing" and my display pages were in the
> "html" directory?
> (Showing my ignorance about the ExpandPath
> function...haven't used it...familiar with it, but
> not in depth...)
I unfortunately don't find ExpandPath() to be terribly useful in my
own development because it starts from the directory containing the
base template (the one used in the browser's address bar -- I'm sure
you already knew that :) ... The way I work (with lots of
subdirectories), the path of the base template is rarely (if ever)
relevant, because cfinclude and cfmodule tags don't use the base
template as their point of reference, they use the current template.
So imo it would be _much_ more useful (that is to say -- it would be
useful period) if ExpandPath() used the current template directory as
its baseline. To give you an example why the implementation of
ExpandPath() is patently bad, lets say you have a base template
form.cfm inside form.cfm you're including another template called
switch.cfm which includes code like I described above. Now lets say
that you decide you want to move switch.cfm and all of its associated
files into a subdirectory. Here's an illustration:
You're chaing this:
/form.cfm
/switch.cfm
/switch_x.cfm
/switch_y.cfm
to this:
/form.cfm
/switch/switch.cfm
/switch/switch_x.cfm
/switch/switch_y.cfm
Now... if you've used ExpandPath() to check for the existence of the
file as in the code above, once you've moved these files your
application won't include any of the switch_x.cfm or switch_y.cfm
templates, even though the path to the included templates which is
used in your <cfinclude> tag is correct and hasn't changed. The reason
is because although you moved switch.cfm into a subdirectory,
ExpandPath() still starts from the parent directory.
This can be fixed by changing the code to read ExpadnPath("switch/" &
action & ".cfm"), however, then you have the name of the subdirectory
in your code. What happens if you decide to change the name of the
directory? Well... when you change the name of the directory you then
suddenly have to change this block of code again, which shouldn't be
necessary. It's understandable that you would need to change the path
in form.cfm, but needing to change the code in a template because its
_parent_ directory name changed imo is unacceptable.
Thus ExpandPath() will _always_ produce an undesirable dependancy on
the base template directory of your application. So... I don't
recommend that people use ExpandPath() as a rule...
I used it in my original example really because this explanation
wasn't really necessary to explain the include concept, because you
can write code that works with it (even if it's less maintainable),
because I figured you'd appreciate the simplified explanation, and
because I had the impression your applications are designed
specifically for your clients (mine are for general consumption) and
tend to be smaller anyway (didn't you say this in a previous post?) in
which case, the maintenance hassle that ExpandPath() causes is less of
an issue.
For your specific directory structure, this (or something very close
to it) should work:
<cfif FileExists(ExpandPath("../processing/" & action & ".cfm"))>
<cfinclude template="../processing/#action#.cfm">
</cfif>
I'm assuming that the "html" directory is synonymous with your web
root directory. If the html directory is a subdirectory of your web
root, then you would just drop ../ from those paths.
s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201
new epoch : isn't it time for a change?
add features without fixtures with
the onTap open source framework
http://www.fusiontap.com
http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm
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