Outputting Query Data

After you define a query on a page, you can use the cfoutput tag with the query attribute to specify the query object that contains the data you want to output to a page. When you use the query attribute:

ColdFusion loops over all the code contained within the cfoutput block, once for each row returned from a database.
You must reference specific column names within the cfoutput block to output the data to the page.
You can place text, CFML tags, and HTML tags inside or surrounding the cfoutput block to format the data on the page.
You do not have to specify the query object name when you refer to a query column. For example, if you specify the Emplist query in your cfoutput tag, you can refer to the Firstname column in the Emplist query as either Emplist.Firstname or just Firstname.

The cfoutput tag accepts a variety of optional attributes but, ordinarily, you use the query attribute to define the name of an existing query.

To output query data on your page:

Return to empList.cfm in ColdFusion Studio.

Edit the file so that it appears as follows:

<html>
<head>
<title>Employee List</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Employee List</h1>
<cfquery name="EmpList" datasource="CompanyInfo">
  SELECT FirstName, LastName, Salary, Contract
  FROM Employee
</cfquery>
<cfoutput query="EmpList">
#FirstName#, #LastName#, #Salary#, #Contract#<br>
</cfoutput>
</body>
</html>

Save the file as emplist.cfm.
View the page in a browser.
A list of employees appears in the browser, with each line displaying one row of data.

You created a ColdFusion application page that retrieves and displays data from a database. At present, the output is raw. You will learn how to format the data in the next chapter.

Reviewing the code

You now display the results of the query on the page. The following table describes the code and its function:

Code

Description

<cfoutput query="EmpList">
Display information retrieved in the EmpList query. Display information for each record in the query, until you run out of records.

#FirstName#, #LastName#, #Salary#, #Contract#
Display the value of the FirstName, LastName, Salary, Contract fields of each record, separated by commas and spaces.

<br>
Insert a line break (go to the next line) after each record.

</cfoutput>
End the cfoutput block.

Code	Description
<`cfoutput` query="EmpList">	Display information retrieved in the EmpList query. Display information for each record in the query, until you run out of records.
#FirstName#, #LastName#, #Salary#, #Contract#	Display the value of the FirstName, LastName, Salary, Contract fields of each record, separated by commas and spaces.
<br>	Insert a line break (go to the next line) after each record.
</`cfoutput`>	End the `cfoutput` block.

Query output notes and considerations

When outputting query results, keep the following guidelines in mind:

A cfquery must precede the cfoutput that references its results. Both must be on the same page (unless you use the cfinclude tag).
It is a good idea to run all queries before all output blocks.
To output data from all the records of a query, specify the query name by using the query attribute in the cfoutput tag.
Columns must exist and be retrieved to the application in order to output their values.
Inside a cfoutput block that uses a cfquery attribute you can optionally prefix the query variables with the name of the query, for example Emplist.FirstName.
As with other attributes, surround the query attribute value with double quotes (").
As with any variables that you reference for output, surround column names with pound signs (#) to tell ColdFusion to output the column's current values.
Add a <br> tag to the end of the variable references so that ColdFusion starts a new line for each row that is returned from the query.

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Developing ColdFusion Applications
Querying a Database