cfexecute

Description

Executes a ColdFusion developer-specified process on a server computer.

Syntax

<cfexecute 
  name = " ApplicationName "
  arguments = "CommandLine Arguments"
  outputFile = "Output file name"
  timeout = "Timeout interval">
  ...
</cfexecute>

Attributes

Attribute Req/Opt Default Description

name
Required

Absolute path of the application to execute.
On Windows, you must specify an extension; for example, C:\myapp.exe.

arguments
Optional

Command-line variables passed to application. If specified as string, it is processed as follows:

Windows: passed to process control subsystem for parsing.

UNIX: tokenized into an array of arguments. The default token separator is a space; you can delimit arguments that have embedded spaces with double quotation marks.

If passed as array, it is processed as follows:

Windows: elements are concatenated into a string of tokens, separated by spaces. Passed to process control subsystem for parsing.

UNIX: elements are copied into an array of exec() arguments.

outputFile
Optional

File to which to direct program output. If not specified, output is displayed on page from which it was called.

timeout
Optional
0
Length of time, in seconds, that ColdFusion waits for output from the spawned program.

0: equivalent to non-blocking mode.

A very high value: equivalent to blocking mode

If the value is 0:

ColdFusion starts a process and returns immediately. ColdFusion may return control to the calling page before any program output displays. To ensure that program output displays, set the value to 2 or higher.

If the outputFile attribute is not specified, any program output is discarded

Attribute	Req/Opt	Default	Description
name	Required		Absolute path of the application to execute. On Windows, you must specify an extension; for example, C:\myapp.exe.
arguments	Optional		Command-line variables passed to application. If specified as string, it is processed as follows: Windows: passed to process control subsystem for parsing. UNIX: tokenized into an array of arguments. The default token separator is a space; you can delimit arguments that have embedded spaces with double quotation marks. If passed as array, it is processed as follows: Windows: elements are concatenated into a string of tokens, separated by spaces. Passed to process control subsystem for parsing. UNIX: elements are copied into an array of exec() arguments.
outputFile	Optional		File to which to direct program output. If not specified, output is displayed on page from which it was called.
timeout	Optional	0	Length of time, in seconds, that ColdFusion waits for output from the spawned program. 0: equivalent to non-blocking mode. A very high value: equivalent to blocking mode If the value is 0: ColdFusion starts a process and returns immediately. ColdFusion may return control to the calling page before any program output displays. To ensure that program output displays, set the value to 2 or higher. If the `outputFile` attribute is not specified, any program output is discarded

Usage

Do not put other ColdFusion tags or functions between the start and end tags of cfexecute. You cannot nest cfexecute tags.

Exception

Throws the following exceptions:

If the application name is not found: Application File Not Found
If the output file cannot be opened: Output File Cannot
If the effective user of the ColdFusion executing thread does not have permissions to execute the process: a security exception

The time out values must be between zero and the longest time out value supported by the operating system.

Example

<h3>cfexecute</h3>
<p>This example executes the Windows NT version of the netstat network 
monitoring program, and places its output in a file.

<cfexecute name = "C:\WinNT\System32\netstat.exe"
  arguments = "-e" 
  outputFile = "C:\Temp\output.txt"
  timeout = "1">
</cfexecute>

Version 6

Comments are no longer accepted for ColdFusion MX. ColdFusion 8 is the current version.

Comments

Sceiron said on Dec 10, 2004 at 6:50 AM :

Why is there a closing tag for this one?

stijncatv5 said on Mar 8, 2005 at 10:47 PM :

hmmm not sure why?

No screen name said on May 11, 2005 at 11:32 AM :

I would prefer to be able to store the output in a variable, instead of writting it to a file, so that I may send the result in an email.

does the text file output create a new file or overwrite, or does it append? If I want to keep a log do I have to create a unique text file for every instance?

autrv said on Jun 1, 2005 at 9:14 PM :