Using introspection to get information about components

ColdFusion provides several ways for you to get information about components:

Development teams can use the information about components as up-to-date API reference information.

Note: For information about how to include documentation in CFCs for display using introspection, see Documenting CFCs.

Requesting a component page from the browser

When you access a CFC directly with a web browser without specifying a component method, the following chain of events occurs:

The request is redirected to the cfcexplorer.cfc file, which is located in the cf_root/wwwroot/CFIDE/componentutils directory.
The cfcexplorer component prompts users for the ColdFusion RDS or Administrator password, if necessary.
The cfcexplorer component renders an HTML description and returns it to the browser.

The resulting display looks like the following example:

tests.cfcs.arithCFC
Component arithCFC (Arithmetic Functions)

Miscellaneous functions for doing arithmetic

hierarchy:	WEB-INF.cftags.component tests.cfcs.arithCFC
path:	C:\cfmx\wwwroot\tests\cfcs\arithCFC.cfc
properties:	something
methods:	add, multiply *

* - private method

Property

Hint

Type

Req.

Implemented In

Default Value

Prop1 (display name here)

I just need this for an example

any

arithCFC

add (Addition Function)

remote numeric add ( numeric arg1, numeric arg2 )

Adds integers or floating point numbers

Output: enabled
Parameters:
arg1: numeric, optional, argument 1 - must be numeric
arg2: numeric, optional, arg2

multiply*

private numeric multiply ( numeric argA, numeric argB )

Output: enabled
Parameters:
argA: numeric, optional, argA
argB: numeric, optional, argB

Version 7

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