Programming ColdFusion MX, 2nd Edition

Name

GetMetaData

Synopsis

                  
                  GetMetaData(object)
GetMetaData(THIS)

Returns metadata such as properties, methods, and parameters for the specified ColdFusion Component (CFC) when used within a CFML page. When used within a CFC, pass GetMetaData( ) the THIS scope, and it will return all of the metadata for the component. Metadata is returned as a structure containing various key/value pairs depending on the contents of the CFC. Values in the metadata structure may contain additional nested structure. The following outlines the minimum keys available for the various pieces of a CFC:

Component metadata Name

The name of the component

Path

Absolute path to the component

Extends

Structure containing ancestor component metadata

Functions

Array of structures containing metadata about each function (method) in the component

Function (method) metadata Name

Name of the function

Parameters

Array of structures containing metadata about each argument

Argument metadata Name

Name of the argument

Property metadata Name

Name of the property

Additional keys may be available depending on how the CFC is coded. For example, Function metadata may also contain keys for Hint, ReturnType, Output, and Access. The best way to understand what metadata is available for a particular object is to retrieve the metadata for it and output the results to your browser with cfdump. Here’s an example that does just that for the CFC Explorer component that ships with ColdFusion MX:

<cfscript> myObj = createObject("component", ...