Question

I am trying to store coldfusion code in a database to be used for the subject of a cfmail. The code stored is as follows:

"RE: <cfif myData.general.legalName NEQ """">  {{dotlegalname}}<cfelse>{{docketLegalName}}</cfif>,    
DOT## {{dot}}, Docket ##(s)   {{docketString}}" 

When I retrieve string from the database, I use cfsavecontent to attempt to evaluate it.

<cfsavecontent variable="subject">
 <cfoutput>#myData.email.subject#</cfoutput>
</cfsavecontent>

I also tried

<cfsavecontent variable="subject">
     <cfoutput>#evaluate(myData.email.subject)#</cfoutput>
</cfsavecontent>

And then I replace all the {{ }} with the appropriate values.

However, the subject of the email is stubbornly refusing to contain an evaluated cfif, and is instead showing the cfif as if it were a string.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

The only way to dynamically evaluate code that you are creating at runtime is via writing it out to a file, and then executing it.

The easiest way would be to write it a .cfm page in the Virtual File System (probably name the file after a UUID, so it’s unique), and then it where you need to run the contents.

I wouldn’t normally advocate generating code at runtime like this, but it can be the most elegant solution in some cases.

As an alternative, instead of storing the CFML code in the database, you have a set of CFML email template files that get stored in a directory on your server, and in your database you simply record which template needs to be included either via cfinclude or cfmodule.