User-Defined Function (UDF) Using CFSwitch and CFIF to Dynamically Generate a Document Icon

Posted At : May 12, 2008 8:04 AM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion

Have you ever needed (or wanted) to dynamically generate an icon that represents the document type in your document management system? Maybe you just didn't have the time (or want to take the time) to write a user-defined function (UDF) that would accomplish this. Well, have no fear because I've already started the process for you.

In order to use the UDF, you will need a couple of items:

  • A database with a table named "tblDocuments"
  • The table should have at least two columns:
    1. DocID (the primary key)
    2. DocFilename (contains full name of the document including extension)
  • Document icons stored in the "/assets/icons/" directory
  • The UDF listed below
    • Update <cfquery name="getDocType" datasource="#APPLICATION.dsn#"> with your own datasource

 

<!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Document:      /extensions/includes/getIconFromExt.cfm
   Author:         steve@stephenwithington.com (sjw)
   Creation Date:   May 7, 2008
   Copyright:      (c) 2008 Stephen J. Withington, Jr. | http://www.stephenwithington.com
   
   Purpose:      User-Defined Function (UDF) which queries tblDocuments to obtain
               file extension to generate icon to use.

   METHOD(s)/VAR:   1) getIconResult   |   returnIcon
   
   Example Usage:   <img src="/assets/icons/#getIconResult(DocID)#" border="0" />

   ASSUMPTIONS:
                  a) icons listed in the CFSwitch below are stored in
                     the directory '/assets/icons/'
                  b) database with a table named tblDocuments
                  c) at least two (2) columns:
                     1) DocID (primary key)
                     2) DocFilename (contains full name of the document including extension)

   NOTES:         This UDF does NOT include all available document types. If another
               document type is needed, simply add the icon to the "icons" folder and
               create a new CFCase. If the three (3) right-most characters of the extension
               are already in use, then simply nest a CFIF statement similar to DOTM and POTM.
   
   Revision Log:   
   MM/DD/YYYY - sjw - comments.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
<cffunction name="getIconResult" access="public" returntype="string" output="no">

   <!---
      DocID is required
   --->
   <cfargument name="DocID" type="string" required="yes" />

   <!---
      Scope variable
   --->
   <cfset returnIcon = "" />

   <!---
      perform the query
   --->
   <cfquery name="getDocType" datasource="#APPLICATION.dsn#">
      SELECT DocID, DocFilename
      FROM dbo.tblDocuments
      WHERE DocID = <cfqueryparam cfsqltype="cf_sql_numeric" value="#ARGUMENTS.DocID#" />
   </cfquery>

   <!---
      Check the file extension and assign an icon and ALT tag
   --->
   <cfswitch expression="#right(getDocType.DocFilename, 3)#">

      <!--- DOC --->
    <cfcase value="doc">
         <cfset returnIcon = "doc.gif" & """ alt=""DOC" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- DOCM --->
    <cfcase value="ocm">
         <cfset returnIcon = "docm.gif" & """ alt=""DOCM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- DOCX --->
    <cfcase value="ocx">
         <cfset returnIcon = "docx.gif" & """ alt=""DOCX" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- DOTM and POTM --->
<!--- warning: this is the same as POTM (powerpoint template master for office 2007) --->
    <cfcase value="otm">
    <cfif right(getDocType.DocFilename, 4) EQ "dotm">
            <cfset returnIcon = "dotm.gif" & """ alt=""DOTM" />
         <cfelse>
            <cfset returnIcon = "potm.gif" & """ alt=""DOTM" />
    </cfif>
    </cfcase>

      <!--- DOTX and POTX --->
<!--- warning: this is the same as POTX (powerpoint template for office 2007) --->
    <cfcase value="otx">
    <cfif right(getDocType.DocFilename, 4) EQ "dotx">
            <cfset returnIcon = "dotx.gif" & """ alt=""DOTX" />
         <cfelse>
            <cfset returnIcon = "potx.gif" & """ alt=""POTX" />
    </cfif>
    </cfcase>

      <!--- HTM --->
    <cfcase value="htm">
         <cfset returnIcon = "htm.gif" & """ alt=""HTM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- HTM --->
    <cfcase value="tml">
         <cfset returnIcon = "htm.gif" & """ alt=""HTML" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- JPG--->
    <cfcase value="jpg">
         <cfset returnIcon = "jpg.gif" & """ alt=""JPG" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- JPEG --->
    <cfcase value="peg">
         <cfset returnIcon = "jpg.gif" & """ alt=""JPEG" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- MDB --->
    <cfcase value="mdb">
         <cfset returnIcon = "mdb.gif" & """ alt=""MDB" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- MOV --->
    <cfcase value="mov">
         <cfset returnIcon = "mov.gif" & """ alt=""MOV" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PDF --->
    <cfcase value="pdf">
         <cfset returnIcon = "pdf.gif" & """ alt=""PDF" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPAM --->
    <cfcase value="pam">
         <cfset returnIcon = "ppam.gif" & """ alt=""PPAM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPS --->
    <cfcase value="pps">
         <cfset returnIcon = "pps.gif" & """ alt=""PPS" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPSM --->
    <cfcase value="psm">
         <cfset returnIcon = "ppsm.gif" & """ alt=""PPSM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPSX --->
    <cfcase value="psx">
         <cfset returnIcon = "ppsx.gif" & """ alt=""PPSX" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPT --->
    <cfcase value="ppt">
         <cfset returnIcon = "ppt.gif" & """ alt=""PPT" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPTM --->
    <cfcase value="ptm">
         <cfset returnIcon = "pptm.gif" & """ alt=""PPTM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- PPTX --->
    <cfcase value="ptx">
         <cfset returnIcon = "pptx.gif" & """ alt=""PPTX" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- RTF --->
    <cfcase value="rtf">
         <cfset returnIcon = "rtf.gif" & """ alt=""RTF" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- TXT --->
    <cfcase value="txt">
         <cfset returnIcon = "rtf.gif" & """ alt=""RTF" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- WMV --->
    <cfcase value="wmv">
         <cfset returnIcon = "wmv.gif" & """ alt=""WMV" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- XLAM --->
    <cfcase value="lam">
         <cfset returnIcon = "xlam.gif" & """ alt=""XLAM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- XLS --->
    <cfcase value="xls">
         <cfset returnIcon = "xls.gif" & """ alt=""XLS" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- XLSB --->
    <cfcase value="lsb">
         <cfset returnIcon = "xlsb.gif" & """ alt=""XLSB" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- XLSM --->
    <cfcase value="lsm">
         <cfset returnIcon = "xlsm.gif" & """ alt=""XLSM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- XLTM --->
    <cfcase value="ltm">
         <cfset returnIcon = "xltm.gif" & """ alt=""XLTM" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- XLSX --->
    <cfcase value="lsx">
         <cfset returnIcon = "xlsx.gif" & """ alt=""XLSX" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- ZIP--->
    <cfcase value="zip">
         <cfset returnIcon = "zip.gif" & """ alt=""ZIP" />
    </cfcase>

      <!--- DEFAULT --->
    <cfdefaultcase>
         <cfset returnIcon = "rtf.gif" & """ alt=""" />
    </cfdefaultcase>

   </cfswitch>

   <cfreturn returnIcon />
</cffunction>

You can either add missing document icons or even remove unnecessary document icons to/from the UDF if needed.

In order to use the UDF, simply include the file using <cfinclude template="/extensions/includes/getIconFromExt.cfm" /> (update the template path to where you place the UDF in your site) in the page where you want to use this. Then in your query output, place <img src="/assets/icons/#getIconResult(DocID)#" border="0" /> next to the document title, etc.

Did this help you? Please let me know.

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Use ColdFusion to Find Out What Directory or Folder You're In

Posted At : May 8, 2008 11:16 AM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion

Have you ever wanted to find out what folder or directory a particular page or template resides in, but NOT necessarily the entire path to the page? Well, Raymond Camden recently blogged about it, so I know of at least one other developer (including myself) who has asked that question so I thought it would be worthy of mention here.

Ray mentions a number of extremely useful functions and the person who submitted the question was actually quite close to answering their own question (just as I too find myself on so many occaisions).

Let's say you have a file "index.cfm" which resides at "www.example.com/folder/" which as it might turn out translates to "D:\inetpub\example\folder\". Maybe you just want to return "folder" but don't need anything else. Let's try a couple of different options to see what happens.

<cfset thisPath = ExpandPath("*.*") />
<cfoutput>#getDirectoryFromPath(thisPath)#</cfoutput>

This produces "D:\inetpub\example\folder\"

Well, that's not what we wanted is it? Let's try another way.

<cfset thisDirectory = ExpandPath(".") />
<cfoutput>#getDirectoryFromPath(thisDirectory)#</cfoutput>

This produces "D:\inetpub\example\"

Hmm, while this isn't what we wanted, it is kind of interesting. But we're not quite there, so lets try another method.

<cfset thisDirectory = ExpandPath(".") />
<cfoutput>#getFileFromPath(thisDirectory)#</cfoutput>

Aha! This produces "folder" just like we wanted!

Does this help you? Let me know.

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Use CFDirectory to Filter Document Types by File Extension

Posted At : May 7, 2008 7:58 AM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion

Ben Nadel was sharing some good information he brought back from cf.Objective() where he showed how to use CFDirectory to filter using a single character wild card.

A reader commented that it would be nice to filter based on a limited set of file extensions. I responded simply that it could be done and gave a brief example.

I thought it would be worthy of mention here to show how I've used it in some of my applications.

As would be expected, we would attempt to separate filters by using a comma (,). However, this method does not work with CFDirectory. Awhile ago when I ran into this, I began trying other "OR" switches, and low and behold the pipe (|) did the trick.

I sometimes create a download directory in my web applications which often ends up being filled up with all kinds of documents that have been uploaded either on the front- or back-end. I wanted a way to just read what was in that directory without having to connect via FTP, etc.

I just created a simple index.cfm file that resides in the download directory (or folder). You can name it what you want, or even place it where you want, but would only need to update the directory read path, etc.

Here you go:

<cfsilent>
<!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Document:      /download/index.cfm
   Author:         steve@stephenwithington.com (sjw) | www.stephenwithington.com
   Creation Date:   May 7, 2008
   
   Purpose:      Dynamically read a download directory.
   
   Input:         None.
   
   Revision Log:   
   MM/DD/YYYY - sjw - none.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
</cfsilent>
<cfprocessingdirective suppresswhitespace="yes">
<html>
<head>

<!--- clear browser cache --->
<cfheader name="expires" value="#dateformat(now(), 'ddd, dd mmm yyyy')# #timeformat(now(), 'HH:mm:ss tt')#" />
<cfheader name="pragma" value="no-cache" />
<cfheader name="cache-control" value="no-cache, no-store" />

<title>download directory</title>
</head>

<body>

<!---
   Read files that only match the extensions listed in the filter
--->
<cfdirectory
   directory="#ExpandPath( './' )#"
   name="dir"
   sort="name ASC"
   filter="*.pdf|*.zip|*.doc|*.docx|*.ppt|*.pptx|*.xls|*.xlsx|*.rtf" />

<!---
   If there are no files to display, then show a friendly message
--->
<cfif dir.recordcount eq 0>
Sorry, no documents are currently available. Please try again later.

<cfelse>

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
   <th>Name</th>
<th>Size (bytes)</th>
   <th>Size (kb/Mb)</th>
   <th>Modified</th>
</tr>

<!---
   Output the filtered files
--->
<cfoutput query="dir">
<tr bgcolor="###iif(currentrow MOD 2, DE('E0E8F0'),DE('FFFFFF'))#">
   <td><a href="#dir.name#">#dir.name#</a></td>
   <td align="right">#dir.size#</td>
   <!---
      Convert the filesize to either KB or MB for readability
   --->
   <td align="right"><cfif dir.size GT "1000000">#numberformat(dir.size*.000001, 9.99)#Mb
   <cfelse>#numberformat(dir.size*.001, 9)#kb</cfif></td>
   <td>#dateformat(dir.dateLastModified, "mm/dd/yyyy")# #timeformat(dir.dateLastModified, "long")#</td>
</tr>
</cfoutput>
</table>
</cfif>
</body>
</html>
</cfprocessingdirective>

And that's it! Hope it helps you in your current or next ColdFusion project.

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ColdFusion Developer Tools and Resources

Posted At : May 6, 2008 11:45 AM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion

Just when you thought you were out of luck because your Google search turned up useless links to your query, along comes Charlie Arehart's "Tools and Resources to Consider for CF Developers" where there's over 700 tools and resources in over 100 categories. Yeah, I know, it's nothing new (he started the list in 2002), but it's fairly new to me.

Ok, his list is so long that it could probably warrant it's very own search functionality! And Charlie, if you're reading this, I mean it in a good way.

If you develop in ColdFusion, you definitely need to bookmark the list. And if Charlie ever does begin to broadcast his list via RSS, I'll be one of the first to sign up!

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ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit Books ...

Posted At : May 5, 2008 9:41 AM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion

They've finally arrived! I ordered all three volumes of the Adobe ColdFusion 8 web application construction kit books and have already dug through most of volume 1 and quite a bit of volume 2 (and skimmed volume 3).

I've been using ColdFusion since CF5, but haven't formally taken a class or read any actual books in quite some time. I have however, continued to study the online docs and try to keep up on some of the "master bloggers" out there (Raymond Camden, Todd Sharp, Sean Corfield, Pete Freitag, Ben Nadel, and several others).

So far, the books have been very easy to follow and I've already gone back into my most current projects to update some of my "older" code to bring it more up to date.

Overall, I have to say that Ben Forta, Raymond Camden, Charlie Arehart and the countless other contributors did a fantastic job and they can count me as one satisfied reader.

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Launched Broadway Covenant Church Site

Posted At : March 26, 2008 10:53 AM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion,Web Site Projects

Officially launched www.broadwaycovenant.com for Broadway Covenant Church located in Rockford, IL last week. One of the coolest features I incorporated was a dynamic podcast area (driven by ColdFusion of course) where the client could upload their audio sermons via a secure back-end admin area and then visitors to the site can listen either directly through their browser or subscribe directly to the podcast feed using iTunes. You can check out the podcasts at www.broadwaycovenant.com/podcasts. Let me know what you think!

Static areas of the site were optimized to be edited by the client using Adobe® Contribute® CS3. An online administration area was developed to maintain all dynamic areas of the site.

Broadway Covenant Church
Designer: Kristen C.  |  Developer: Steve Withington

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Launched Ingenium Technologies Site

Posted At : February 22, 2008 2:55 PM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion,Web Site Projects

While I was working on RockfordDanceCompany.com I was also working on a new web site for Ingenium Technologies (based in Rockford, IL). Well, it's finally up and running at www.ingeniumtech.com (You should see a red and grey color scheme ... if you don't it may take a day or so to update the DNS and clear out the old site which was teal and black). I was given a Photoshop file for homepage and inside page concepts, then I went to work ... designing and developing the entire web site using ColdFusion and such. I also had to integrate a third-party application into the look and feel of the site. This site has a number of dynamic areas including a comprehensive back-end administration area and was optimized to work with Adobe Contribute for any static content. I had a lot of fun developing this site. Be sure to check it out!

Static areas of the site were optimized to be edited by the client using Adobe® Contribute® CS3. An online administration area was developed to maintain all dynamic areas of the site.

Ingenium Technologies
Designer: Gordon B.  |  Developer: Steve Withington

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Launched Rockford Dance Comany Site

Posted At : February 20, 2008 5:46 PM | Posted By : Stephen Withington
Related Categories: ColdFusion,Web Site Projects

Well, after a few months of development, I've finally finished Rockford Dance Company's web site redesign using ColdFusion, etc. It went live last week. You can check it out at www.rockforddancecompany.com.

Static areas of the site were optimized to be edited by the client using Adobe® Contribute® CS3. An online administration area was developed to maintain all dynamic areas of the site.

Rockford Dance Company
Designer: Kristen C.  |  Developer: Steve Withington

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