MACROMEDIA ColdFusion MX, Develop Manual

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404 Chapter 18: Debugging and Troubleshooting Applications
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If a page has many nested
cfif
and
cfelseif
tags you can put
cftrace
tags in each
conditional block to trace the execution flow. When you do this, you should use the condition
variable in the message or
var
attribute.
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If you find that the ColdFusion server is hanging, and you suspect a particular block of code
(or call to a cfx tag, COM object, or other third-party component), you can put a
cftrace
tag
before and after the suspect code, to log entry and exit.
Calling the cftrace tag
The
cftrace
tag takes the following attributes. All attributes are optional.
Attribute Purpose
abort A Boolean value. If you specify True, ColdFusion stops processing the current
request immediately after the tag. This attribute is the equivalent of placing a
cfabort
tag immediately after the
cftrace
tag. The default is False. If this attribute
is True, the output of the
cftrace
call appears only in the cftrace.log file. The line
in the file includes the text “[ABORTED]”.
category A text string specifying a user-defined trace type category. This attribute lets you
identify or process multiple trace lines by categories. For example, you could sort
entries in a log according to the category.
The
category
attribute is designed to identify the general purpose of the trace
point. For example, you might identify the point where a custom tag returns
processing to the calling page with a “Custom Tag End” category. You can also
use finer categories; for example, by identifying the specific custom tag name in
the category.
You can include simple ColdFusion variables, but not arrays, structures, or
objects, in the category text by enclosing the variable name in pound signs (#).
inline A Boolean value. If you specify True, ColdFusion displays trace output in-line in
the page. The default is False.
The
inline
attribute lets you display the trace results at the place that the
cftrace
call is processed. This provides a visual cue directly in the ColdFusion page
display.
Trace output also appears in a section in the debugging information display.
text A text message describing this trace point. You can include simple ColdFusion
variables, but not arrays, structures, or objects, in the text output by enclosing the
variable name in pound signs (#).