That was my understanding as well. But what I was attempting to demonstrate was that CF is able to auto-retype certain variables and not others.
<!--- auto-create a struct ---> <cfset myStruct.foo = "bar" /> <!--- have cf retype to string ---> <cfset myStruct = "foo" /> That works fine. <!--- create a string ---> <cfset myString = "foo" /> <!-- have cf retype to struct ---> <cfset myString.1 = "foo" /> That fails. chris kief -----Original Message----- From: Sean A Corfield [mailto:sean@;corfield.org] Sent: Friday, November 01, 2002 11:02 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: *CFMX* variable creation - is this normal behavior? or a bug? My understanding is that it's intentional - and a documented change from CF5. CFMX now automatically creates (and types) your variable based on first usage - previously myStruct.1 would be a single variable name containing a '.' whereas in CFMX that auto-creates myStruct and then assigns a value to the key "1". On Friday, Nov 1, 2002, at 10:21 US/Pacific, Chris Kief wrote: > When creating an array or structure, CF allows things like this: > > <cfset myArray[1] = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct.1 = "foo" /> > > But if the variable has been previously set to a different data type > (string in this case) like so: > > <cfset myArray = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct = "foo" /> > > <cfset myArray[1] = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct.1 = "foo" /> > > the following error is received: > > You have attempted to dereference a scalar variable of type class > java.lang.String as a structure with members. > > > You must specifically declare the variable as the new data type to > prevent errors: > > <cfset myArray = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct = "foo" /> > > <cfset myArray = arrayNew(1) /> > <cfset myStruct = structNew() /> > > <cfset myArray[1] = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct.1 = "foo" /> > > Was this a problem in CF5? Is this an expected behavior or a bug in > CFMX? It should be mentioned that going the opposite direction works > just fine: > > <cfset myArray[1] = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct.1 = "foo" /> > > <cfset myArray = "foo" /> > <cfset myStruct = "foo" /> > > Your thoughts... > > chris kief > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com
