Justice (which sounds like a superhero name) asks:
Is there a way to parse a list of methods from a .CFC into an array using introspection? I am creating a simple ajax form to do testing of .cfc methods, and I would like to auto-populate a drop down of available methods after the user enters a component name. I know I can <cfobject> the component and then dump it, but how would I reference the methods as variable's?
First off, to get the methods from a CFC instance you would use the getMetaData function like so:
<cfset messageCFC = createObject("component", "forums.cfcs.message")>
<cfset methods = getMetaData(messageCFC).functions>
<cfdump var="#methods#">
The getMetaData function will return a lot of information about the CFC, but note that I am just using the functions key. How could you then invoke a method dynamically? The cfinvoke tag can be passed a dynamic name:
<cfinvoke component="messageCFC" method="#someMethod#">
It would probably be a bit difficult to handle the arguments like this in a truly 100% dynamic fashion, but this should give you the basics for what you want to do.