Structures

A structure is a collection of data where each element of data is addressed by a name or key and it can hold a value of any type. Like a dictionary but on steroids:

// Create a struct via function
myStruct = structnew()

// Create a struct via literal syntax
myStruct = {}

As an analogy, think about a refrigerator. If we’re keeping track of the produce inside the fridge, we don’t really care about where the produce is in, or basically: order doesn’t matter. Instead, we organize things by name, which are unique, and each name can have any value. The name grapes might have the value 2, then the name lemons might have the value 1, and eggplants the value 6.

Key-Value Pairs

A structure is an unordered collection where the data gets organized as a key and value pair. CFML syntax for structures follows the following syntax:

produce = {
    grapes     = 2,
    lemons     = 1,
    eggplants  = 6
};

Since CFML is a case-insensitive language, the above structure will store all keys in uppercase. If you want the exact casing to be preserved in the structure, then surround the keys with quotes (").

produce = {
    "grapes"     = 2,
    "lemons"     = 1,
    "eggplants"  = 6
};

The key is the address, and the value is the data at that address. Please note that the value can be ANYTHING. It can be an array, an object, a simple value, or even an embedded structure. It doesn't matter.

Retrieving Values

Retrieving values from structures can be done via dot or array notation or the structFind() function. Let's explore these approaches:

Array Notation

writeOutput( "I have #produce[ "grapes" ]# grapes in my fridge!" );
writeOutput( "I have #produce[ "eggplants" ]# eggplants in my fridge!" );

Dot Notation

writeOutput( "I have #produce.grapes# grapes in my fridge!" );
writeOutput( "I have #produce.eggplants# eggplants in my fridge!" );

structFind( structure, key, [defaultValue ] )

https://cfdocs.org/structfind

// Member Function
writeOutput( "I have #produce.find( "grapes" )# grapes in my fridge!" );
writeOutput( "I have #produce.find( "eggplants" )# eggplants in my fridge!" );

// Global Function
writeOutput( "I have #structFind( produce, "grapes" )# grapes in my fridge!" );
writeOutput( "I have #structFind( produce, "eggplants" ) eggplants in my fridge!" );

Safe Navigation

CFML also supports the concept of safe navigation when dealing with structures. Sometimes it can be problematic when using dot notation on nested structures since some keys might not exist or be null. You can avoid this pain by using the safe navigation operator ?. instead of the traditional . , and combine it with the elvis operator ?: so if null, then returning a value.

user = { age : 40 }

echo( user.age ) // 40
echo( user.salary ) // throws exception
echo( user?.salary ) // nothing, no exception
echo( user?.salary ?: 0 ) // 0

Setting Values

I can also set new or override structure values a la carte. You can do so via array/dot notation or via the structInsert(), structUpdate() functions (https://cfdocs.org/structinsert, https://cfdocs.org/structupdate)

// new key using default uppercase notation
produce.apples = 3;
// new key using case sensitive key
produce[ "apples" ] = 3;

// I just ate one grape, let's reduce it
produce[ "grapes" ] = 1; // or
produce.grapes--;

produce.insert( "newVeggie", 2 )
produce.update( "newVeggie", 1 )

structInsert( produce, "carrots", 5 )
structUpdate( produce, "carrots", 2 )

Checking Contents & Size

CFML also offers some useful methods when dealing with structures:

Key Values & Existence

Here are some great functions that deal with getting all key names, and key values or checking for existence:

produce.keyArray()
    .each( (item) => echo( item ) )
    
writeOutput( "My shopping bag has: #produce.keyList()# " )
writeOutput( "Do you have carrots? #produce.keyExists( 'carrots' )#" )

Structure Types

In CFML, not only can you create case-insensitive unordered structures but also the following types using the structNew() function (https://cfdocs.org/structnew)

Here is the signature for the structnew() function on Adobe engines:

structNew( [type[[,sortType][,sortOrder][,localeSensitive]|[,callback]]] )

Here is the signature for Lucee engines (https://docs.lucee.org/reference/functions/structnew.html)

structNew( [type, [onMissingKey] ] )

Now let's create some different types of structures

produce = structNew();
pickyProduce = structNew( "casesensitive" )

queue = structNew( "ordered" )
pickyQueue = structNew( "ordered-casesensitive" )
linkedList = structNew( 'ordered' );
cache = structnew( 'soft' );

Literal Syntax

You can also use literal syntax for some of these types:

// ordered struct
myStruct = [:] or [=]

// Case sensitive struct ACF Only
myStruct = ${}

// Case sensitive ordered struct ACF Only
myStruct = $[=]

Common Methods

Once you create structures, you can use them in many funky ways. Please check out all the structure functions and all the structure modern member functions that are available to you.

As you can see, there are many cool methods for detecting keys, values, lengths, counts, etc. A very cool method is keyArray() which gives you the listing of keys as an array:

Looping Over Structures

You can use different constructs for looping over structures:

• for loops

• loop constructs

• each() closures

for( var key in produce ){
 systemOutput( "I just had #produce[ key ]# #key#" );
}

produce.each( function( key, value ){
  systemOutput( "I just had #value# #key#" );
} );

Multi-Threaded Looping

As of now, only Lucee and Adobe 2021 allows you to leverage the each() operations in a multi-threaded fashion. The structEach() or each() functions allow for a parallel and maxThreads arguments so the iteration can happen concurrently on as many maxThreads as supported by your JVM.

structEach( struct, callback, parallel:boolean, maxThreads:numeric );
each( collection, callback, parallel:boolean, maxThreads:numeric );

This is incredibly awesome as now your callback will be called concurrently! However, please note that once you enter concurrency land, you should shiver and tremble. Thread concurrency will be of the utmost importance, and you must ensure that var scoping is done correctly and that appropriate locking strategies are in place.

myStruct.each( function( key, value ){
   myservice.process( value );
}, true, 20 );

Even though this approach to multi-threaded looping is easy, it is not performant and/or flexible. Under the hood, the engines use a single thread executor for each execution, do not allow you to deal with exceptions, and if an exception occurs in an element processor, good luck; you will never know about it. This approach can be verbose and error-prone, but it's easy. You also don't control where the processing thread runs and are at the mercy of the engine.

ColdBox Futures Parallel Programming

If you would like a functional and much more flexible approach to multi-threaded or parallel programming, consider using the ColdBox Futures approach (usable in ANY framework or non-framework code). You can use it by installing ColdBox or WireBox into any CFML application and leveraging our async programming constructs, which behind the scenes, leverage the entire Java Concurrency and Completable Futures frameworks.

Parallel ComputationsColdBox HMVC Documentation

Here are some methods that will allow you to do parallel computations:

• all( a1, a2, ... ):Future : This method accepts an infinite amount of future objects, closures, or an array of closures/futures to execute them in parallel. When you call on it, it will return a future that will retrieve an array of the results of all the operations.

• allApply( items, fn, executor ):array : This function can accept an array of items or a struct of items of any type and apply a function to each of the items in parallel. The fn argument receives the appropriate item and must return a result. Consider this a parallel map() operation.

• anyOf( a1, a2, ... ):Future : This method accepts an infinite amount of future objects, closures, or an array of closures/futures and will execute them in parallel. However, instead of returning all of the results in an array like all(), this method will return the future that executes the fastest! Race Baby!

• withTimeout( timeout, timeUnit ) : Apply a timeout to all() or allApply() operations. The timeUnit can be days, hours, microseconds, milliseconds, minutes, nanoseconds, and seconds. The default is milliseconds.