
Contents > Developing ColdFusion MX Applications > Integrating J2EE and Java Elements in CFML Applications > Using Java objects > Java and ColdFusion data type conversions Resolving ambiguous data types with the JavaCast function

Resolving ambiguous data types with the JavaCast function

You can overload Java methods so a class can have several identically named methods. At runtime, the JVM resolves the specific method to use based on the parameters passed in the call and their types.

In the section The Employee class, the Employee class has two implementations for the SetJobGrade method. One method takes a string variable, the other an integer. If you write code such as the following, which implementation to use is ambiguous:

<cfset emp.SetJobGrade("1")>

The "1" could be interpreted as a string or as a number, so there is no way to know which method implementation to use. When ColdFusion encounters such an ambiguity, it throws a user exception.

The ColdFusion JavaCast function helps you resolve such issues by specifying the Java type of a variable, as in the following line:

<cfset emp.SetJobGrade(JavaCast("int", "1"))>

The JavaCast function takes two parameters: a string representing the Java data type, and the variable whose type you are setting. You can specify the following Java data types: boolean, int, long, float, double, and String.

For more information about the JavaCast function, see CFML Reference.


Contents > Developing ColdFusion MX Applications > Integrating J2EE and Java Elements in CFML Applications > Using Java objects > Java and ColdFusion data type conversions Resolving ambiguous data types with the JavaCast function

Version 6.1

Comments are no longer accepted for ColdFusion MX 6.1. ColdFusion 8 is the current version.