Building XML from ColdFusion

Question

I am building some XML within ColdFusion to send data to QuickBooks. I am able to build my variable with my data from a <cfoutput> fine. Like this:

<cfoutput query="get">

<cfset #x# =
'    
<InvoiceAddRq>
<InvoiceAdd>

    <CustomerRef>

        <ListID>XXXXX</ListID>          

    </CustomerRef>

    <ClassRef>

        <ListID>XXXXX</ListID>

    </ClassRef>

    <TxnDate>2010-11-04</TxnDate>


                <InvoiceLineAdd>

                    <ItemRef>
                        <ListID>XXXXX</ListID>
                    </ItemRef>

                    <Desc>XXXXX</Desc>
                    <Quantity>XXXXX</Quantity>
                    <Rate>XXXXX</Rate>          

                </InvoiceLineAdd>



</InvoiceAdd>

</InvoiceAddRq>
'
>

But I need to create XML where I loop through line item details with <cfloop> inside of the <cfset>. This is what I am trying to do:

<cfoutput query="get">

<cfset #x# =
'    
<InvoiceAddRq>
<InvoiceAdd>

    <CustomerRef>

        <ListID>XXXXX</ListID>          

    </CustomerRef>

    <ClassRef>

        <ListID>XXXXX</ListID>

    </ClassRef>

    <TxnDate>2010-11-04</TxnDate>

        <cfquery name="getDetails">

        </cfquery>

            <cfloop query="getDetails">

            <InvoiceLineAdd>

                <ItemRef>
                    <ListID>XXXXX</ListID>
                </ItemRef>

                <Desc>XXXXX</Desc>
                <Quantity>XXXXX</Quantity>
                <Rate>XXXXX</Rate>          

            </InvoiceLineAdd>

        </cfloop>           

</InvoiceAdd>

</InvoiceAddRq>
'
>

This is obviously not working right because it is seeing the and the as attributes of the XML. I am trying to figure out how to write some XML then do my query and loop to get the line item detail then go back into XML. I am stumped on how to do this. I hope this makes sense and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You can try <cfxml> or <cfsavecontent> to build your XML string.

cfxml:

<cfxml variable="your_xml_var" caseSensitive="yes">
  <InvoiceAddRq>
    <Anothertag>
    </Anothertag>
    <cfloop query="your_query">
      <Somedata foo="#your_query.bar#">
      #your_query.blah#
      </Somedata>
    </cfloop>
  </InvoiceAddRq>
</cfxml>

cfsavecontent:

<cfsavecontent variable="your_xml_var">
  <InvoiceAddRq>
    <cfloop query="your_query">
      <Anothertag />
    </cfloop>
  </InvoiceAddRq>
</cfsavecontent>

Answer 2

Try wrapping your xml building in cfoutput and cfsavecontent If you are in a .cfm or .cfc file, it should not think that cfquery or cfloop (or any cf~ tag for that matter) is actually part of the xml, that will be stripped out while the page is being executed.