CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

Description:
Call this function, passing in a collection name, to see if that named Verity colleciton exists. The previous version of this UDF used the <cfcollection action="list" /> tag to determine if the collection exists. The problem is, this action takes a very long time to return a result if there are a lot of collection registered (appx 1 second for every 3 collections.)

Return Values:
Returns a boolean.

Example:

<cfif NOT collectionExists("catalog")>
	<cfcollection
		action="create"
		collection="catalog"
		path="#pathToVerityCollection#"
		language="english"
			/>
</cfif>

Parameters:

Full UDF Source:

<!---
 Call this function, passing in a collection name, to see if that named Verity colleciton exists.
 Version 1 by Pete Ruckelshaus, &#112;&#114;&#117;&#99;&#107;&#101;&#108;&#115;&#104;&#97;&#117;&#115;&#64;&#121;&#97;&#104;&#111;&#111;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;
 Raymond Camden modified version 2 a bit.
 
 @param collection 	 Name of collection (Required)
 @return Returns a boolean. 
 @author Dan G. Switzer, II (&#112;&#114;&#117;&#99;&#107;&#101;&#108;&#115;&#104;&#97;&#117;&#115;&#64;&#121;&#97;&#104;&#111;&#111;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;&#100;&#115;&#119;&#105;&#116;&#122;&#101;&#114;&#64;&#112;&#101;&#110;&#103;&#111;&#119;&#111;&#114;&#107;&#115;&#46;&#99;&#111;&#109;) 
 @version 2, March 10, 2006 
--->
<cffunction name="collectionExists" returnType="boolean" output="false" hint="This returns a yes/no value that checks for the existence of a named collection.">
	<cfargument name="collection" type="string" required="yes">

	<!---// by default return true //--->
	<cfset var bExists = true />
	<cfset var searchItems = "">
	
	<!---// if you can't search the collection, then assume it doesn't exist //--->
	<cftry>
		<cfsearch
			name="searchItems"
			collection="#arguments.collection#"
			type="simple"
			criteria="#createUUID()#"
			/>
		<cfcatch type="any">
			<!---// if the message contains the string "does not exist", then the collection can't be found //--->
			<cfif cfcatch.message contains "does not exist">
				<cfset bExists = false />
			<cfelse>
				<cfrethrow>
			</cfif>
		</cfcatch>
	</cftry>

	<!---// returns true if search was successful and false if an error occurred //--->
	<cfreturn bExists />

</cffunction>