Multiple Render Function Widgets

Widgets are required to provide one function called renderIt(), but they can actually provide more than one render option. If you add another function, then the display of the Widget Form changes.

Now you will see a Public Methods menu, with a list of public functions in ths CFC. Below you can see the required function renderIt() and the 2 additional functions. listOfPages() and listOfCategories()

When you select a different Method, the options change, depending on the function. This means you could have 1 widget, with several different display options... each with their own set of arguments. Packaging them inside a single Widget CFC allows them to easily share functions.

Above, you can see the renderIt() function has 1 arugment, with label, hint, required etc.

The

listOfPages()

function has 1 argument, a plain text field

numberOfPages

, as you can see below.

The

listOfCategories()

function has 1 argument, a plain text field

numberOfCategories

, as you can see below.

Hiding UDF Functions

If you add a UDF to your Widget, to be able to dynamically create the select drop down for your Widget arguments, you might notice an unexpected side effect. This function / method shows up in the Select a Method drop down box.

Your first thought might be, to use a private function. The Widget form builder needs to call the UDF to generate the Select Boxes, so it cannot be a private function.

The solution, add Meta data about the function... including cbignore. You can add this with the function meta data in a comment.

/**
* @cbignore
*/
function getTargetTypes(){
    return [ '_self','_blank','_top','_parent','ThisisfromTheUDF' ];
}

Or you could add this meta data with the inline meta style.

function getTargetTypes() cbignore{
    return [ '_self','_blank','_top','_parent','ThisisfromTheUDF' ];
}

With either of these two options, you will see the list of Options provided by the UDF, but you will not see the Public Methods option, as there is only 1 public rendering function.