Remove whitespace in output HTML code

Question

Consider test.cfm file with the following content:

<html>
    <body>
        <cfif foo EQ bar>
            <cfset test = "something" />
        </cfif>
        <p>Hello!</p>
    </body>
</html>

When run in the browser, the source code of the output of this file will look like this:

<html>
    <body>



        <p>Hello!</p>
    </body>
</html>

Is there any way to fix this?

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 18 '12 at 20:39

7

Is there any way to fix this?

There's nothing to fix - the HTML is perfectly valid and functional.

If your issue is the size of request, use gzip encoding.

If your issue is reading the source for debugging/etc, use developer tools such as Firebug/etc.

However, general things you should be doing to improve maintainability (which at the same time also reduces whitespace output) are:

1) Move anything that isn't display logic out of your views.

2) Convert display logic to functions and custom tags as appropriate, which both make it easier to prevent/control output.

To prevent unwanted content being output, you can:

Wrap the entire section in cfsilent, to ensure nothing gets output.
Enable enablecfoutputonly attribute of cfsetting then only use cfoutput around things you want to be output.
Always set output=false on component and function tags.
When you want to selectively output some text, wrap non-tag non-output segments in CFML comments  (e.g. useful for preventing newline output in custom tags)

(I never bother with cfprocessingdirective, everything mentioned above solves the issues better.)

answered Aug 18 '12 at 20:39

Peter Boughton

1) Of course all the "business logic" goes into CFC's functions, but I still have to invoke them somehow in the CFMs, don't I? // I will look into gzip encoding, which I think will be the most efficient way to do this... – Eleeist Aug 18 '12 at 20:47
1

You're confusing terms. Business logic goes where it needs to go. Display logic is when you need to control how your views are displayed - can go in CFCs/functions, but sometimes makes more sense in custom tags/whatever - depends what it's doing. – Peter Boughton Aug 18 '12 at 20:50
2

I think CF9 or CF10 has an admin setting for gzip, but couldn't find anything about it in a quick search. (I know [Railo](http://getrailo.org) has such a setting.) – Peter Boughton Aug 18 '12 at 20:50
Thanks for lot's of useful information. I still have to do some research and see what fits me best. – Eleeist Aug 18 '12 at 20:53
http://cfbestpractices.blogspot.ca/2012/03/understand-what-generates-whitespace.html?m=1 – Shawn Holmes Aug 19 '12 at 00:06

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '12 at 20:46

5

If you have access to the CF Administrator, there is an option to suppress white space.

It is under 'Server Settings' --> 'Settings' its called 'Enable Whitespace Management'.

answered Aug 18 '12 at 20:46

Scott Stroz

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 18 '12 at 20:10

4

Try <cfprocessingdirective suppressWhiteSpace="true">

answered Aug 18 '12 at 20:10

tptcat

Works but... Is there a way to make it global and not having to put it in every file? Maybe something in Application.cfc? – Eleeist Aug 18 '12 at 20:18
1

Also investigate and If you want more selective control over output but tptcat's answer addresses whitespace as a whole. – BKK Aug 18 '12 at 20:19
Check out Ben Nadel's great Application.cfc guide here: http://www.bennadel.com/blog/726-ColdFusion-Application-cfc-Tutorial-And-Application-cfc-Reference.htm If you want to wrap the `cfprocessingdirective` around every call you should be able to in OnRequest. Also, as @BenKoshy said, you can get finer control over this with the two tags he mentioned. – tptcat Aug 18 '12 at 20:20

3 Answers3