ColdFusion bug or feature?

<cfquery name="q1" datasource="#dsn#">
    select rownum recnum
    from all_objects
    where rownum <= 3
</cfquery>

<cfloop query="q1">

    <cfquery name="q2" datasource="#dsn#">
        select rownum recnum
        from all_objects
        where rownum <= 3
    </cfquery> 

    Outside q2 loop: <cfoutput>#q1.recnum#</cfoutput>
    <br>

    <cfloop query="q2">
        Inside q2 loop: <cfoutput>#q1.recnum#</cfoutput>
        <br>
    </cfloop>
    <br>
</cfloop>

Outside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1

Outside q2 loop: 2
Inside q2 loop: 2
Inside q2 loop: 2
Inside q2 loop: 2

Outside q2 loop: 3
Inside q2 loop: 3
Inside q2 loop: 3
Inside q2 loop: 3

Outside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1

Outside q2 loop: 2
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1

Outside q2 loop: 3
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1
Inside q2 loop: 1 

Reader's Comments

1. Raymond Camden | 05 Apr 2006 8:55 am

   Inside q2, when CF “talks” to the q1 query,it is NOT in the contest of cfoutput query=q1 anymore. Therefore it acts the same as

   q1.columnname[1]

2. Barney | 05 Apr 2006 9:23 am

   To put Ray’s comment another way: only the innermost query is ever implicitly referenced, all other queries must be referenced with full name.column[row] notation, and as you know, leaving off the row uses an implicit 1.

3. Ryan Guill | 05 Apr 2006 9:52 am

   I had this same problem not long ago. I posted it to cf-talk if you want to see the discussion on it. If you cant find it let me know.

   But what you need to make it work is instead of Inside q2 loop: #q1.recnum#

   use

   <cfloop query="q2">
       Inside q2 loop: <cfoutput>#q1.recnum[q1.currentRow]#</cfoutput>
       <br>
   </cfloop>
   

   The current row is always correct where the loop gets messed up. This will force it to be correct.

4. Eddie Awad | 05 Apr 2006 12:35 pm

   Thanks guys for the clarification. By looking at the code alone, you would not think that q1.recnum in the q2 loop is in fact implicitly treated as q1.recnum[1]. Testing is important.

   To solve this issue, I copied q1.recnum to the variables scope and used the variable inside the q2 loop:

   <cfset variables.recnum = q1.recnum>
   <cfloop query="q2">
       Inside q2 loop: <cfoutput>#variables.recnum#</cfoutput>
       <br>
   </cfloop>
   

   But now I know that there is another way: q1.recnum[q1.currentRow]

   Thanks again.