Multiple instances of persistent CFC are sharing the same variables scope until values are set

dev support
1

It’s been a looooong time since I’ve really used CFML, so I may be missing something fundamental that has changed

Summary:

Initial values set into the variables scope on a persistent CFC appear to be shared across all instances. In other words:

// Thing.cfc
component persistent='true' {
  variables.someStruct = { foo: 'bar'}
}

var thing1 = new Thing()
var thing2 = new Thing()

// This updates thing 1 and thing 2!!
thing2.getSomeStruct().foo = 'thing 2 value'

Reproducible case showing inconsistency with non-persistent CFC behavior

Clone and run (docker): GitHub - joeRinehart/lucee-variables-bug: Demo of bug in legacy app server

More formally

When I:

  1. Make a CFC persistent
  2. Have a complex value (struct, array, or component reference) declared within its variables scope
  3. Do not have a init() method in the component that re-sets the value
  4. Create two instances of the CFC
  5. Mutate the complex value in one instance

I’d expect:

  1. The complex value to only be changed in that instance

Instead:

  1. It appears to be changed in all instances!

This does not:

  1. Impact CFCs where the “persistent” attribute is NOT in place

In code, here’s an example of a failing feature in a spec:

            it("Struct values should not be shared across instances", function() {
                var circle1 = entityNew( 'PersistentCircle' );
                var circle2 = entityNew( 'PersistentCircle' );

                // expect
                expect( structCount(circle1.getStructProp()) ).toBe(0);
                expect( structCount(circle2.getStructProp()) ).toBe(0);

                // when
                var structProp = circle2.getStructProp();
                structProp.value = 'Struct prop in circle 2!';

                // then
                expect( structCount(circle2.getStructProp()) ).toBe(1);
                // THIS FAILS!
                expect( structCount(circle1.getStructProp()) ).toBe(0, "Circle one's struct was changed!");
            });

Don’t forget to tell us about your stack!

OS: Docker/Latest (5.3.10.120)
Java Version: Docker/Latest (5.3.10.120)
Tomcat Version: Docker/Latest (5.3.10.120)
Lucee Version: Docker/Latest (5.3.10.120)

2

your example uses hibernate but you don’t mention that in the explanation, does it matter QM