What is wrong with my recursive method call?

I have a search function that executes a stored procedure and returns results. If there are no results, I want to try running the function one more time with a more generalized search. So, I put a cfif into my code -

<cfif results.recordCount EQ 0 And Not arguments.searchForPotentialMatches>
   <cfset arguments.searchForPotentialMatches = True />
   <cfinvoke method="thisMethod" argumentCollection="#arguments#" />
</cfif>

Basically, if there were no results AND I haven't already tried a generalized search, it should invoke this method again. Then, in the beginning of the method, before calling the stored procedure, I check if searchForPotentialMatches is true, and if it is, I generalize the search query.

There seems to be a problem, though... When I try to run this, it hangs - 开发者_Go百科until there's a timeout with the stored procedure. Through debugging and outputting variables, I've been able to see that it gets to the stored procedure, and then gets stuck trying to execute it. However, using the original function before these rerun changes, if I do the regular search and then the generalized search in 2 separate calls, it executes correctly. So I'm not sure why it fails when I try to build this in programmatically... What am I doing wrong?

Could really be any number of things. Is all of this code inside of a cfc? Is that cfc in a persistent scope and have you properly var'd all your variables?

Can you execute the stored proc under both normal and generalized conditions standalone without issue?

Try pasting in more of your code (including the first call to the stored proc) so we can try to trace your data flow a bit more.

Recursion is:

• seductively simple in theory and a pain in the ass in practice - to debug.
• often necessary to walk trees or traverse graphs, but when one can do without, do without.

So as you wrote, I'd lose the recursion, and do it sequentially. Absent any more code as @scrittler requested, I'd rewrite as such:

<cfcomponent output="false">
    <cffunction name="search" output="false" access="public" returntype="any" hint="I am called by the client">
        <!--- <cfargument/> tags --->
        <!--- what ever you need to do with the arg before actually searching --->
        <cfset var results = doSearch(argumentCollection=arguments)>
        <cfif NOT results.recordcount>
            <!--- whatever you need to change about the args to perform a generalized search --->
            <cfset var results = doSearch(argumentCollection=arguments)>
        </cfif>

        <cfreturn results>
    </cffunction>

    <cffunction name="doSearch" output="false" access="private" returntype="query" hint="I run the query">
        <!--- <cfargument/> tags --->
        <!--- results query (i.e. call to sproc)--->
        <cfreturn results>
    </cffunction>
</cfcomponent>

What is your access attribute on the function tag, have you given it a value that leaves the function unable to call itself?

This feels unfair... But the issue was with something completely different. The recursive call works correctly, but there was another field that was getting changed due to a check in the function before calling the stored procedure and causing the stored proc to hang. Sorry about that, and thanks for all your help!