Velocity Use Cases

Accessing an embedded object

Allows you to access the variables found in the substitutions object.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
"substitutions": 
{
    "person": 
    {
        "name":"John",
        "secondName":"Doe",
        "age":"26"
    }
}

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":"<h2>Hello, $person.name $person.secondName !</h2>"

Array iteration (in embedded object / array)

Returns and iterates the elements of the array of substitutions.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "petList": 
            [
                {
                  "name":"John",
                  "price":"30"
                },
                {
                  "name":"Harold",
                  "price":"15"
                }
            ]
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
 "#foreach( $pet in $petList )
    $pet.name for only $pet.price
 #end"

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions":
        {
          "DogsAndCats":
            [
              {
               "pet":
                 [
                  {
                   "concreteAnimal":"Brown Cat"
                  }
                 ]
              }
            ]
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"#foreach( $pet in $DogsAndCats)
  #foreach( $concreteAnimal in $pet.pet)
    Buy this $concreteAnimal.concreteAnimal
  #end
#end"

Call the Nth array element

Сalls the array element with a specified index.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "petList": 
            [
                {
                  "name":"John",
                  "price":"30"
                }
            ]
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"$petList.get(0).get("name")"

Access the index of the current array element

Returns the current array index.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "catsArray": 
            [
              "cat":"black" 
            ]
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"#foreach( $cat in $catsArray )
  Index of $cat is  $catsArray.indexOf($cat)
#end"

Convert to lowercase

Converts the string to lowercase.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "UpperCASE":"TEST" 
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"$UpperCASE.toString().toLowerCase()"

URL and HTML escaping

Replaces URL and HTML special characters with the correct entities.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "url": "hello here & there",
          "html_code":"’bread" & "butter’"
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"$esc.html($html_code)
$esc.url($url)"

Date and time formatting

Returns the "date" data type in a convenient format for further usage.

Note: the variables for substitutions of the "date" data type should begin with "date_" for correct processing, e.g. "date_Birthdate"

Available date formats:

dd/mm/yyyy
dd-mm-yyyy hh:mm:ss
yyyy/mm/dd HH:mm:ss
yyyy mm dd HH:mm:ss
ISO 8601 2004-02-12T15:19:21+00:00
RFC 2822 Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:01:07 +0200

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "date_Birthdate":"01/01/1970" 
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"$dateFormat.format('yyyy-M-d', $date_Birthdate)"

$dateFormat.format changes the format of the passed date. The following formats are available:

$date                                    -> Oct 19, 2003 9:54:50 PM
$date.long                             -> October 19, 2003 9:54:50 PM PDT
$date.medium_time                -> 9:54:50 PM
$date.full_date                       -> Sunday, October 19, 2003
$date.get('default','short')       -> Oct 19, 2003 9:54 PM
$date.get('yyyy-M-d H:m:s')   -> 2003-10-19 21:54:50

If/else conditions

Allows you to insert if / else conditional statements into the email template.

Substitution example: (parameter global_substitutions — email/send, template/set ; substitutions — email/send):

...
 "substitutions": 
        {
          "shoeSize":"5" 
        }

Usage example: (parameters body.html, body.plaintext, body.amp, subject, headers, options.unsubscribe_url, from_name — email/send, template/set):

"html":
"These shoes are  
  #if( $shoeSize > 5 )
      too big
  #elseif( $shoeSize < 5 )
      too small
   #else
      just right
   #end
   for my brother."