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Placeholders & functions

Placeholders let you inject the value of a field inside an e-mail message or inside the computed value of an auto field.

For instance, here's how you would use placeholders:

Dear {customer.name} {customer.lastname},
thank you for your order. The total amount is {total} and the order ID is {id}.
Best regards

In this example, the placeholders {customer.name} and {customer.lastname} will be replaced with the values of the name and lastname fields of the record referenced by the customer field of the current record. The placeholder {total} will be replaced with the value of the total field of the current record, and the placeholder {id} will be replaced with the ID of the current record.

Functions​

Sometimes you need to transform the values before inserting them into your message. For example, you might want to make a string uppercase. It's easy: just type {name:upper}. You can also chain multiple functions, as in {lastname:trim:upper} (this one will remove whitespace from the value before converting it to upper case).

Functions to be used on text fields:​

  • :lower: returns the given string in lower case.
  • :upper: returns the given string in upper case.
  • :substr(FROM) or :substr(FROM, LEN): returns the substring starting from the given FROM char for the given LEN characters (or to the end of the string if not specified). For example :substr(2) will remove the first two characters (0 is the first, 1 is the second).
  • :trim: removes whitespace from the beginning and the end of the string.
  • :ifempty('VALUE'): returns the input string if not empty, otherwise the given value. This can be used for setting defaults.
  • :regexp_extract('REGEX'): applies the given regular expression to the input value and returns the first capture. For example :regexp_extract('(..)$') will return the last two chars.
  • :regexp_replace('REGEX', 'REPLACE'): looks for the given regular expression and applies the given replacement string. For example :regexp_replace(' ', '_') replaces all spaces with underscores.
  • :lpad(LEN, 'CHAR'): left-pads the given string in order to make it at least LEN characters long by prepending the given character.
  • :md5: computes the MD5 of the given string (in hex representation).

Functions to be used on date/time fields:​

  • :format('FORMAT'): this function can be applied on date/time values and it lets you render them in the given format. For example :format('Y') will just return the year. Valid format specifiers are Y, m, d, H, i, s. This function will return a text value, so the above functions can be used.
  • :add_days(NUM): adds the given number of days to the input date.
  • :sub_days(NUM): subtracts the given number of days from the input date.
  • :days_to(DATE): calculates the difference in days between the input date and the given one.

Do you need a function that is not implemented yet? Tell us ;-)