Template Variables

Template Variables are used to personalize communications from the platform.

For example, instead of a generic "Dear Sir" salutation, messages can be personalized:

Greetings Carl!

You're invited to Friday nite Yappy Hour at the Dog Owners Club! Hope to see you and Bruiser there!

About Template Variables

Template variables embedded into HTML templates provide this kind of merge capability.

HTML templates can be used in many areas of the platform:

Context	Available Variables
Email Templates and Letterheads Web Form notifications and auto-response email messages	Template Variables in Email Templates
Document Templates	Template Variable Tool
Custom Form Actions	Template Variables for Actions Using Execute JavaScript
Emails	Template Variables in Email Templates

Template Variable Tool

Template variables have slightly different syntax in different contexts. In addition, the available variables can differ between contexts. The template variable tool gives you the possible variables, in the correct syntax for each context:

Context	Available Variables
Email Templates and Letterheads Web Form notifications and auto-response email messages	Template Variables in Email Templates Template Variables in Service Provider Email Messages Global Template Variables (custom variables) Record, User, Company, and Date/Time fields History fields (last comment and recent notes)
Document Templates	Global Template Variables Record, User, Company, and Date/Time fields History fields (last comment and recent notes)
Custom Form Actions	Template Variables for Actions Using Execute JavaScript User fields
Rules and Rule Sets	Record fields
Web Tabs	User Fields, Company Fields

For Service Provider emails:

• From the Service Provider URL: http://{yourDomain}/networking/Service?t=1&targetpage=ViewPort.jsp
• Go to Settings > Service Provider Settings > Manage Email Templates

Template Variable Contexts

Template variables have slightly different syntax in different contexts. In addition, the available variables can differ between contexts. The template variable tool gives you the possible variables, in the correct syntax for each context:

Context	Available Variables
Email Templates and Letterheads Web Form notifications and auto-response email messages	Template Variables in Email Templates Template Variables in Service Provider Email Messages Global Template Variables (custom variables) Record, User, Company, and Date/Time fields History fields (last comment and recent notes)
Document Templates	Global Template Variables Record, User, Company, and Date/Time fields History fields (last comment and recent notes)
Custom Form Actions	Template Variables for Actions Using Execute JavaScript User fields
Rules and Rule Sets	Record fields
Web Tabs	User Fields, Company Fields

For Service Provider emails:

• From the Service Provider URL: http://{yourDomain}/networking/Service?t=1&targetpage=ViewPort.jsp
• Go to Settings > Service Provider Settings > Manage Email Templates

Using the Template Variable Tool

This tool is used to look up the names of variables that can be used in templates.
The variables are based on fields in objects:

To lookup a template variable:

1. Choose a Category

   Category - Contains multiple categories of fields you can choose.

2. Choose a field from the Category

   Fields - Contains the fields available in the selected category.

3. The variable name is displayed. For example:

   Variable field: $user.full_name

4. Copy the variable name from the field and paste it into your template or email.

Note: The field Name is displayed. It is likely to be somewhat different from the field Label that is displayed in the GUI.

Date and Time Fields

The Date and Time category contains:

• Current Date:

  Inserts $today, which displays the date in the standard format.

  On June 24, 2011 the date would be displayed as "24 June, 2011".

• Current Date User Date Format:

  Inserts $today_dateformatted, which uses the format set by the user, or by default, the format set for the company.

  For a date format of mm/dd/yyyy, the value on June 24, 2011 would show as "06/24/2011".

Template Variable Syntax

Depending on where they are used, variables may need to be specified with braces (${variable}) or without them ($variable). (See Template Variable Contexts for a list of places in which variables are available.)

Except for that difference, variables are standardized using the following syntax:

$objectname.fieldname

Where objectname is the name of the tab or object (Cases, Accounts, Contacts, etc.) and the fieldname is the name of the field (owner, description, etc.)

Second-degree Related Objects

Second-degree related objects can also be used in templates, and provide the ability to to drill down to one level of the hierarchical lookup from the object.

Second-degree related object variables are standardized using the following syntax:

$objectname.fieldname.seconddegree

Where objectname is the name of the tab or object (Cases, Accounts, Contacts, etc.), fieldname is the name of the field (owner, description, etc.) and seconddegree is the name of the second-degree related object

Examples

• To get the tax_type of an autopolicy insurer, use this syntax:

$autopolicy.insurer.tax_type

Where 'autopolicy' and 'insurer' are objects, and 'tax_type' is a field in the 'insurer' object

Template Variable Resources

Template Variable Resources