Using Dollar sign $ in front of token {{lead.DOLALR AMOUNT}} breaks the token

[Lucas_Metherall]

hi all,

We are sending a summary email of donation amounts for the FY. We have custom currency field Total Amount of Gifts, and, because it is a currency field, it only takes numbers, not characters (i.e. $).

HOWEVER, trying to reference that token in the email, I write Total Gifts Received: ${{Total Amount of Gifts}}, and the token breaks in the live email. I just see a single }.

Anyone got any insight on this?

Thanks!

[SanfordWhiteman]

Use

${esc.d}{{lead.token name}}

P.S. You should never, ever use Currency. It's a broken datatype and you'll lose data. 

[Lucas_Metherall]

Hi Sanford,

I hoped you'd jump on this. Questions for you;

• Why does ${{ break the token code?
• In the WYSIWYG do I simply type ${esc.d}{{lead.Gift Amount}} ? What command is {esc.d}?
• how bad is the currency data field? What are common problems with it? Is it Apple Maps bad?

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

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I hoped you'd jump on this. Questions for you;

• Why does ${{ break the token code?

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Because the character sequence ${ is reserved: it's the start of a Velocity Template Language reference.

So the parser doesn't see an intact {{lead.token}} block, which is the Marketo token reference.

In the WYSIWYG do I simply type ${esc.d}{{lead.Gift Amount}} ? What command is {esc.d}?

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${esc.d} is a Velocity escape sequence for a dollar sign. So we're adding a complete VTL sequence to be parsed (from ${ to closing }) and then the {{lead.token}} stands alone. In other words, the parsers don't trip over each other.

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how bad is the currency data field? What are common problems with it? Is it Apple Maps bad?

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Bad enough. It's a 16-bit float, so there aren't enough bits to represent common amounts without approximation — commonly called "rounding" but that's putting too rosy a face on it, FP rounding isn't like "nearest 100" because it's binary. And more approximation is enforced at the MySQL level. I wrote a blog about it a couple of years ago, you can search for it. Also lots of reading materials out there on floats.

[Lucas_Metherall]

Very helpful, thank you again.

[Lucas_Metherall]

Hi Sanford,

I followed the code instructions;

${esc.d}${{lead.wap_total amount of gifts:default=edit me}} 

The sentence in the email text editor reads: Amount Received: ${esc.d}${{lead.wap_total amount of gifts:default=edit me}}

The token is intended to pull in a dollar amount, but when sending a live test to myself, the email shows only a single } where I wanted the dollar amount to appear.

Am I doing something wrong?

[SanfordWhiteman]

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I followed the code instructions;

Not exactly. 🙂

I had said:

${esc.d}{{lead.wap_total amount of gifts:default=edit me}} 

But you're absolutely right, unfortunately there's been a regression and this no longer works in HTML parts (it does still work in Text parts). So switch to an alternate approach. I would also use a numeric default for clarity:

$#**#{{lead.wap_total amount of gifts:default=0}}