Velocity script is not pulling data in URL

[Kainelson]

Hi there, 

I am launching an email campaign that requires some links to direct to a partners personal portal. I am using velocity scripts to populate this and am pulling in the partners ID through their person record and inserting that into the url. For some reason when I preview it in Marketo and click the link, it works, but when I send myself a test or an actual email send, it just goes to the login page and not the personal portal of the test record. I have attached some screenshots. It seems like the actual ID isn't rendering in the url when it's sent out? Does anyone know a workaround for this?

[reetusharmaGrz1]

Hi @Kainelson 

please check all points below and correct your script accordingly then test at your end

1) If you’re embedding the URL in an <a> tag directly with a Velocity token, ensure you don’t use curly brackets inside the href. Do it like this:

<a href="https://test.com?id=$lead.Expedia Hotel Id">Testing</a>

2) Also,  Velocity is case-sensitive and field API names must be exact.

From your image:

• You wrote: $lead.Expedia_Hotel_Id__c

• But the field shown is labeled: Expedia Hotel Id

3) Please add a null check in the Velocity script: 

#if( $lead.Expedia_Hotel_Id )
<a href="https://apps.expediapartnercentral.com/supply/pc-onboard/golive?htid=$lead.Expedia_Hotel_Id">Access Your Portal</a>
#else
<a href="https://apps.expediapartnercentral.com/login">Access Your Portal</a>
#end

Note : If you can share the actual Velocity script you're using then i can review it

Thanks

[SanfordWhiteman]

---

2) Also,  Velocity is case-sensitive and field API names must be exact.

From your image:

• You wrote: $lead.Expedia_Hotel_Id__c

• But the field shown is labeled: Expedia Hotel Id

---

In Marketo’s Velocity context*, it’s not possible for keys on the $lead object (i.e. Velocity API names) to have spaces. So the key cannot be Expedia Hotel Id.

It’s true that OP may be using the wrong API name for some reason.

* There’s no technical reason that $lead, which is simply a Java LinkedHashMap after all, cannot have keys with spaces. Map keys can even be complex objects. But Marketo never does this, it’s always a simple string without spaces.

[SanfordWhiteman]

1) If you’re embedding the URL in an <a> tag directly with a Velocity token, ensure you don’t use curly brackets inside the href. Do it like this:

<a href="https://test.com?id=$lead.Expedia Hotel Id">Testing</a>

---

It’s the absolute opposite! You should use ${formal.notation} for output as OP is doing here. You shouldn’t use it inside #directives.

Did you even test how your code would work if the property name contained spaces? (Though in Marketo’s Velocity context, it cannot).

[SanfordWhiteman]

---

3) Please add a null check in the Velocity script: 

#if( $lead.Expedia_Hotel_Id )
<a href="https://apps.expediapartnercentral.com/supply/pc-onboard/golive?htid=$lead.Expedia_Hotel_Id">Access Your Portal</a>
#else
<a href="https://apps.expediapartnercentral.com/login">Access Your Portal</a>
#end

---

This check is useless. The lead field will always pass the check because it’s always a string. You will never enter the #else branch!

Let’s let the OP make a decision about whether they need a fallback. The email may only be going to people who have a non-empty field anyway.

[SanfordWhiteman]

We can’t troubleshoot a screenshot. Please provide actual code, and use the syntax highlighter to highlight your code as Java (as its syntax is closest to Velocity).

In addition, are you trying to output multiple links from Velocity using the same Velocity variable (that is, same ${reference})? There are known issues with this discussed in other threads & blog posts.