(VTL Script to) Parse email ID stored in database and use it as URL query parameter in an email template?

[KaranUpamanyu]

Hello there!

I've got a {{lead.Email}} in my database. We send out emails to our leads with an links, and the href for the anchor tags contain the email address as a URL query parameter like so-

...
<a href="https://abc.domain.com/route?email={{lead.Email}}">My Cart</a>
...

We've observed a problem with this- some leads enter their email with a + sign, and this sign remains intact in the URL (it should ideally be parsed into a %2B in the URL). How can I do this?

I've tried writing VTL scripts for this-

Script (my.parsedEmail):

#set($email = ${lead.Email})
#if($email=="")
	#set($email = "null")
#end
$email.replace("+","%2B"))

Email:

...
<a href="https://abc.domain.com/route?email={{my.parsedEmail}}">My Cart</a>
...

This approach resulted in the entire VTL script getting dumped into the URL.

https://abc.domain.com/route?email=&mkt_tok=long_string#set($email%20=%20${lead.Email})#if($email==%22%22)null#end#if($email!=%22%22)$email.replace(%22+%22,%22%2B%22))#end

Then, I learned that we're supposed to get the entire <a> tag out of the script in one piece, with the https:// protocol in the tag and the URL in a variable.

This is my latest script-

## Generate the right email address (replace + with %2B)
#set($email = ${lead.Email})
#if($email=="")
	#set($email = "null")
#end
#set($email=$email.replace("+","%2B"))

## define button styles
#set($styles="some_inline_button_styles")

## generate the link
#set($url="abc.domain.com/route?referral=marketo&email=$email")

## The line that gets injected into the email
<a rel="noopener" style="$styles" target="_blank" href="https://$url">Complete My Application</a>

The link generated was the most ridiculous one yet-

https://%24url/?mkt_tok=long_string

I've been stuck for a couple of days, how do I get this to work?

Thanks in advance!

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

A native {{lead.token}} is not URL-safe and any such link needs to be emitted from Velocity.

But don’t roll your own URL-encoder, there’s one built into EscapeTool.

#set( $email = $lead.Email )
#if( $email.isEmpty() )
#set( $email = "null" )
#end

## define button styles
#set( $styles="some_inline_button_styles" )

## generate the link
#set( $urlNoProto ="abc.example.com/route?referral=marketo&email=${esc.url($email)}" )

## The line that gets injected into the email
<a rel="noopener" style="$styles" target="_blank" href="https://${urlNoProto}">Complete My Application</a>

Also remember not to use another company’s actual domain. In demo code use example.com.

[KaranUpamanyu]

This works- thank you!