Replaceables

Replaceables are placeholders in a text that are replaced with a value when the text is used. They let you write one template (a mail, a filter, a widget setting) that works for any user, record or date.

Syntax

The syntax for a replaceable is [variableName], always with square brackets, for example [itemid], [user.name] or [relation12.title].

Which replaceables are available depends on where you use them. Most of them work everywhere (mail templates, actions, automations, forms). Widgets have their own rules, see In Widgets.

Commands

User Related

Command	Description	Return Example
[user]	A reference to the current user, in the format stored in user fields.	user_1
[userid]	The current user, in the format stored in user fields. In widget settings it is the plain number (see In Widgets).	user_1
[usergroups]	The groups the current user belongs to on this site, as a comma-separated list. Use it with IN or FIND_IN_GROUP in queries.	group_1,group_2
[user.name]	The name of the current user.	John Doe
[user.email]	The email of the current user.	johndoe@flowagent.nu
[user.workphonenumber]	The work phone number of the current user.	12345678
[user.personalphonenumber]	The personal phone number of the current user.	12345678
[user.gps]	The GPS location of the current user.	12.345678,12.345678

Item Related

Command	Description	Return Example
[itemid]	The id of the current record (the record the action, form or page is about).	1
[parentitemid]	The id of the parent record, where there is one (for example a form opened from another record).	2
[item.title]	The title of the current record.	Item 1
[item.type]	The item type name of the current record.	Task
[item.<field key name>] or [item.cf<field id>]	The value of a field of the current record, as it is shown (option names, user names).	Done
[item.cfr<field id>]	The value of a field of the current record as it is stored (e.g. option_5).	option_5

Date and Time Related

Command	Description	Return Example
[datenow]	The current date.	2021-01-01
[timenow]	The current time.	12:00
[datetimenow]	The current date and time.	2021-01-01 12:00
[datetomorrow]	The date of tomorrow.	2021-01-02
[dateyesterday]	The date of yesterday.	2020-12-31
[dateweek]	The date of Monday in the current week.	2020-12-28
[datemonth]	The date of the first day of the current month.	2021-01-01

Date offsets: add +N or -N (days) inside the brackets of any of these, e.g. [datenow-7] (one week ago), [datenow+30], [dateweek+7] (Monday next week), [datemonth-1] (last day of the previous month). Dates are returned as YYYY-MM-DD, the format dates are stored in, so they can be compared directly in queries.

POST Values

Post commands start with [post. and end with ]. They read the values a user has just filled in a form; the part after the dot is the id of the form field.

Command	Description	Return Example
[post.key]	The value of the form field.	value
[postoption.key]	For a select field: the chosen option(s) without the option_ prefix.	12
[postlabel.key]	For a select field: the label(s) of the chosen option(s).	Done

Relation Values

Relation commands start with [relation, the module relation id, a ., what you want, and end with ]. They read from the record related to the current record through that relation (parent or child, the first one found).

Command	Description	Return Example
[relation1.id]	The ID of the related item.	1
[relation1.title]	The title of the related item.	Item 1
[relation1.type]	The name of the type of the related item.	type1
[relation1.cf1234]	The value of field 1234 in the related item, as it is shown.	value
[relation1.cfr1234]	The value of field 1234 in the related item, as it is stored.	option_5
[relation1.<field key name>]	The value of a field in the related item, by key name.	value

Item Values

Item commands start with [item, the record id, a ., what you want, and end with ]. They read from that specific record.

Command	Description	Return Example
[item1.id]	The ID of the item.	1
[item1.title]	The title of the item.	Item 1
[item1.type]	The name of the type of the item.	type1
[item1.<field key name>]	The value of the field in the item, as it is shown.	value
[item1.<field key name>.raw]	The value of the field in the item, as it is stored.	option_5

Use field key names here; field ids (cf1234) do not work with [item<id>.…].

Conditions

Show text only when a condition is true:

[if post.12 = 'option_3']Please handle this today.[else]Please handle this within a week.[/if]

• The [else] part is optional. Conditions can be nested.
• Comparisons: =, !=, <>, >, >=, <, <=, like, not like, in, not in, is empty, is not empty.
• Combine with and / or (and is evaluated before or; parentheses are not supported).
• anynotempty(a, b, ...) is true when at least one value is filled; allnotempty(a, b, ...) when all are.
• Values can be text in quotes ('Done' or "Done"), numbers, true/false, or form values post.<id> / postlabel.<id>.
• User and date placeholders (such as [user.name] or [datenow]) are filled in before the condition is checked, so you can use them in a condition. Relation, item and power search values are filled in afterwards: use them in the text, not in the condition. In widgets, the placeholders listed under In all widget settings (such as [cfN]) can also be used in conditions.
• Wrap placeholders that can be empty in quotes, e.g. [if '[cf12]' is empty], so an empty value still gives a valid condition.

Power Search

Power Search commands start with [powersearch. and end with ], with the key name of a list (power search) in between.

Command	Description
[powersearch.keyname]	A table with the results of the list.
[powersearch.keyname.count]	The number of records in the list.
[powersearch.keyname.sum:fieldkeyname]	The sum of a field over the list.
[powersearch.keyname.avg:fieldkeyname]	The average of a field.
[powersearch.keyname.min:fieldkeyname] / .max:	The smallest / largest value of a field.

Sums, averages and minimum/maximum are formatted like 1.234,56. If the list is not found, the text POWERSEARCH_NOT_FOUND is shown.

Price Group Command

note

This command is not public available yet.

Strip Option

This is not a replaceable, but an ability to strip the option_ part of a returned value.

Example: Where [item1.keyname.raw] returns option_1234, you can use [item1.keyname.raw]|strip_option to return 1234.

Everything after the | is removed from the text, so put |strip_option at the very end and use it only once.

In Widgets

Replaceables can be used in widget settings too. A widget is filled in two steps, so it matters where you use them.

In all widget settings

These are replaced in every setting of every widget type (titles, filters, columns, URLs, tap actions, relations, ...):

Command	In widgets becomes
[itemid]	The id of the record the page shows.
[moduleid]	The module id of the record the page shows.
[user]	The current user as stored in user fields, e.g. user_48.
[userid]	The current user's id as a plain number, e.g. 48. Use [user] to compare with user fields.
[relationN]	The id of the record related to the page record through module relation N, or 0 when there is none.
[relationN.title]	The title of that related record (empty when there is none).
[cfN]	The value of field N of the page record. Select and user fields give the shown text (option name, user name); dates and numbers give the stored value.
[relationN.cfM]	The value of field M of the record related through relation N.
[itemname]	The title of the page record.

Only in filter values, calculated columns and Smart Text

These are only replaced in the values of a query (and in lookups of calculated columns), in the value of calculated columns and in the text of a Smart Text widget:

• user details: [usergroups], [user.name], [user.email], ...
• dates: [datenow], [datenow-7], [dateweek], [datemonth], [timenow], ... (with offsets)
• conditions: [if …]…[else]…[/if]
• relation and record values by key name: [relationN.<field key name>], [relationN.id], [relationN.type], [itemNNN.<field key name>], [itemNNN.title]
• list results: [powersearch.keyname], [powersearch.keyname.count], [powersearch.keyname.sum:fieldkeyname], ...
• calculated columns also support [row.<field key name>].

They are not replaced in other settings such as labels, icons, iframe/image sources, tap actions or prefixes.

Rules

• Write placeholders inside quotes in the JSON: ["module168Item.id", "=", "[itemid]"], not ["module168Item.id", "=", [itemid]]. A placeholder outside quotes makes the JSON invalid when it is empty, and the whole configuration is then ignored.
• On dashboards there is no page record, so [itemid] and [moduleid] are empty and [relationN], [cfN] and [itemname] give no value. Filters that use them find nothing on a dashboard.
• Values inserted by [cfN] and [itemname] have quotes removed, so they cannot break the JSON.
• Inside JSON, write text in [if …] conditions with single quotes ('Done'), or escape double quotes as \".
• In calculated columns, use key names ([row.salesfield_price]) to read values of the row. [itemid], [cfN] and [x.cfN] are filled with the page record before the rows are processed.

Example

A Table widget on a Project page that lists the open tasks of the project's customer that are assigned to the current user, due within a week:

{
  "label": "Tasks for [relation12.title]",
  "moduleid": 169,
  "relations": {
    "module50": { "parent": 50, "child": 169 }
  },
  "query": [
    ["module50Item.id", "=", "[relation12]"],
    ["tasksfield_responsible", "=", "[user]"],
    ["tasksfield_deadline", "<=", "[datenow+7]"]
  ]
}

Tips

• Use replaceables to personalize messages and automate workflows.
• Always use square brackets for variable names.
• Use field key names where you can; they are easier to read and survive copying a solution to another site.

Related Links

• Custom Mail Templates
• Automations
• JSON Queries
• JSON Columns
• Common Widget Properties

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For more on dynamic content, see the Automations and Mail Templates documentation.