Filters

A filter is a particular rule for an ESL expression. To put it simply, you can modify the value of a variable when using it, but the actual value remains the same.

To apply a filter in an expression use the | pipe character.

Using a fallback text: First name vs friend

For example, in case you do not have the customer’s first name, you can display a fallback text by using the default filter. If the first name field has no value in our database, display the text "friend" instead.

The code looks like this.

{{ Contact.1|default('friend') }} 

Fallback text in the VCE editor

This is what you can see when using a fallback text in the VCE editor:

This is how the ESL snippet appears in the Contact Preview, displaying what your user could see:

If you would like to have more filters for one ESL expression in your HTML-based email, you can combine them easily. To show the value in uppercase and still have a fallback text, enter the following ESL code:

{{ Contact.1|default('friend') | upper}}

This is how it looks in the VCE editor:

This is the result what your users can see in the Contact Preview:

A little syntax recap for you:

{{ this is an expression }}
{% this is a statement %}
|this is a filter