3 very crucial questions regarding Apache Velocity email script tokens in an email

Question

Background: I have an email script that initializes a bunch of variables and then other smaller individual scripts that reference the initial variables. This works in the HTML email and plain text email, but there are 3 significant problems.

1. Where can I place my initial script token so that the other email scripts will populate in the subject line?

2. The initial email script token results in a lot of whitespace in the plain text version of the email. Since I have to place it at the very beginning of the email, the email has like 10 lines of whitespace at the top.

3. How do I properly create a link using an email script?

The way I have it now:

In the token:

#set ($directions = "google.com/maps/dir//Some+Place")

$directions

So here $directions is being printed — the actual link, that is.

In the HTML:

<a href="{{my.token}}">Directions</a>

The error I get in Safari: (see attachment)

SanfordWhiteman · Accepted Answer

I can output the whole thing from VTL, but only for one particular link value. For instance, if the script token outputs a value of: My Link it CANNOT ALSO output a value of say Another Link or

. It can only do one!What I'm trying to accomplish is have the email script output a link, like "$mylink" scattered around an email: sometimes being linked to a single word, another time to a full sentence, and then maybe again to an . But again, the problem I face is that if I have to include both the opening and closing anchor tags in the script itself, then the value that lies between the tags is static. Yes, you'd have to find a way to make the inner text and/or elements generated in Velocity as well. Combining VTL-contributed HTML pieces (in token/s) with end-user-contributed pieces (in the email body itself, including in variables) is difficult-to-impossible.A notable exception is using comment tokens (containing just the text ""), but that's for suppressing user content as opposed to merging VTL+user content in a functional way. Standalone text or elements from each source can be combined, of course, but trying to construct s from pieces of both is almost guaranteed to fail.

Anonymous · Answer

I've been able to fix #1 and #2, but #3 is still problematic! Any help/suggestions/followup is super, super appreciated!

For those who are interested...

#1 appeared to be a Marketo bug, because I can't trace how it was fixed.

#2 was fixed by including the initializing email script token in the subject line itself. Works like a charm.

#3 is still being a pain.

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