Using Velocity Script to Display an Image

Follow up note/comment: I wanted to see what the image looked like in a token format and when I set it up as either an Image Token or a Text Token (no velocity script), the Preview renders the filename and no image (I’ve tried including and removing the https:// but I get the same result).

Text Token with full URL:

Preview renders the URL vs the image:

We’ve just been testing a bunch of templates with tokens and all of our images are setup like this, so I’m additionally confused as to why the basic tokens aren’t even working for me 😂

Two more updates:

1. I asked Gemini for the script from scratch (didn’t provide anything) and it gave me:

   ## Determines whether Quiz image is shown or not
   #set( $targetField = $lead.oktaneLabProfile )

   ## 2. Check if the field is empty, null, or only contains whitespace
   #if( !$targetField || $targetField.trim().isEmpty() )
     ## Display the fallback image if the field IS empty
     <img src="https://pages.okta.com/rs/855-QAH-699/images/Hero-Oktane-Identity-1072x400.png" alt="Find your Oktane identity" width="570" style="display: block; border: 0;" />
   #end

2. While this still doesn’t work if I load the token into one of our template modules for an image (I’m wondering if the code for the module is conflicting/breaking it), it works when I add an Email Script token into a standard content module.

Final solution: I used a simple content/text module in my email and added all the script tokens (essentially recreated the individual modules I had before using the script and it all works as expected). It just hit me, when talking through this with a colleague, that a Velocity Script token might simply not work in an image module? Still interested to hear what I might have done wrong, or if it is in fact, simply the type of token I’m trying to use outside of a content block 😀

Depends on what you mean by “image module” but an entire <img> tag can’t be inside a mktoImg, no.

The code is still not correct; there’s no situation where a String field on the Person can be null or false, so checking for those just hurts readability. You don’t really need to trim() it either (why would it ever be just whitespace?). All you need is the isEmpty().

​@SanfordWhiteman We have a variety of modules in our template that allow different uses for, and treatment of, images (vs putting them into a content block with text for example). I couldn’t get any of these scripts to work in there so perhaps that module doesn’t like using a VS token within it for some reason 🤷🏻

For the script, that’s what Gemini gave me and it worked in the email - I can remove trim() though if it doesn’t make sense/have any use/is redundant/will break things.

For the field I have to reference for the token, it’s one where they user/recipient gets a profile type when they fill out/complete the quiz - because there are multiple profiles, I was guided to use “Is Not Empty” because we want this information to show to people who have NOT filled out the quiz. I realize the challenge with using a null field vs a field with something specific in it (I’m not sure if those profiles are set buckets or if a recipient can generate a new one based on their information in the quiz)  😬

Gemini, like all current AI models, doesn’t actually understand Velocity in the Marketo context. (That’s also why some people/bots have been posting garbage suggestions here recently.)

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using a String field.  The point I was making above was that in Velocity, !$whatever matches if the variable $whatever has either the Boolean value false or the reserved value null. Neither of these will ever be the case with a String field on the Person in Marketo — there is absolutely no way for that to match. Therefore it’s just wasting resources and making the code confusing.

A String field can technically have only whitespace characters, which means it won’t match isEmpty(). Some people might think to trim() all the time. But it’s overkill as it’s vanishingly unlikely any app would end up putting only spaces in a field. Not impossible, but if you’re always adding trim() it’s doing more harm than good IMO. Besides, if you’re worried about whitespace-only strings, you should trim all the fields in one place, like go over every string field on $lead and trim it:

#foreach( $entry in $lead.entrySet() )
#set( $key = $entry.getKey() )
#set( $val = $entry.getValue() )
#if( $val.class.name.equals("java.lang.String") )
#set( $lead[$key] = $val.trim() )
#end
#end