Using Database Fields

Professional Version Only

Inserting database fields into a message means that the appropriate data for the member will be substituted for the field name. In other words, you could select the First Name field from the field list as a salutation, creating something like:

When the email is generated, the system will substitute "John" for "<<First Name>>" when generating the email address for John.

Adding Fields to a Message

1	With the email message tab displayed, select the Fields checkbox to display the field list.

2	Place the cursor where the field should go, and then click the field name in the list. The field name will appear in the message.

Note: Custom fields will only appear in this list if they have been defined as available to be used in Email.

Preventing Blank Lines

There are situations where telling the system to "delete the line" when the only thing on it is blank, is helpful. We cannot force the software to do this automatically though, because there are times when it wouldn't be appropriate. So this section explains how to "tell the system" what you want to do. For example, consider an address block like this:

<<Name (First/Last Name)>>
<<Address Line 1>>
<<Address Line 2>>
<<City/State/ZIP Code>>

If a record is missing data for Address Line 2, the output will show a blank line, like this:

John Smith
100 Main Street

Dallas, TX 75025

In order to prevent this, create the address block and add a leading "@" symbol ahead of any field that should get special treatment when blank, like this:

<<Name (First/Last Name)>>
@<<Address Line 1>>
@<<Address Line 2>>
@<<City/State/ZIP Code>>

The "@" symbol is never printed, but instead causes the system to effectively hit the backspace key. So if the field is the first thing on the line, the "backspace" causes it to delete the line break and jump up to the previous line. The resulting output looks like this:

John Smith
100 Main Street
Dallas, TX 75025

This trick can also be used when fields are lined up on the same line. For example:

Hello @<<First Name>>!

Becomes:

Hello John!

or if there is no first name,

Hello!