Email Placeholder Stopped Working

Certainly is an odd one. 

I'll think on it.

Are there other placeholders that work

Here's the (rather long) recipe from my CMSB Cookbook http://www.thecmsbcookbook.com that addresses variables in a text box just in case it helps.

INCLUDING VARIABLES IN THE CONTENTS OF A TEXT BOX

User zip222 wanted to include a variable in a text box field so that the contents of the textbox could be customized.

Here’s what Jason Sauchuk from Interactive Tools suggested:

Welcome to the Online Student Log-in for the *school_name* This section of our website provides links...

You can then replace *school_name* when you are outputting your content.

(Note: In this example, we're assuming that the values for *school name* is in an editor called  "school_record" and the
text field is a field called "content" in a table called" your_table".)

For a list page:
_____ code ________________________________________________    

<?php echo str_replace('*school_name*',$schoolRecord['title'],$record['content']);?>

__________________________________________________________


For a detail page the code would change to:
_____ code ________________________________________________    

<?php echo str_replace('*school_name*',$schoolRecord['title'],$your_tableRecord['content']);?>

__________________________________________________________

Jason explained: 

In this code, the sub string *school_name* is replaced in the string $record['content'] with the variable
$schoolRecord['title'] 
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

Another way to look at this is:

If you place a variable called *var1* in a target text box field called target_field in a table called target_table

And your source for *var1* is in a text box field called source_field in a table called source_table

Then the code in the body of the viewer where you want to display the composite would be:

 _____ code ________________________________________________

<?php echo str_replace('*var1*',$source_tableRecord['source_field'],$target_tableRecord['target_field']);?>

__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

Another scenario:

The detail page for a series of event listings contained a PayPal payment link that redirected to a thank you page after
successful payment.

In my thank you page I wanted the text field to include the name of the event that was paid for.

I inserted *var1* in my thank you pages' target text field as above and inserted the above code in the body of my thank
you page.  

Then, I added: 
NOTE: 

 _____ code ________________________________________________

?<?php echo $source_tableRecord['num'] ?>%23
__________________________________________________________

to the return URL in my PayPal button code. The %23 (URL-encoding for #) inserts a # after the record number that
separates the transaction data (if any) from the record number so it will render correctly,  (of course with my own
source_table name inserted) 
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

And another scenario:
I had a series of variables that I wanted to insert in the thank you page above, and some of them were dependent. IE
they shouldn't show unless there was data in a specific field.
For example, if there was no special venue for an event, I didn't want to show the special venue name, address, or
warning in the thank you page.

With some help from Jason Sauchuk from Interactive Tools, here's what I came up with.
In the viewer:
 _____ code ________________________________________________

<?php   
 
$event_start_date =  date("l, M jS, Y", strtotime($learning_centerRecord['event_start_date'])) ; 
  
 $special_location = ""; 
if (@$learning_centerRecord['special_event_location_name']) { 
  $special_location = "<b>Special Location: ".$learning_centerRecord['special_event_location_name']."</b>\n"."<br
/>\n".$learning_centerRecord['special_event_location_address']."<br />\n";
}  
 
$placeHolders = array("*var1*", "*var2*", "*var3*", "*var4*", "*var5*", "*var6*" );  
$replaceWith  = array($learning_centerRecord['event_title'], $learning_centerRecord['event_fee'], $event_start_date,
$learning_centerRecord['event_times'], $learning_centerRecord['event_description'], $special_location);   
    
echo str_replace($placeHolders, $replaceWith, $common_informationRecord['learning_center_thank_you_1']);   
?>
__________________________________________________________

And in the Text Field ('learning_center_thank_you_1)

NOTES: The the ."<br />\n" after Special Location:puts that text on its own line on the finished page. The <br /> after
the special_event_location_name is because the address is a multi line entry. The extra ."<br />\n" at the end allows
you to remove the blank line after *var6* below, and have it appear only when there's a "special_event_location_name"

 _____ code ________________________________________________

Congratulations, you're all signed up for <b>"*var1*"</b>  
on <b>*var3*, from *var4*</b>  
*var6* 
We suggest that you arrive at least 15 minutes early so that you can get to know some of the other attendees.  
  
Here's a copy of the description of this event.  
  
*var5*

See you there...
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

Another scenario:

I used this approach to insert a link and an image called "image1" from a single record editor called "graphics" in a
text box called "content" in the table "my_table" with the following code.

In the contents of the text box where I wanted the link to appear, I inserted:

 _____ code ________________________________________________    

<a href="my_URL.com/my_page.php"><img src="*variable*"></a>
__________________________________________________________

And in the page code for my list page (in the foreach loop)

 _____ code ________________________________________________    

<?php $myImage = $graphicsRecords[0]['image1'][0]; ?>  
       <?php echo str_replace('*variable*',$myImage['thumbUrlPath'],$record['content']);?>
__________________________________________________________

And for my detail page.

 _____ code ________________________________________________    

 <?php $myImage = $graphicsRecords[0]['image1'][0]; ?> 
      <?php echo str_replace('*variable*',$myImage['thumbUrlPath'],$my_tableRecord['content']);?>
__________________________________________________________

Don't forget to include load records calls for both editors at the top of your viewers
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

I asked Jason how to include more than one variable (text, links or images) in the same text box and he said:

str_replace is a php function (http://ca3.php.net/str_replace) that searches for one string inside another and replaces
all instances of that string.

So, if you want to be able to insert more than 1 piece of text into a string, you'll need more placeholders (*var1*,
*var2*, *var3*, etc). The actual name of the placeholder is irrelevant, but you should choose something that is unlikely
to appear naturally in the text.

You can also use arrays with str_replace. For example:

 _____ code ________________________________________________

<?php 
  
 $placeHolders = array("*var1*", "*var2*", "*var3*"); 
 $replaceWith  = array($link1, $image1, $link2); 
  
 echo str_replace($placeHolders, $replaceWith, $record['content']); 
?>
__________________________________________________________

In this example, str_replace will look in $record['content'] and replace all instances of *var1* with $link1, all
instances of *var2* with $image1, and all instances of *var3* with $link2.

Best,

Jerry Kornbluth

Hi, Gerry -

Thanks for your input. The other email placeholders are fine. It's just #server.http_host# that has stopped working.

It's not important - I just want to know why?!

I thought this placeholder was hardwired into the CMSB code - which suggest there's something else going on that perhaps I should be aware of.

:0/

Perch

Hi, Claire -

I think it's stopped completely. Other placeholders are working fine.

Curiously, I have an identical copy of the same site on the same server. In that instance the placeholder is correctly!

What could have affected it?

I'm just worried it could be a sign of something more serious.

:0(

Perch

I'd definitely recommend checking your server to see if anything has changed. Maybe ask your host if they've made any updates?