1.8

Tip
The replace() method as used in the above example replaces only the first occurrence of the
search string. To replace every occurrence of a search string in a given string, use a regular
expression. In the following line of code, the regular expression /@product@/g makes
replace() search for all occurrences of the string @product@ in the label string:
label = label.replace(/@product@/g, record.tables.detail
[i].fields['product']);
In this example, @product@ is a pattern (to be used in a search) and g is a modifier (to
find all matches rather than stopping after the first match). For more information about
possible regular expressions, see http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_regexp.asp.
The script in this how-to: Translate and replace script uses the replace() method with a
regular expression.
Replace several placeholders in one script
Suppose there are 20 different placeholders in a postcard (for the address, account and
customer details, a promo code, the due date, discounts, a link to a personalized landing page
etc.). Typically this would require 20 queries. Even after optimizing these scripts by using an ID
as selector for those scripts, there are still 20 scripts, 20 queries to run.
If there was only one query, one single script to do all the work, the output could be generated
much faster. Reducing the number of scripts improves the performance of the template. How to
do this?
First, wrap the content that contains all of the placeholders in one (inline) Box and give that Box
or Span an ID (on the Attributes pane). Next, create a script that uses that ID as selector. Then
replace all placeholders in the script and put the content back in the template.
This is similar to working with snippets, but in this case the element is extracted from the actual
template.
Example
The following script replaces all of the placeholders on a postcard. It takes advantage of the
JavaScript replace() command. Assuming that the ID of the block that requires personalization
is promoblock, the script has to have its selector set to #promoblock.
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