Mass Entity Rule Possible?

[TotalChoiceNate]

Hello all!

I am working with a bit of a pain customer. When I enter certain extended characters in the MCC Storefront it either switches them with greek symbols or switches them back to a standard char set (The character in question is this special apostrophe that their style guide requires).

The support workaround for this is to type in the entity with a replace substring rule, but the way that they set it up is on an individual field basis, which on some templates can get quite long!

So, my question is a two-fold question:

• Is there a way to clean up the code below in to a single rule rather than having a separate line for each character?
• Is there a way to do this as a global replace substring rule versus having to list each field on its own line?

Code in question:

//The end-user needs to enter in entity values to access special characters. However the following is necessary as MCC tries to "help"
//in converting entities. The following replace substring will fix the "help" provided so that you can actually return the entity typed in.
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Date and Time Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Date and Time Information"),"&","&"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Event Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Event Information"),"&","&"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 1 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 1 Information"),"&","&"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 2 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 2 Information"),"&","&"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 3 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 3 Information"),"&","&"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 4 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 4 Information"),"&","&"),true);

FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Date and Time Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Date and Time Information"),"&rsquor","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Event Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Event Information"),"&rsquor","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 1 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 1 Information"),"&rsquor","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 2 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 2 Information"),"&rsquor","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 3 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 3 Information"),"&rsquor","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 4 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 4 Information"),"&rsquor","’"),true);

FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Date and Time Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Date and Time Information"),"'","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Event Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Event Information"),"'","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 1 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 1 Information"),"'","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 2 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 2 Information"),"'","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 3 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 3 Information"),"'","’"),true);
FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable("Direction 4 Information",ReplaceSubstring(Field("Direction 4 Information"),"'","’"),true);

[step]

I think this might work:

// An object of values to find as the keys,
// and the string to replace them with as the value.
var charMap = {
// Find      : Replace
   "&"   : "&",
   "&rsquor" : "’",
   "'"       : "’",
}

// Loop through all of the fields.
for (var field in FusionPro.Fields) {
  // Loop through all of the find/replace values for current field.
  for (var find in charMap) {
    var replace = charMap[find];
    FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable(field,
      ReplaceSubstring(Field(field), find, replace), true);
  }
}

[TotalChoiceNate]

Thanks for the reply, in your code which of the values do I need to replace with names from my template, if any?

[Dan Korn]

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

Thanks for the reply, in your code which of the values do I need to replace with names from my template, if any?

None. That's the beauty of the "for (var field in FusionPro.Fields)" code; it just iterates through all of the fields in the data, whatever their names are.

Although, I think there's a way to fix at least part of the problem (entities such as "&" in the output) without doing that. I suspect that these "extended" characters are showing up correctly when the data fields are used directly in text frames in your job, and that the problem is related to when you're calling the Field function in rules. So if you replace the Field calls in your other rules with TaggedDataField, and possibly check the "Treat returned strings as tagged text" box in those rules as well, I think that will prevent the entities from appearing in your output.

As for why MarcomCentral inserts "straight" quotes instead of "curly" quotes, that's a question for the MarcomCentral forum.

[TotalChoiceNate]

That's correct, this rule appears to be the perfect solution, but I'm not sure it is seaching the fields to replace characters as nothing is changing. Normally these quotes are used to specify an Alumni year and by using the class year as its own field it inserts the apostrophe fine (see below)

if (Field("Class Year") == "")
	return "";
else
	return ' ’'+Field("Class Year");

But once they type the custom text (same characters) in to a storefront field it breaks. I replaced the rule within the template to what I have below and it doesn't seem to be working.

// An object of values to find as the keys,
// and the string to replace them with as the value.
var charMap = {
// Find      : Replace
   "’":"’",
   "’":"'",
   "¼":"¼",
   "½":"½",
   "¾":"¾",
   "—":"–",
   "—":"—",
}

// Loop through all of the fields.
for (var field in FusionPro.Fields) {
  // Loop through all of the find/replace values for current field.
  for (var find in charMap) {
    var replace = charMap[find];
    FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable(field,
      ReplaceSubstring(Field(field), find, replace), true);
  }
}

Just so I understand correctly, I should replace the red text with "TaggedDataField"? Currently this is the only rule that I have in the template and is an OnRecordStart callback which doesn't give me the option to treated returned strings as tagged text.

[lance]

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

That's correct, this rule appears to be the perfect solution, but I'm not sure it is seaching the fields to replace characters as nothing is changing. Normally these quotes are used to specify an Alumni year and by using the class year as its own field it inserts the apostrophe fine (see below)

if (Field("Class Year") == "")
	return "";
else
	return ' ’'+Field("Class Year");

But once they type the custom text (same characters) in to a storefront field it breaks. I replaced the rule within the template to what I have below and it doesn't seem to be working.

// An object of values to find as the keys,
// and the string to replace them with as the value.
var charMap = {
// Find      : Replace
   "’":"’",
   "’":"'",
   "¼":"¼",
   "½":"½",
   "¾":"¾",
   "—":"–",
   "—":"—",
}

// Loop through all of the fields.
for (var field in FusionPro.Fields) {
  // Loop through all of the find/replace values for current field.
  for (var find in charMap) {
    var replace = charMap[find];
    FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable(field,
      ReplaceSubstring(Field(field), find, replace), true);
  }
}

Just so I understand correctly, I should replace the red text with "TaggedDataField"? Currently this is the only rule that I have in the template and is an OnRecordStart callback which doesn't give me the option to treated returned strings as tagged text.

I was playing around with this, and I was getting the same issue, where nothing appeared to change. I think the problem is that as it loops through each entry in the charMap it is re-adding a variable, overwriting everything it had done up to that point (i.e. the changes aren't cumulative from entry to entry). So really all it is doing is a ReplaceSubstring() on the very last entry in the charMap. If that entry doesn't result in a change, then it appears as nothing has changed. I think.

[TotalChoiceNate]

Are you able to move the thread to the MarcomCentral forum or should I create new?

[Dan Korn]

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

That's correct, this rule appears to be the perfect solution, but I'm not sure it is seaching the fields to replace characters as nothing is changing.

What specifically is not changing? How is the data being brought into the template? Does it simply call out the data field in the text? Or is there another rule involved?

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

But once they type the custom text (same characters) in to a storefront field it breaks. I replaced the rule within the template to what I have below and it doesn't seem to be working.

It's getting hard to analyze specifically what's going on in your template just from what's been posted in this thread. At the very least, seeing what your output looks like could be helpful. The collected template would probably be more illuminating. Though a full analysis of the issue may only be possible by going through Support so that I (or someone else here at MarcomCentral) could fully examine the files being used for the composition. It could be a font issue, or something else that needs to be fixed in a different way.

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

Just so I understand correctly, I should replace the red text with "TaggedDataField"?

No. When I said, "replace the Field calls in your other rules with TaggedDataField," I meant, any other rules besides OnRecordStart.

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

Currently this is the only rule that I have in the template

Okay. So you mean those data field values are being brought in directly in text frames? In that case, you shouldn't really need to do anything. FusionPro should properly process those entities in the tagged markup data that MarcomCentral is generating.

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

and is an OnRecordStart callback which doesn't give me the option to treated returned strings as tagged text.

Right. The OnRecordStart rule doesn't actually return anything that affects the composition, so the option of whether to treat the return value as tagged is moot.

The way you're telling FusionPro whether to treat the value as tagged is in that last parameter in the call to FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable. Setting it to true is equivalent to having a rule with the same name as the first parameter (the variable name) and checking that "Treat as tagged" box. Setting it to false is the same as leaving that box unchecked.

Originally Posted by TotalChoiceNate

Are you able to move the thread to the MarcomCentral forum or should I create new?

You could create a new thread there just about the question about how MarcomCentral inserts the quotes into the data file it generates. This thread can be continued though.

[step]

Oh okay, thank you for attaching your collected template. I see what you're saying. Well this is kind of awkward. After I posted that whole missive about how "AddVariable" works, it turns out I don't know how it works.

I think this will give you the results you're looking for, though: Redefine the "Field" function and do the find/replace within it so that calls to the "Field" function within rules return the desired value. Then in your OnRecordStart callback loop through all of the fields, and set their values to the result of the "Field" function which will perform the find/replace on fields inserted directly into text frames.

JavaScript Globals:

Field = function(str) {
    var res = FusionPro.Fields[str] || '';
  
    // An object of values to find as the keys, and the string to replace them with as the value.
    var charMap = {
        // find     : replace
        "first"     : "FIRST",
        "last"      : "LAST",
    }

    // Loop through all of the find/replace values for current field.
    for (var find in charMap) {
        var replace = charMap[find];
        res = ReplaceSubstring(res, find, replace);
    }

    return res;
}

OnRecordStart:

// Loop through all of the fields.
for (var field in FusionPro.Fields)
    FusionPro.Composition.AddVariable(field, Field(field), true);