Substitutions not working #676

panayi · 2018-04-10T10:51:48Z

Issue Summary

Followed the example for using substitutions in transactional emails, without making any changes. The substitution tags are removed, but the text is not inserted. Here is a screenshot of the email I receive:

Steps to Reproduce

Clone https://github.com/panayi/test-sg/
Copy the template body from the example and create a transactional template on SendGrid UI.
Edit test.js to insert your API key, your email address, and templateId you created above.
Run node test.js.

Technical details:

sendgrid-nodejs Version: @sendgrid/[email protected]
Node.js Version: 8.6.0

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

thinkingserious · 2018-04-10T18:43:22Z

Hello @panayi,

Some things to check:

Verify the Template ID is correct
Verify the Template is marked active in the UI

Can you also share what your HTML looks like?

Thanks!

With Best Regards,

Elmer

tjstlekr · 2018-05-22T06:50:32Z

Hello, @thinkingserious , I was able to reproduce the same issue as @panayi mentioned.
My Html code looks something like this

Hello first_name (Employee : employee_id)
Some HTML code

Code

sgMail.setApiKey('apikey');
sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers('{{', '}}'); // Triied sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers('-', '-'); as well`

const msg = {
  to: '[email protected]',
  from: '[email protected]',
  subject: 'Hello world',
  text: 'Hello plain world!',
  html: 'Hello HTML world!',
  templateId: 'template-id',
  substitutions: {
    first_name: 'Tejas',
    employee_id: 'emp123',
  },
};
sgMail.send(msg);

Note: I've even tried using substitutionWrappers: ['{{', '}}']
within msg but with no luck.

Technical details:

sendgrid-nodejs Version: @sendgrid/[email protected]
Node.js Version: 8.10.0

Any Help/Fix Appreciated as I've invested much time in this issue

thinkingserious · 2018-05-22T17:14:07Z

Hello @tjstlekr,

In your HTML code, please change first_name to {{first_name}} and employee_id to {{employee_id}}.

Thanks!

With Best Regards,

Elmer

tjstlekr · 2018-05-23T05:38:08Z

Hello @thinkingserious,
By HTML code, Do you mean the template code?
Why is it that the substitution tag would work fine when specified within request body here, But not when using the predefined examples on the page?
Thanks!

thinkingserious · 2018-05-23T16:24:35Z

Yes @tjstlekr, I mean the template code as described in this example.

I can not answer your second question without concrete examples. (e.g. request body and template code).

With Best Regards,

Elmer

tjstlekr · 2018-05-24T06:20:55Z

Sadly! I do not have access to the template code. I'll stick with another version.
Thanks anyways @thinkingserious

thinkingserious · 2018-05-25T03:02:36Z

Have you tried:

substitutions: {
    'first_name': 'Tejas',
    'employee_id': 'emp123',
  },

tjstlekr · 2018-05-27T11:33:26Z

Yes, @thinkingserious tried that. I have also tried the following ways


substitutions: {
    '-first_name-': 'Tejas',
    '-employee_id-': 'emp123',
  },

substitutions: {
    '%first_name%': 'Tejas',
    '%employee_id%': 'emp123',
  },

substitutions: {
    '=first_name=': 'Tejas',
    '=employee_id'=: 'emp123',
  },

thinkingserious · 2018-05-30T03:16:17Z

@tjstlekr,

I think your solution is to get whoever can change the HTML template code to wrap the variables with a substitution character(s).

With Best Regards,

Elmer

mckenzieja · 2018-06-21T19:32:36Z

@thinkingserious is correct. The template variables MUST be wrapped in double brackets {{name}}. Otherwise SendGrid wont know where to drop the substitutions you've sent.

tetreault · 2018-06-26T18:09:27Z

the variables really need double brackets? i'll go ahead and try it but a different post by the same person showed the substitutions working with dashes, not double brackets:

thinkingserious · 2018-06-27T00:28:10Z

Hello @tetreault,

By default we use double brackets. setSubstitutionWrappers allows you to modify them as you demonstrated.

Thanks!

With Best Regards,

Elmer

hangindev · 2018-07-24T10:29:34Z

I've encountered the same issue as @panayi .

I followed the transactional-templates sample. I've set substitution wrappers and in the template, wrapped substitutions in double brackets. However, the email I received had removed all substitutions without replacing with those I provided.

I tried with both Code editor and Design editor for the template.

Technical details:

sendgrid-nodejs both Version: @sendgrid/[email protected] and Version: @sendgrid/[email protected]
Node.js Version: 8.11.2

Thanks!

thinkingserious · 2018-07-24T20:58:51Z

Hi @nrator,

If the substitutions were replaced with blank strings, I'd double check that the variables you are iterating on are not empty. If you do verify they are not empty, could you please share the code snippit along with the relevant HTML so I can try and reproduce?

Thanks!

With Best Regards,

Elmer

hangindev · 2018-07-25T01:49:37Z

Hi @thinkingserious

I am not using variables but string so they are not empty. Below are the code snippet, HTML and the result I got:

Code

const sgMail = require("@sendgrid/mail");
sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);
sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers("{{", "}}"); // Configure the substitution tag wrappers globally

const msg = {
  from: "[email protected]", // my personal email
  to: "[email protected]", // my another personal email
  subject: "Hello world",
  text: "Hello plain world!",
  html: "<p>Hello HTML world!</p>",
  templateId: "d-27e7d954368c46519eddc806e5cf8156",
  substitutions: {
    name: "Some One",
    city: "Denver"
  }
};

  sgMail.send(msg).catch(err => console.error(err.message));

HTML template

<html>
<head>
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
Hello {{name}},
<br /><br/>
I'm glad you are trying out the template feature!
<br /><br/>
<%body%>
<br /><br/>
I hope you are having a great day in {{city}} :)
<br /><br/>
</body>
</html>

Email I got

Hello , 

I'm glad you are trying out the template feature! 

<%body%> 

I hope you are having a great day in :)

Technical details
sendgrid-nodejs Version: @sendgrid/[email protected]
Node.js Version: 8.11.2

Best regards,
Jason

himanshupnt · 2018-07-25T03:15:07Z

Hi I am having the same issue with transactional templates. The variables won't pickup. Using test data to preview the template in SG dashboard, everything looks correct.
Emails get sent to the right person, and with the correct template except, missing variable values.
I created a legacy template 2 days back which worked fine and today I switched to newer
transactional templates and it doesn't work. I just duplicated the old legacy template which was
working fine.
"@sendgrid/mail": "6.3.1" | Node.js 8.10
Here is my code :

async function sendEmail({ email, firstName, password }) {
  const msg = {
    to: [{ email, firstName }],
    from: {
      email: "[email protected]",
      name: "name"
    },
    asm: {
      group_id: 1234
    },
    templateId: "d-64b15a042b2d41d7a4b5b6a4eea649c5",
    substitutions: {
      userName: firstName,
      email,
      password
    }
  }
  try {
    await sgMail.send(msg);
  } catch(e){
    e.message
  }

  };

And here is the html template :

<h3>Hi {{userName}},</h3>

<div><span style="font-size:16px;">Your account has been setup. To login please use</span></div>

<div><span style="font-size:16px;">the credentials below.</span></div>

<div>&nbsp;</div>

<div><span style="font-size:16px;"><strong>Email:</strong>&nbsp;{{email}}</span></div>

<div><strong><span style="font-size:16px;">Password:&nbsp;</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;">{{password}}</span></div>

<div><span style="font-weight: 600; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 16px;">SignIn Url: <a href="https://a.abc.com">https://a.abc.com/</a></span></span></div>

<div>&nbsp;</div>

<div>&nbsp;</div>

<div><span style="font-size:16px;">Please let us know if you need any help, email us at <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></span></div>

Cheers

himanshupnt · 2018-07-25T03:35:43Z

I just switched over to the legacy template with same html code and it works. Can it be due to new changes in V3 API?

hangindev · 2018-07-25T03:40:46Z

Hi, after reading @himanshupnt 's comment, I tested with a legacy template and it worked. Thanks @himanshupnt .

Later I found Sendgrid documentation Mail Send with Dynamic Transactional Templates, I've kind of got the new template (not legacy one) working. I used the same HTML template and my code was updated to:

  const sgMail = require("@sendgrid/mail");
  sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);
  sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers("{{", "}}"); // Configure the substitution tag wrappers globally

  const msg = {
    from: "[email protected]",
    templateId: "d-27e7d954368c46519eddc806e5cf8156",
    personalizations: [
      {
        to: [
          {
            email: "[email protected]"
          }
        ],
        dynamic_template_data: {
          name: "Someone",
          city: "Somewhere",
          subject: "Hello new world"
        }
      }
    ]
  };

  sgMail.send(msg).catch(err => console.error(err.message));

Notice that I replaced "substitutions" with "dynamic_template_data", and placed "to" inside "personalizations" as required by the docs. And I also treated subject as one of the "dynamic_template_data" and it works. (put {{subject}} in the template subject field)

Thanks.

himanshupnt · 2018-07-25T03:44:23Z

@nrator That did it for me as well. Thanks for posting it!

thidasapankaja · 2018-07-25T08:13:13Z

I'm having the same problem and I opened an issue as well (After trying out solutions mentioned at the beginning). However I was able to add name and city to the template following mentioned by @nrator . But was unable to replace <%subject%> and <%body%> as they are included in the email which I receive . How can I replace <%body%> and <%subject%> ? @himanshupnt how did you solve this?

hangindev · 2018-07-25T08:48:10Z

Hi @pankaja92 , I couldn't get <%subject%> working as well. Now my way of dealing subject is treating it as one of the "dynamic_template_data", which means I wrap it in {{ }} instead of <% %> and handle it inside "dynamic_template_data".

I've found this sendgrid docs which may help. The subject param doesn't seem working though.

thidasapankaja · 2018-07-25T09:20:45Z

@nrator Thanks . It worked. So, there' no need of <%body%> as well right (as it also won't work as the example given) .

Btw, not the issue specific - but, do you have any experience or example to send a list of details via this library ? I'm looking for something that might help me to build my app :)

hangindev · 2018-07-25T09:40:33Z

@pankaja92 I am not sure what do you mean by sending a list of details. You may read this sendgrid blog post about new features of the dynamic templates, basically you can now iterate over lists of items or use basic conditionals to generate dynamic contents.

For actual codes, you may refer to this repo.

Hope it helps!

jayprado · 2018-07-25T10:07:39Z

Hi all, spent a few hours on this issue as well.

Instead of using substitutions, use dynamicTemplateData in the main msg object instead:

const sgMail = require('@sendgrid/mail')

sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY)
sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers('{{', '}}')

const msg = {
  to: '[email protected]',
  from: '[email protected]',
  templateId: 'd-27e7d954368c46519eddc806e5cf8156',
  dynamicTemplateData: {
    name: 'Some One',
    city: 'Denver',
  },
}

sgMail.send(msg)

Reference: #691

According to that PR, when the templateId is a dynamic template (prefixed with d-), the substitutions isn't sent at all, so the dynamicTemplateData object should be used.

They've created an issue here to improve the add dynamic templates usage to the docs, but until then I hope this helps. 🎉

thinkingserious · 2018-07-25T20:48:10Z

Please follow this issue: #703

jseyfert · 2018-12-06T18:51:42Z

change 'substitutions' to 'dynamic_template_data'

aroach · 2018-12-06T22:21:08Z

@jseyfert shouldn't it be dynamic_template_data?

jseyfert · 2018-12-07T02:56:17Z

@aroach you are correct. I have updated my comment.

roymilder · 2018-12-11T11:14:54Z

At first it didn't work on my side either.
I've noticed that my version was a bit out of date (I was using @sendgrid/[email protected])
I've updated the package, change my code and now it is working:

using @sendgrid/[email protected]

const result = await this.sgMail.send({
                personalizations: [{
                    to: this._to
                }],
                dynamicTemplateData: {
                    test: 'test' <== working (code in template: {{ test }})
                },
                templateId: this._templateId,
            });

I should note that the code below is not working:

const result = await this.sgMail.send({
                personalizations: [{
                    to: this._to,
                dynamicTemplateData: {
                    test: 'test' <== NOT working (code in template: {{ test }})
                }
                }],
                templateId: this._templateId,
            });

aroach · 2018-12-11T21:47:22Z

Yep, you need to use v6.3.1 for dynamic_template_data support.

…

On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 4:15 AM Roy Milder ***@***.***> wrote: At first it didn't work on my side either. I've noticed that my version was a bit out of date (I was using @***@***.***) I've updated the package, change my code and now it is working: using @***@***.*** const result = await this.sgMail.send({ personalizations: [{ to: this._to }], dynamicTemplateData: { test: 'test' <== working (code in template: {{ test }}) }, templateId: this._templateId, }); — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#676 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACL-sjFRFP8txUETNWFVLs0chW5yyL1Nks5u35OzgaJpZM4TOB5l> .

ghost · 2019-01-11T06:44:52Z

Hi, do not forget
not create transactional template, create legacy template and make a copy of it.
then every steps that you do gonna work.

darren-dev · 2019-03-19T13:52:23Z

dynamicTemplateData

Works for me. I have the latest version of the SendGrid library, and am using it through Firebase (Functions). The main issue now is the lack of TypeScript support - and the documentation.

OleksiiM · 2019-06-11T21:01:59Z

@roymilder , thank you so much. Your answer made my day - the substitutions for dynamic templates are very unclear.
Kudos!

thinkingserious · 2019-06-12T16:57:35Z

Hello @OleksiiM,

Does this example help?

@darren-dev,

Thanks for helping out! With regards to lack of TypeScript support and documentation, are you referring to the Firebase side?

@uups,

Thanks for helping out!

With Best Regards,

Elmer

OleksiiM · 2019-06-12T17:12:40Z

@thinkingserious, yes it does. Thank you.

thinkingserious · 2019-06-12T17:31:45Z

@OleksiiM,

Where did you look first? I'm trying to figure out how to make sure folks who need to use dynamic templates go to the link I sent you first.

OleksiiM · 2019-06-12T20:59:33Z

@thinkingserious
Started here.

It says:
"Sending Transactional Templates
You can send transactional templates using one of three ways:
Using the SMTP Relay
Including the template ID in the templates parameter of the Web API v3 Mail Send endpoint
Using the x-smtpapi parameter in the Web API v2 Mail Send endpoint"

So I jumped to "Including the template ID in the templates parameter of the Web API v3 Mail Send endpoint".

Why it was unclear:
last page shows the list of possible "Request body parameters" which is showing the template_id but says nothing about "dynamic_template_data" field. I have tried to go with "personalizations" + "substitutions" + "template_id" and it did not work.
Also, since I am a new Sendgrid user, I was not aware of "old" templates and "new" (dynamic) templates and the difference between them (sendgrid doc pages from above are not saying anything about that).

Thank you for asking and making the docs better. I hope that other folks will avoid this type of troubles.

roymilder · 2019-06-13T07:00:55Z

@thinkingserious if I may add:
I'm currently using these docs: https://sendgrid.com/docs/API_Reference/api_v3.html

The instructions on sending e-mail (https://sendgrid.api-docs.io/v3.0/mail-send) do not mention dynamic_template_data at all in personalizations.

So that is unclear as well.

Hope it helps!

thinkingserious · 2019-06-14T04:05:22Z

@Whatthefoxsays ^^

Thanks @OleksiiM & @roymilder! We appreciate your contributions back to the Twilio SendGrid community :)

Travotics · 2019-06-15T14:53:58Z

Hi all, spent a few hours on this issue as well.

Instead of using substitutions, use dynamicTemplateData in the main msg object instead:
const sgMail = require('@sendgrid/mail')

sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY)
sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers('{{', '}}')

const msg = {
  to: '[email protected]',
  from: '[email protected]',
  templateId: 'd-27e7d954368c46519eddc806e5cf8156',
  dynamicTemplateData: {
    name: 'Some One',
    city: 'Denver',
  },
}

sgMail.send(msg)
Reference: #691

According to that PR, when the templateId is a dynamic template (prefixed with d-), the substitutions isn't sent at all, so the dynamicTemplateData object should be used.

They've created an issue here to improve the add dynamic templates usage to the docs, but until then I hope this helps. 🎉

Hustling since 2 days I saw this and got this to work.

thinkingserious · 2019-06-15T15:27:23Z

Hello @Travotics,

What documentation did you start with before you found the above? I'm trying to improve this experience. Thanks!

With Best Regards,

Elmer

CoreyCole · 2019-08-21T22:27:32Z

@thinkingserious https://github.com/sendgrid/sendgrid-nodejs/blob/master/use-cases/kitchen-sink.md

Does not have dynamicTemplateData but it does have substitutionWrappers and substitutions.

In addition to updating the docs, it would also be a good idea to update the type interface MailData (https://github.com/sendgrid/sendgrid-nodejs/blob/master/packages/helpers/classes/mail.d.ts#L117). For @sendgrid/mail releases that don't support the substitutions, they should expect a V2MailData parameter that has the substititons and substitutionWrappers fields omitted.

dmclavel · 2020-04-19T10:59:03Z

Hi, after reading @himanshupnt 's comment, I tested with a legacy template and it worked. Thanks @himanshupnt .

Later I found Sendgrid documentation Mail Send with Dynamic Transactional Templates, I've kind of got the new template (not legacy one) working. I used the same HTML template and my code was updated to:
  const sgMail = require("@sendgrid/mail");
  sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);
  sgMail.setSubstitutionWrappers("{{", "}}"); // Configure the substitution tag wrappers globally

  const msg = {
    from: "[email protected]",
    templateId: "d-27e7d954368c46519eddc806e5cf8156",
    personalizations: [
      {
        to: [
          {
            email: "[email protected]"
          }
        ],
        dynamic_template_data: {
          name: "Someone",
          city: "Somewhere",
          subject: "Hello new world"
        }
      }
    ]
  };

  sgMail.send(msg).catch(err => console.error(err.message));
Notice that I replaced "substitutions" with "dynamic_template_data", and placed "to" inside "personalizations" as required by the docs. And I also treated subject as one of the "dynamic_template_data" and it works. (put {{subject}} in the template subject field)

Thanks.

Thank you so much for this! I've spent considerable time debugging for this. :/

thinkingserious added type: question question directed at the library status: help wanted requesting help from the community difficulty: unknown or n/a fix is unknown in difficulty labels Apr 10, 2018

thidasapankaja mentioned this issue Jul 25, 2018

Substitutions don't work in the given example #704

Closed

thinkingserious closed this as completed Jul 25, 2018

mi-mazouz mentioned this issue Aug 9, 2018

Substitutions not working #725

Closed

sendgrid locked as resolved and limited conversation to collaborators May 15, 2020

Substitutions not working #676

Substitutions not working #676

Comments

panayi commented Apr 10, 2018

Issue Summary

Steps to Reproduce

Technical details:

thinkingserious commented Apr 10, 2018

tjstlekr commented May 22, 2018 • edited Loading

thinkingserious commented May 22, 2018

tjstlekr commented May 23, 2018

thinkingserious commented May 23, 2018

tjstlekr commented May 24, 2018

thinkingserious commented May 25, 2018

tjstlekr commented May 27, 2018

thinkingserious commented May 30, 2018

mckenzieja commented Jun 21, 2018

tetreault commented Jun 26, 2018

thinkingserious commented Jun 27, 2018

hangindev commented Jul 24, 2018

thinkingserious commented Jul 24, 2018

hangindev commented Jul 25, 2018 • edited Loading

himanshupnt commented Jul 25, 2018 • edited Loading

himanshupnt commented Jul 25, 2018

hangindev commented Jul 25, 2018 • edited Loading

himanshupnt commented Jul 25, 2018

thidasapankaja commented Jul 25, 2018

hangindev commented Jul 25, 2018

thidasapankaja commented Jul 25, 2018

hangindev commented Jul 25, 2018

jayprado commented Jul 25, 2018 • edited Loading

thinkingserious commented Jul 25, 2018

jseyfert commented Dec 6, 2018 • edited Loading

aroach commented Dec 6, 2018

jseyfert commented Dec 7, 2018

roymilder commented Dec 11, 2018 • edited Loading

aroach commented Dec 11, 2018 via email

ghost commented Jan 11, 2019 • edited by ghost Loading

darren-dev commented Mar 19, 2019

OleksiiM commented Jun 11, 2019

thinkingserious commented Jun 12, 2019

OleksiiM commented Jun 12, 2019

thinkingserious commented Jun 12, 2019

OleksiiM commented Jun 12, 2019

roymilder commented Jun 13, 2019

thinkingserious commented Jun 14, 2019

Travotics commented Jun 15, 2019

thinkingserious commented Jun 15, 2019

CoreyCole commented Aug 21, 2019 • edited Loading

dmclavel commented Apr 19, 2020

tjstlekr commented May 22, 2018 •

edited

Loading

hangindev commented Jul 25, 2018 •

edited

Loading

himanshupnt commented Jul 25, 2018 •

edited

Loading

hangindev commented Jul 25, 2018 •

edited

Loading

jayprado commented Jul 25, 2018 •

edited

Loading

jseyfert commented Dec 6, 2018 •

edited

Loading

roymilder commented Dec 11, 2018 •

edited

Loading

ghost commented Jan 11, 2019 •

edited by ghost

Loading

CoreyCole commented Aug 21, 2019 •

edited

Loading