Introduction

Under the hood, the Simon custom context engine is powered by Jinja2 (specifically version 2.10.1). For additional information regarding formatters, filters, tests and global functions, please visit:

https://jinja.palletsprojects.com/en/2.10.x/

You can also view this webinar co-hosted with Scalero about Jinja best practices for some good tips:

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Templates vs. content blocks

Using &amp syntax works directly in a template but if you're trying to use it in a content block referenced in a template, then you should use & instead

Formatters

format_date(format='medium', locale=‘en_US')

Return a date formatted according to the given pattern.

Parameters

• format – Either “full”, “long”, “medium”, or “short”, or a custom date/time pattern
• locale – a locale identifier

format_datetime(format='medium', locale=‘en_US', zone=None)

Return a date (with time) formatted according to the given pattern.

Parameters

• format – Either “full”, “long”, “medium”, or “short”, or a custom date/time pattern
• locale – a locale identifier
• zone - the name of the timezone

format_time(format='medium', locale=‘en_US')

Return a time formatted according to the given pattern.

Parameters

• format – Either “full”, “long”, “medium”, or “short”, or a custom date/time pattern
• locale – a locale identifier

format_decimal(format=None, locale='en_US')

Return the given decimal number formatted for a specific locale.

Parameters

• format
• locale – a locale identifier

format_number(locale='en_US')

Return the given decimal number formatted for a specific locale.

Parameters

• locale – a locale identifier

format_currency(locale=‘en_US’, format=None, format_type=‘standard’, currency_digits=None)

Return the given number formatted for a specific locale.

Parameters

• locale – a locale identifier
• format – the format string to use
• format_type – the currency format type to use
• currency_digits – use the currency’s number of decimal digits

epoch_to_datetime(timestamp)

Return the UTC datetime corresponding to the POSIX timestamp, without information regarding the timezone.

Parameters

• timestamp – a POSIX timestamp

now(zone=None)

Return the current datetime (defaults to UTC if no timezone specified).

Parameters

• zone – a timezone name

get_timezone(zone=None)

Looks up a timezone by name and returns it.

Parameters

• zone –name of the timezone to look up

Filters

abs

Return the absolute value of the argument.

add_seconds(n)

Adds n seconds to the date

add_minutes(n)

Adds n minutes to the date

add_hours(n)

Adds n hours to the date

add_days(n)

Adds n days to the date

add_weeks(n)

Adds n weeks to the date

add_months(n)

Adds n months to the date

add_years(n)

Adds n seconds to the date

batch(linecount, fill_with=None)

Returns a list of lists with the given number of items.

Parameters

• linecount – list size
• fill_with – used to fill up missing items

<ol>
    {%- for row in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] | batch(2) %}
        <li>
            <ul>
                {%- for column in row %}
                    <li>{{ column }}</li>
                {%- endfor %}
            </ul>
        <li>
    {%- endfor %}
</ol>

<ol>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>1</li>
            <li>2</li>
         </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>3</li>
            <li>4</li>
         </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>5</li>
         </ul>
    <li>
</ol>

capitalize

Capitalize the first letter of the argument.

default

If the value is undefined it will return the passed default value, otherwise the value of the variable.

dictsort(case_sensitive=False, by='key')

Sort a dict and yield (key, value) pairs. You may want to use this function because dicts are unsorted.

Parameters

• case_sensitive – defines if case matters or not
• by – order by either key or value

escape

Convert the characters &, <, >, ‘, and ” in strings to HTML-safe sequences.

first

Return the first item of a sequence.

float

Convert the value into a floating point number.

forceescape

Enforce HTML escaping.

format

Apply string formatting on an object:

groupby

Group a sequence of objects by a common attribute.

{%-
    set heroes = [
        {"name": "batman", "gender": "man"},
        {"name": "catwoman", "gender": "female"},
    ]
-%}
<ul>
    {%- for group in heroes | groupby('gender') %}
        <li>{{group.grouper}}
            <ul>
                {%- for person in group.list %}
                    <li>{{person.name}}</li>
                {%- endfor %}
            </ul>
        </li>
    {%- endfor %}
</ul>

<ul>
    <li>
        female 
        <ul>
            <li>catwoman</li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        man 
        <ul>
            <li>batman</li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ul>

int(default=0, base=10)

Convert the value into an integer.

Parameters

• default – value returned if the conversion does not work
• base – override the default base (10)

join(d=u'', attribute=None)

Return a string which is the concatenation of the strings in the sequence.

Parameters

• d – separator (empty string by default)
• attribute – if the value is an object, define the name of the attributes to join together

last

Return the last item of a sequence.

length

Return the number of items of a sequence or mapping.

list

Convert the value into a list. If it was a string the returned list will be a list of characters.

lower

Convert a value to lowercase.

map

Applies a filter on a sequence of objects.

random

Return a random item from the sequence.

reject

Filters a sequence of objects by applying a test to each object, and rejecting the objects with the test succeeding. If no test is specified, each object will be evaluated as a boolean.

slice(slices, fill_with=None)

Slice an iterator and return a list of lists containing those items.

Parameters

• slices – number of slices
• fill_with – used to fill missing values on the last iteration

<ol> 
    {%- for column in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] | slice(2) %}
        <li>
            <ul>
                {%- for item in column %}
                    <li>{{ item }}</li>
                {%- endfor %}
            </ul>
        </li>
    {%- endfor %}
</ol>

<ol>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>1</li>
            <li>2</li>
            <li>3</li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
        <ul>
            <li>4</li>
            <li>5</li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ol>

sort(reverse=False, case_sensitive=False, attribute=None):
Sort an iterable.

Parameters

• reverse – sort in descending order
• case_sensitive – controls case sensitiveness
• attribute – if the value is an object, define the name of the attributes to sort from

string

Make a string unicode if it isn’t already.

striptags

Strip SGML/XML tags and replace adjacent whitespace by one space.

subtract_seconds(n)

Subtract n seconds from the date

subtract_minutes(n)

Subtract n minutes from the date.

subtract_hours(n)

Subtract n hours from the date.

subtract_days(n)

Subtract n days from the date.

subtract_weeks(n)

Subtract n weeks from the date.

subtract_months(n)

Subtract n months from the date.

subtract_years(n)

Subtract n years from the date.

sum(attribute=None, start=0)

Returns the sum of a sequence of numbers plus the value of parameter ‘start’ (which defaults to 0). When the sequence is empty it returns start.

Parameters

• attribute – if the value is an object, define the name of the attributes to sum together
• start – sum this number with the rest of the sequence

title

Return a titlecased version of the value. I.e. words will start with uppercase letters, all remaining characters are lowercase.

truncate(length=255, killwords=False, end='...')

Return a truncated copy of the string.

Parameters

length – max length of the text
killwords – If true the filter will cut the text at length, otherwise it will discard the last word
end – customize the ellipsis text

upper

Convert a value to uppercase.

urlencode

Escape strings for use in URLs (uses UTF-8 encoding).

wordcount

Count the words in that string.

wordwrap(width=79, break_long_words=True)

Return a copy of the string passed to the filter wrapped after 79 characters.

Parameters

width – number of characters to wrap after
break_long_words – if false, will not split words apart if they are longer than width

Tests

defined

Return true if the variable is defined.

divisibleby(num)

Check if a variable is divisible by a number.

Parameters

num – number to check for

equalto(other)

Check if an object has the same value as another object.

even

Return true if the variable is even.

iterate

Check if it’s possible to iterate over an object.

lower

Return true if the variable is lowercased.

mapping

Return true if the object is a mapping (dict etc.).

none

Return true if the variable is none.

number

Return true if the variable is a number.

odd

Return true if the variable is odd.

sameas(other)

Check if an object points to the same memory address than another object.

sequence

Return true if the variable is a sequence.

string

Return true if the object is a string.

undefined

Return true if the variable is not defined.

upper

Return true if the variable is uppercased.

Global Functions

range([start, ]stop[, step])

lipsum(n=5, html=True, min=20, max=100)

dict(**items)

Other Variables

Simon makes other variables available via Custom Context to be able to be displayed in campaigns or passed as metadata for tracking purposes. These variables are not contact properties; they are created when a campaign happens.

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Operation ID in Preview or Test Send

When using the operation_id variable in either the Custom Context preview window or a test send, a dummy value is used. Since this value is generated for each operation of a flow, it does not exist for a flow in draft mode. The value will be displayed as 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.