How to do I make varibles from patterns in a field

[MeanMike]

I have a field where the user can input text and I want them to be able to insert tags like

or

I want to use the tags as variables so I when I run a script I want to it to look for all the tags and process each of them and at the same time substitute them for something else.

anyone know if this is possible /how to make this happen?

[dansmith65]

I have seen a system which uses merge fields in a text field that a user can modify, then a script replaces the merge fields with the data from those fields. The problem with this is if a field name is changed, then all the links are broken.

For example, the user could enter:

Dear, <> <>

Here is my really long letter to you...

and the script would replace <> and <> with the value of a field named NameLast and NameSalutation (if it existed)

If you're interested in that system let me know, I'll dig up the info on it.

[bcooney]

see Bruce's demo:

http://fmforums.com/forum/showpost.php?post/367782/