insert fields from database within an email?

[jjpcpanama]

I am sending emails to people in my database telling them the mailing address we have is incorrect. I want to include the "fields" that refer to that address in the email so they will see what address, city, state we were using. I cannot figure out how to insert these fields with the correct operators around them so i can have each email customized for that person in the database.

Here is a sample of the email i am sending.

DNNUserExport Converted::firstname& ":¶" &

"x organization is verifying snail mail addresses. We sent mail to this address and it was returned to us." ¶¶

DNNUserExport Converted::address1

DNNUserExport Converted::city

DNNUserExport Converted::state

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode

"Thank you very much.¶¶

¶MY Name

¶Membership Director

¶x organization

¶[email protected]

¶1966-1968"

What do i put around these fields so they get filled in with the correct field. I was successful in FM Pro 7 but am totally stuck in 11.. And i am a NOVICE..

thank you so much.

Janice

[eos]

Hi Janice,

the secret is to put nothing around the field names as opposed to the text constants.

See if this modified version works for you. You may need to fiddle a bit with the number of carriage returns.

Not sure about the final paragraph. If it's a constant, put in quotes, otherwise don't. Make sure there's always one “&”

between each bit.

DNNUserExport Converted::firstname & ":¶" &

"x organization is verifying snail mail addresses. We sent mail to this address and it was returned to us.¶¶" &

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::city & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::state & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode & "¶"

"Thank you very much.¶¶"

& "¶¶"

& MY Name

&"¶"

& Membership Director

& "¶"

& x organization

& "¶"

& [email protected]

& "¶1966-1968"

What do i put around these fields so they get filled in with the correct field. I was successful in FM Pro 7 but am totally stuck in 11.. And i am a NOVICE..

thank you so much.

Janice

[Fitch]

A little aside, single paragraph symbols don't require quotes.

[jjpcpanama]

thanks... So i copied what you had and now i get this message..

"An operator (e.g. +, -, *, …) is expected here." this message shows where i put the red/underline

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::city & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::state & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode & "¶"

i can get the rest of the email to work.. just these inserted fields.

thanks

[eos]

thanks... So i copied what you had and now i get this message..

"An operator (e.g. +, -, *, …) is expected here." this message shows where i put the red/underline

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::city & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::state & "¶"

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode & "¶"

i can get the rest of the email to work.. just these inserted fields.

thanks

Oops, yes, as I said, you need to make sure that all the bits are connected via an ampersand (&).

It's easy to forget some … Change the above passage to:

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 & "¶" &

DNNUserExport Converted::city & "¶" &

DNNUserExport Converted::state & "¶" &

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode & "¶" &

Good luck.

[jjpcpanama]

I still get the same error in the same location and i have entered the ampersands. ???

[eos]

OK, please be so kind and post your newest version of the formula, so we're on the same page.

[comment]

I was successful in FM Pro 7 but am totally stuck in 11.

There was no change in the way a calculation combines field data with literal text.

---

Well, actually there was one change in version 8.5: instead of =

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 & ¶ &

DNNUserExport Converted::city & ¶ &

DNNUserExport Converted::state & ¶ &

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode 

you can write =

List (

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 ;

DNNUserExport Converted::city ;

DNNUserExport Converted::state ;

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode 

)

which has the additional advantage of skipping the entire line when a field is empty.

[jjpcpanama]

Will post the formula

DNNUserExport Converted::firstname& ":¶" &

"The xxx organization is verifying snail mail addresses. We sent mail to this address.¶¶

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 & ¶ &

DNNUserExport Converted::city & ¶ &

DNNUserExport Converted::state & ¶ &

DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode

Can you update your snail mail for us? ¶Thank you very much.¶¶

¶MY Name

¶Membership Director

¶the organization

¶[email protected]

¶Amina, Valverde-Mao Group 18

¶1966-1968

¶http://www.xxx.org"

This is what i get when i run that..

My organization is verifying snail mail addresses. We sent mail to this address.

DNNUserExport Converted::address1 &

& DNNUserExport Converted::city &

& DNNUserExport Converted::state &

& DNNUserExport Converted::postalcode Can you update your snail mail for us?

Thank you very much.

[eos]

I have lengthy explanations and corrections for you , but I suggest you just post your (zipped) database file and let me have a peek inside - syntax errors are much easier to correct when you have the calculation engine at your side.

[jjpcpanama]

The database is extensive. Over 3500 personal information entries and lots of "privacy" issues. I cannot provide a zipped database file.

So now what?

[comment]

Check where your quotes begin and where do they end. Anything between quotes is a literal text. Note that you must have an operator between each element of a formula - see::

http://www.filemaker.com/11help/html/create_db.8.36.html#1030710

[comment]

BTW, how difficult is it to put together a file of five fields?

Concat.fp7.zip

[eos]

EDIT: I didn't see the two posts by comment, which as usually hit the nail on the head and (hopefully) make my corrections superfluous.

[jjpcpanama]

What you did is exactly what i want to do. I just still don't know what is the operator to insert. I am such a newbie that it is not simple for me.

[comment]

In this case, since you're merely assembling pieces of text, the only relevant operator is the & (concatenate) operator.