Tags

ZML offers a multitude of tags which are keywords defining how the platform will format and display the content. Let’s have a look at the tags ZML come with:

Comment

The comment tag allows you to leave un-rendered code in the content. Any text within the opening and closing comment blocks will not be output, and any ZML code within will not be executed.

Input

Anything you put between {% comment %} and {% endcomment %} tags

is turned into a comment.

Output

Anything you put between tags is turned into a comment.

Control Flow

Control flow tags can change the information ZML shows using logic:

If

Executes a block of code only if a certain condition is true.

Input

{% if first_name %} Hello {{ first_name }}! {% endif %}

Output

Hello Ryan!

Unless

The opposite of if – executes a block of code only if a certain condition is not met.

Input

{% unless first_name == "Tom" %}

Hello {{ first_name }}! {% endunless %}

Because first_name in our example is equal to Ryan, the output returns the first name. If our first_name was Tom, the output would return an empty value.

Output

Hello Ryan!

Elsif / Else

Adds more conditions within an if or unless block. Note the missing 'e' in elsif; it is intentional.

Input

{% if first_name == "Ryan" %} Hello {{ first_name }}!

{% elsif first_name == "Jeremy" %}

This guys name is Jeremy.

{% else %}

This person's name is neither Ryan nor Jeremy.

{% endif %}

Case / When

Creates a switch statement to compare a variable with different values. case initializes the switch statement, and when compares its values.

Input

{% assign handle = 'cake' %}

{% case handle %}

{% when 'cake' %}

This is a cake

{% when 'cookie' %}

This is a cookie

{% else %}

This is not a cake nor a cookie

{% endcase %}

Output

This is a cake

Iteration

Iteration tags run blocks of code repeatedly:

For

Repeatedly executes a block of code. For a full list of attributes available within a for loop, see forloop (object).

Input

{% for preference in subscription_preferences %} {{ preference }}

{% endfor %}

Output

newsletter promotions

Break

Causes the loop to stop iterating when it encounters the break tag.

Input

{% for i in (1..5) %}

{% if i == 4 %} {% break %}

{% else %}

{{ i }} {% endif %}

{% endfor %}

Output

1 2 3

Continue

Causes the loop to skip the current iteration when it encounters the continue tag.

Input

{% for i in (1..5) %}

{% if i == 4 %}

{% continue %}

{% else %}

{{ i }}

{% endif %}

{% endfor %}

Output

1 2 3 5

For (Parameters)

Limit

Limits the loop to the specified number of iterations.

Input

<! -- array = [1,2,3,4,5,6] -->

{% for item in array limit:2 %}

{{ item }}

{% endfor %}

Output

1 2

Offset

Begins the loop at the specified index.

Input

<! -- array = [1,2,3,4,5,6] -->

{% for item in array offset:2 %}

{{ item }}

{% endfor %}

Output

3 4 5 6

Range

Defines a range of numbers to loop through. The range can be defined by both literal and variable numbers.

Input

{% for i in (3..5) %}

{{ i }}

{% endfor %}

{% assign num = 4 %}

{% for i in (1..num) %}

{{ i }}

{% enddfor %}

Output

3 4 5

1 2 3 4

Reversed

Reverses the order of the loop. Note that the flag’s spelling is different from the filter reverse.

Input

{% for item in array reversed %}

{{ item }}

{% endfor %}

Output

6 5 4 3 2 1

Cycle

Loops through a group of strings and outputs them in the order that they were passed as parameters. Each time cycle is called, the next string that was passed as a parameter is output.

cycle must be used within a for loop block.

Input

{% for item in array reversed %}

{{ item }}

{% endfor %}

Output

one

two

three

one

Uses for cycle include:

Alternating between odd/even rows
applying a unique class to the last product thumbnail in a row

Cycle (Parameters)

cycle accepts a parameter called cycle group in cases where you need multiple cycle blocks in one template. If no name is supplied for the cycle group, then it is assumed that multiple calls with the same parameters are one group. More information on cycle groups can be found here.

Tablerow

See here for more information on creating tables with ZML.

Raw

Raw temporarily disables tag processing. This is useful for generating content (eg, Mustache, Handlebars) that uses conflicting syntax but may not have much usefulness within content end users will see.

Input

{% raw %}

In Handlebars, {{ this }} will be HTML-escaped, but {{{ that }}} will not.

{% endraw %}

Output

In Handlebars, {{ this }} will be HTML-escaped, but {{{ that }}} will not.

Variable

Variable tags create new ZML variables.

Assign

Creates a new variable.

Input

{% assign my_variable = false %}

{% if my_variable != true %}

This statement is valid.

{% endif %}

Output

This statement is valid.

Wrap a variable in quotations " to save it as a string.

Input

{% assign foo = "bar" %}

{{ foo }}

Output

bar

Capture

Captures the string inside of the opening and closing tags and assigns it to a variable. Variables created through {% capture %} are strings.

Input

{% capture my_variable %}I am being captured.{% endcapture %}

{{ my_variable }}

Output

I am being captured.

Using capture, you can create complex strings using other variables created with assign.

Input

{% assign favorite_food = 'pizza' %}

{% assign age = 35 %}

{% capture about_me %}

I am {{ age }} and my favorite food is {{ favorite_food }}.

{% endcapture %}

{{ about_me }}

Output

I am 35 and my favorite food is pizza.

Increment

Creates a new number variable, and increases its value by one every time it is called. The initial value is 0.

Input

{% increment my_counter %}

{{my_counter}}

{% increment my_counter %}

{{my_counter}}

{% increment my_counter %}

{{my_counter}}

Output

0

1

2

Variables created through the increment tag are independent from variables created through assign or capture.

In the example below, a variable named “var” is created through assign. The increment tag is then used several times on a variable with the same name. Note that the increment tag does not affect the value of “var” that was created through assign.

Input

{% assign var = 10 %} {% increment var %} {% increment var %} {% increment var %} {{ var }}

Output

10

Decrement

Creates a new number variable, and decreases its value by one every time it is called. The initial value is -1. Like increment, variables declared inside decrement are independent of variables created through assign or capture.

Set Global Variables

You can use the global tag to set a global variable to populate information in the Subject Line and Preheader from properties and resources defined in the campaign body.

For Example,

{% global my_var = "value" %}

List of Segments

Getting a list of Segments in the content enables you to serve dynamic content based on a user's segment membership. Use {% segments segment_names %} in content to fetch all segments that the targeted user is part of. This returns the data structured as follows:

{"id":nnn, "name":"sss", "token":"ttt", "type":"static/dynamic"}

Additionally, a map filter can be used to get a simple array in ZML for ease of operating on this data.

{% segments segment_names | map: "name" %}

{% assign segment_join = segment_names|join: "*" %}

{% if segment_join contains "Yankees" %}

User is a Yankees Fan

{% elsif segment_join contains "Phillies" %}

User is a Phillies Fan

{% endif %}