Better Way To Format Email Output?

Hello!

I've created a solution that somewhat spaces out the items in my list by counting the number of characters in a field, subtracting that from my makeshift column width of 30, and then appending that remaining number of spaces to fill the column to a key. We then search this premade string for that key and replace it with our spacing character, in this case an underscore, and then blank out all non-matching keys so that we are left with only the spaces we want to print at the end of the UserDesc value which will then align the values of the next column.

As an example of how this would work, use my name, Oliver Engdahl. Including the space, there are 14 characters which means we need 16 spaces to fill the whole 30 wide column to properly space the next value on the line. We create key "a16" and search for it. It does not exist, so we blank out all "a" keys. Then we create key "b16" and we find it, turning all 16 instances of "b16" into "_", before blanking out all other "b" keys. We then create key "c16" and search for it. It does not exist so we blank out all "c" keys. The vSpaceUserDesc29 variable can then be appending to the end of vUserDesc to return "Oliver Engdahl________________" and then we can do the same process with the next item in the line.

This is entirely overengineered, but I could not find a better way- like a table- to do this in the documentation. I am on version 9.01.12. If you have ideas, please let me know.

vSpaceLenUserDesc = 30-LEN(V(vUserDesc)),
vSpaceReplaceUserDescA = "a" + V(vSpaceLenUserDesc),
vSpaceUserDescStepA = REPLACE("a1a2a2a3a3a3a4a4a4a4a5a5a5a5a5a6a6a6a6a6a6a7a7a7a7a7a7a7a8a8a8a8a8a8a8a8a9a9a9a9a9a9a9a9a9b10b10b10b10b10b10b10b10b10b10b11b11b11b11b11b11b11b11b11b11b11b12b12b12b12b12b12b12b12b12b12b12b12b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b13b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b14b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b15b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b16b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b17b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b18b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19b19c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c20c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c21c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c22c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c23c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c24c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c25c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c26c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c27c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c28c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29c29",
V(vSpaceReplaceUserDescA), "_"),

vSpaceUserDesc1 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDescStepA), "a1", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc2 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc1), "a2", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc3 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc2), "a3", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc4 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc3), "a4", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc5 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc4), "a5", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc6 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc5), "a6", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc7 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc6), "a7", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc8 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc7), "a8", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc9 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc8), "a9", ""),

vSpaceReplaceUserDescB = "b"+CAST(V(vSpaceLenUserDesc) AS STRING),
vSpaceUserDescStepB = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc9), V(vSpaceReplaceUserDescB), "_"),
vSpaceUserDesc10 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDescStepB), "b10", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc11 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc10), "b11", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc12 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc11), "b12", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc13 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc12), "b13", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc14 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc13), "b14", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc15 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc14), "b15", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc16 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc15), "b16", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc17 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc16), "b17", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc18 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc17), "b18", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc19 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc18), "b19", ""),

vSpaceReplaceUserDescC = "c"+CAST(V(vSpaceLenUserDesc) AS STRING),
vSpaceUserDescStepC = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc19), V(vSpaceReplaceUserDescC), "_"),
vSpaceUserDesc20 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDescStepC), "c20", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc21 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc20), "c21", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc22 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc21), "c22", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc23 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc22), "c23", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc24 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc23), "c24", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc25 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc24), "c25", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc26 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc25), "c26", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc27 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc26), "c27", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc28 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc27), "c28", ""),
vSpaceUserDesc29 = REPLACE(V(vSpaceUserDesc28), "c29", ""),

Find more posts tagged with

Mongoose

Development

Accepted answers

rcostello

If this is in an event handler you can use html format to create a table for your email in a much simpler format:

BODY(SUBSTITUTE("

<table border=0>
<tr >
<td width=101> Configuration:</td>
<td width=670> {1}</td> </tr>
<tr>
<td width=101>Event :</td>
<td width=670>{2} - {3}</td> </tr><tr>
<td width=101>Title :</td>
<td width=670>{4}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width=101>User Name :</td>
<td width=670>{5}</td> </tr><tr>
<td width=101>User Desc :</td>
<td width=670>{6}</td>
</tr>
<tr >
<td width=101> Run on:</td>
<td width=670> {0}</td> </tr>
</table>", BEGINDATE(), CONFIGNAME(), EVENTNAME(), EVENTREVISION(), EVENTTITLE(), USERNAME(), USERDESC(), P("Name") ))

All comments

rcostello

If this is in an event handler you can use html format to create a table for your email in a much simpler format:

BODY(SUBSTITUTE("

OliverEngdahl

This formatting is exactly what I'm looking for. By adding the <tr><td> within each line I iterate through in the Set Values step, I can just cap the ends with <table> and </table> to get a really good looking output. Thank you so much for your help, and for anyone who needs to do something similar, here's how I set that variable.

SETVARVALUES(
vCurRow = 1+V(vCurRow),

vItemListTest =
"" + V(vItemListTest) +
"<tr height=5><td width=200>" + V(vUserDesc) + "</td>" + "<td width=200>" + V(vReqNum) + "</td>" + "<td width=200>" + V(vPoNum) + " " + V(vPoLine) + " " + V(vPoRelease) + "</td>" + "<td width=300>" + V(vQty) + " " + V(vMatlTranViewItemUM) + " " + V(vItem) + "</td></tr>",

vUserList =
" " + V(vUserList) +
V(vUsername) + "; "
)

OliverEngdahl

The one thing I cannot figure out is why my first and last inputs into the table are misaligned, assumingly by a break being added to the cell but there's no such break in my code. Here is where I set the variable for the header, yet it prints out like below.

vItemList = "<tr><th>RECIPIENT</th><th>REQUISITION</th><th>PURCHASE ORDER</th><th>ITEM</th></tr>",

EDIT: You have to write it all in the notification on the same like so.

<table border=1 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0>{0}</table>",

Rather than this.

<table border=1 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0>
{0}
</table>",

Copyright © 2025 Infor. All rights reserved.