Text Field Concatenation

Important Notes

• Concatenations cannot be applied to existing objects or rich text formatting field types.
• Unlike concatenations on an object type, you can select any data definition within the org to filter which properties and fields are available for variables.
• Prior to creating expressions, you must ensure the required fields and Location property, if applicable, have been added to the applicable object types in the selected data definition.
• Spaces and special characters in variable names or inside the curly braces are not permitted. For example, {{{RiskName}}} is valid, but { {{Risk Name}}} will result in an error.
• When adding data from the Location property, a separate variable must be created for each address component you wish to include in the concatenation (i.e., City, State, Country, etc.). 
• When adding the Country location component as a variable, these values are displayed using the ISO 3-character code (e.g., CAN for Canada or USA for the United States). 
• When the State location component is used as a variable, it's displayed using the ISO 2-character code. If the state or province belongs to a region that does not use 2-character codes (e.g., Australia), a 3-character code is used instead.
• Concatenations do not automatically update if their property or field variables are changed. A new object must be created to reflect any changes. For example, if the concatenation {{{FirstName}}} {{{LastName}}} displays John Smith, but the {{{FirstName}}} property is changed to Joe, the concatenation will still display John Smith.
• If multiple users from different time zones are simultaneously triggering concatenations that use Date & Time field or Created On property data, they may produce different results. This is because the date and time selections made in a Date & Time field are based on the time zone of the user who made the selection. Likewise, the date generated in the Created On property is based on the time zone of the user who created the object. See the Time Zone Conversions on Concatenations article for more information.

Instructions

To create a concatenation on a text field:

1. Create a new text field, ensuring the Single Line or Multiple Lines text type is selected.
2. Click Configure Value Concatenation in the Text Type section to display the Edit Concatenation screen. This option will not appear until the field is saved.
   The Text Type section.
3. Select a data definition from the Data Definition dropdown menu. This will determine which object types' properties and fields are available to add as variables.

   

   If you want to select another data definition, you must delete the concatenation by clicking the X icon beside the concatenation on the Editing Field page, then recreate it.

4. Click Add Variable.
5. Select an object type in the data definition from the Select Object Type dropdown menu.
6. Select a property or field you want to auto-populate in an object's name or description from the Available Component dropdown menu. 
   • If you selected the Created On property or date field, select a date format (e.g. YYYY-MM-DD) from the Variable Format dropdown menu. See the Time Zones on Concatenations article for more information on how this information is captured.
   • If you selected the Location property, choose an address component from the Select Address Component dropdown menu (i.e., House Number, Street, City, State, ZIP Code, or Country). Note that a separate variable must be created for each address component.
7. Enter a name for the variable in the Variable Name field.

   Spaces and special characters in variable names are not permitted. For example, naming a variable RiskName in the Variable Name field is valid, but entering Risk Name in this field will result in an error.

8. Optional: To display a default word or phrase in the concatenation when the variable has no data, enter that word or phrase in the Default Value field (e.g., "Null" or "None provided").
9. If the variable is from the same object type where the plain text field is saved as a component, (e.g. the plain text field is saved to the Employee Record object type and the variable you're creating is also from a property or field also on the Employee Record object type) select the Self checkbox.

   

10. Click Add to save the variable.

    

11. Repeat steps 4-10 above to continue adding variables as needed.
12. Type the variable names in the Expression field. Variables can be entered in any order, but they must be enclosed in triple curly braces (e.g. {{{CreatedBy}}}) with no spaces or special characters within the braces. If needed, you can include spaces and other alphanumeric characters between the variables.

    

13. Click Save Expression. 
    A concatenation saved to the field.
14. To edit a variable, it must be deleted by clicking the icon from the Edit Concatenation palette, then recreated.
15. To delete the concatenation, click theicon from the Editing Field page.