Want to make your blocks more dynamic? You can include Handlebars expressions in specific blocks like text fields and 'set attribute'. These expressions will be calculated when your application is running.

We've also made your life easier with our own custom Handlebars functions, designed to streamline certain features. Check out the list below for all of them:

• Dynamic Sum
• Conditional Statements
• Literal Strings
• Temporal Functions
• date
• dateTime
• isNowBetweenTimes
• isNowWeekend
• isTodayAnyOf
• Timezones

Dynamic Sum

Related ticket:

Formula: {{ sum ${attr_1} ${attr_2} ${attr_3} }}

Let’s imagine you’re collecting number attributes. number_1 is set to 4, number_2 is set to 5 and number_3 is set to 6. Now you want to create another attribute that is set to the sum of the previous attributes. You can create a new sum_result attribute whose value would be:

{{ sum ${number_1} ${number_2} ${number_3} }}

Now when a conversation trigger that block, the sum_result attribute will be set to the sum of the previous attributes (in this case, 15).

Notes:

• Be aware of adding spaces between the attributes
• If one of the attributes is not a valid number, it will be automatically set to 0. So if in the previous example number_1 is equal to banana instead of a number, sum_result will be set to 11
• The sum function receives an arbitrarily number of attributes, in this case we’re evaluating 3 but it can be 1, 10, or even 100.

Conditional Statements

We support 6 different conditional statements:

#eq: Equal

#neq: Not Equal

#gt: Greater Than

#gte: Greater Than or Equal

#lt: Less Than

#lte: Less Than or Equal

For example, lets imagine we have two attributes: attr and threshold and we want to set a new is_greater_than_threshold attribute to yes or no depending if value > threshold, we can use the following formula:

{{#gt ${attr} ${threshold} }}
yes
{{else}}
no
{{/gt}}

All of the conditional statements are used in a similar way. If we want to set the attribute a_equal_b to yes or no depending of the values of attributes a and b we would use the following formula:

{{#eq ${a} ${b} }}
yes
{{else}}
no
{{/eq}}

Literal Strings

A comparison against literal values, needs to be quoted. Example comparing attribute state with literal string:

{{#eq '${state}' 'Alabama'}}
  AL
{{else}}
  {{#eq '${state}' 'Alaska'}}
    AK
  {{else}}
    {{#eq '${state}' 'Arizona'}}
      AZ
    {{else}}
      {{#eq '${state}' 'California'}}
        CA
      {{else}}
        None
      {{/eq}}
    {{/eq}}
  {{/eq}}
{{/eq}}

Temporal Functions

date

Evaluates the current date in yyyy-MM-dd format, e.g. 2023-07-12 for July 7th, 2023.

Parameters:

1. (Optional) A timezone context to use for evaluation. Defaults to UTC if unspecified.t

Examples:

// The current date in the UTC timezone
{{ date }}

// The current date in Seoul
{{ date 'Asia/Seoul' }}

In the following screenshot, an attribute named attribute_date is:

1. Set in the first card using the date helper
2. Printed in the second card

dateTime

Evaluates the current date in YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ format, e.g. 2024-02-29T15:21:33.243 for Feb 29th, 2024 15:21:33.243.

Parameters:

1. (Optional) A timezone context to use for evaluation. Defaults to UTC if unspecified.t

Examples:

// The current date in the UTC timezone
{{ dateTime }}

// The current date in La Paz
{{ dateTime 'America/La_Paz' }}

In the following screenshot, an attribute named attribute_date_time is:

1. Set in the first card using the dateTime helper
2. Printed in the second card

isNowBetweenTimes

Evaluates if the current time is between the specified time boundary:

• If true, evaluates to Yes
• If false, evaluates to No

Parameters:

1. (Required) Minimum and maximum time boundaries expressed in the format HHmm-HHmm. If the minimum value exceeds the maximum, e.g. 1800-0100, the maximum value is assumed to fall on the next day.
2. (Optional) A timezone context to use for evaluation. Defaults to UTC if unspecified.

Examples:

// Is it presently between 5pm (today) and 1am (next day) in the UTC timezone?
{{ isNowBetweenTimes '1700-0100' }}

// Is it presently between 5pm (today) and 1am (next day) in Seoul?
{{ isNowBetweenTimes '1700-0100' 'Asia/Seoul' }}

In the following screenshot, an attribute named attribute_is_now_working_time is:

1. Set in the first card using the isNowBetweenTimes helper function
2. Printed in the second card
3. Used for control flow in the third card

isNowWeekend

Evaluates if the current time falls on the weekend.

• If true, evaluates to Yes
• If false, evaluates to No

Parameters:

1. (Optional) A timezone context to use for evaluation. Defaults to UTC if unspecified.

Examples:

// Is it presently the weekend in the UTC timezone?
{{ isNowWeekend }}

// Is it presently the weekned in Seoul?
{{ isNowWeekend 'Asia/Seoul' }}

In the following screenshot, an attribute named attribute_is_today_weekend is:

1. Set in the first card using the isNowWeekend helper function
2. Printed in the second card
3. Used for control flow in the third card

isTodayAnyOf

Evaluates if the current day/time falls on any of the speciifed dates.

• If true, evaluates to Yes
• If false, evaluates to No

Parameters:

1. (Required) A comma-separated list of dates expressed in the format yyyy-MM-dd. Whitespace between dates is optional.
2. (Optional) A timezone context to use for evaluation. Defaults to UTC if unspecified.

Examples:

// Is it presently Christmas Day or New Year's Day in the UTC timezone?
{{ isTodayAnyOf '2023-12-25, 2024-01-01' }}

// Is it presently Christmas Day or New Year's Day in Seoul?
{{ isTodayAnyOf '2023-12-25, 2024-01-01' 'Asia/Seoul' }}

In the following screenshot, an attribute named attribute_is_today_holiday is:

1. Set in the first card using the isTodayAnyOf helper function
2. Printed in the second card
3. Used for control flow in the third card

Timezones

US timezones include:

• US/Alaska
• US/Arizona
• US/Michigan
• US/Central
• US/Hawaii
• US/Mountain
• US/Samoa
• US/Eastern
• US/East-Indiana
• US/Indiana-Starke
• US/Aleutian
• US/Pacific

In the following screenshot, an attribute named attribute_is_today_weekend is: