Type Conversion

The eServices Field Codes use the following type conversions:

Bool

[+] Bool

Description
Returns a Boolean converted from a number or a string.
Syntax
Bool(Arg, [Default ])

Bool String

Argument	Description
Arg	If a number, then converts 0 to False and nonzero to True. If a string, then converts Off, No, and False to False, and On, Yes, and True to True. If another string, then returns Default. If Default is omitted, then returns False.

Remarks

Examples of Bool String

Example	Result
<$Bool(0)$>	False
<$Bool(25.23)$>	True
<$Bool("Yes")$>	True
<$Bool("off", True)$>	False
<$Bool("Asteroids")$>	False
<$Bool("Asteroids", True)$>	True

Num

[+] Num

Description
Returns a number converted from a string.
Syntax
Num (String[, String] )

Num String

Argument	Description
First argument	The string to be converted. May be expressed in scientific notation. Returns 0 if the string is not recognizable as a number. Ignores nonnumeric characters following the number.
Second argument	Optional. The locale that must be used to parse the first argument. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), and fr_FR for French (France). See the Values for fieldcode-format-locale Option in the eServices 8.1 Reference Manual for a complete list.

Remarks

If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option (see option description in the eServices 8.1 Reference Manual) in the email-processing section is used if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used.
For clarity, the results shown in the Examples of Num String table appear with three digits after the decimal point and always in the en_US format. Default number formatting shows no digits after the decimal point. Use the Text function (see Field Codes in Standard Responses Reference: Text) or format operator (%) to override the default formatting.

Examples of Num String

Example	Result
<$Num("10")$>	10.000
<$Num("10.00")$>	10.000 (Assuming the locale is en_US. )
<$Num("10,00", "fr_FR")$>	10.000 (Note the comma-decimal separator in the first argument.)
<$Num("12e-2")$>	0.120
<$Num("12.2e2Zork")$>	1220.000 (Assuming the locale is en_US .)
<$Num("12,2e2Zork", "fr_FR")$>	1220.000 (Note the comma-decimal separator in the first argument.)
<$Num("Zaxxon")$>	0.000

Text

[+] Text

Text

Description
Returns a string converted from an argument of any data type. Use the format operator (:) as shorthand for this function.
Syntax
Text (Arg[, Pattern[, String]])
or
Arg:Pattern

Text String

Argument	Description
Arg	The value to be converted
Pattern	Optional. The picture string to use for formatting. If omitted, default formatting is used. The syntax of the picture string depends on the data type. See Number Formatting - “Number Formatting (Arg is a Number)” ).
String	Optional. The locale that must be used to parse the first argument. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), and fr_FR for French (France). See Values for the fieldcode-format-locale Option in the eServices 8.1 Reference Manual for a complete list. If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option in the email-processing section is used, if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used.

[+] Number Formatting

Number Formatting (Arg is a Number)

If Arg is a number, then the regular expression syntax of the optional pattern string is as follows:

#*.?#*

Where:

# –The pound sign (# ) represents a digit. Any number of # s, including 0 may appear before the decimal character. Specify the minimum number of digits that should appear to the left of the decimal. If the integer part of the formatted number contains fewer than the specified number of digits, the number is padded with leading zeros.

Any number of # s, including 0, may appear after the decimal character. Specify the precision of the fractional part of the number. The number is rounded to the specified precision.

Only the decimal separator in the result is locale dependent (There is no grouping separator).

The Examples of Number Formatting table contains some examples.

Examples of Number Formatting

Pattern	Arg Value	Locale	Result
""	0	en_US	"0"
""	123.456	en_US	"123"
"#"	0	en_US	"0"
"##"	0	en_US	"00"
"##"	123.456	en_US	"123"
"#."	0	en_US	"0. "
"#."	123.456	en_US	"123. "
".##"	0	en_US	".00"
".##"	0.456	en_US	".46"
".##"	123.456	en_US	"123.46"
".##"	20000.456	en_US	"20000.46" (Note the decimal point separator in the result.)
".##"	123.456	fr_FR	"123,46" (Note the comma-decimal separator in the result.)
".##"	20000.456	fr_FR	"20000,46" (Note the comma-decimal separator in the result.)

[+] Duration Formatting

Duration Formatting (Arg is a Number)

If Arg is a number, then the regular expression syntax of the optional pattern string is as follows:

(<dur>).?#*

Where:
<dur> represents a duration and can be any of the sequences in the following list. (Upper- or lowercase letters are accepted.)
HH
HH:MM
HH:MM:SS
MM
MM:SS
SS
H
H:MM
H:MM:SS
M
M:SS
S

<dur> may be followed by a .## string, which specifies the precision of the last element of the duration. Any C or % suffixes are ignored. When you format a value as a duration, the value is always assumed to be expressed in days.

The pound sign (#) represents a digit. Any number of # s, including 0, may appear before the decimal character and specify the minimum number of digits that should appear to the left of the decimal. If the integer part of the formatted number contains fewer than the specified number of digits, the number is padded with leading zeroes.
Any number of # s, including 0, may appear after the decimal character and specify the precision of the fractional part of the number. The number is rounded to the specified precision.
The Examples of Duration Formatting table contains some examples.

Examples of Duration Formatting

Pattern	Arg Value	Locale	Result
"HH"	10.5083	en_US	"11"
"HH.## "	10.5083	en_US	"10.51"
"HH:MM"	10.5083	en_US	"10:30"
"HH:MM.# "	10.5083	en_US	"10:30.5"
"HH:MM:SS"	10.5083	en_US	"10:30:30"
"MM"	10.5083	en_US	"630"
"MM.## "	10.5083	en_US	"630.50"
"MM:SS"	10.5083	en_US	"630:30"
"SS"	10.5083	en_US	"37830"

[+] Currency Formatting

Currency Formatting (Arg is a Number)

If Arg is a number, then the regular expression syntax of the optional parameter string is as follows:

#*.?#*[Cc]

Where:
A C or a c means format as currency. The grouping separator, the decimal separator, and the currency sign in the result are locale dependent.
The Examples of Currency Formatting table contains some examples

Examples of Currency Formatting

Pattern	Arg Value	Locale	Result
"C"	12.34	en_US	"$12.34"
"C"	-12.34	en_US	"($12.34)"
"#.#C"	12.34	en_US	"$12.3"
"#.#C"	-12.34	en_US	"($12.3)"
"C"	12.34	en_GB	"£12.34 "
"C"	-12.34	en_GB	"-£12.34 "
"#.#C"	12.34	en_GB	"£12.3 "
"#.#C"	-12.34	en_GB	"-£12.3 "
".##C"	20000.456	en_US	"$20,000.46" (Note the comma grouping separator and point decimal separator in the result.)
".##C"	20000.456	fr_FR	"20 000,46 €" (Note the decimal comma separator in the result.)

[+] Percentage Formatting

Percentage Formatting (Arg is a Number)

If Arg is a number, then the regular expression syntax of the optional pattern string is as follows:

#*.?#*%

Where:
The percent sign (% ) means multiply by 100 and append the locale-dependent sign for percent values. If the % appears by itself, the formatter rounds to the nearest integral value and omits a decimal point (equivalent to the format #% ).
The grouping separator, the decimal separator, and the percent sign in the result are locale dependent.
The Examples of Percentage Formatting table contains some examples.

Examples of Percentage Formatting

Pattern	Arg Value	Locale	Result
"%"	0	en_US	"0%"
"%"	0.123456	en_US	"12%"
"#.##%"	0.123456	en_US	"12.35%"
"#.##%"	0.123456	fr_FR	"12,35%" (Note the comma-decimal separator in the result.)

[+] Date/Time Formatting

Date/Time Formatting

Use elements shown in the Date/Time Pattern Letters table to construct a Date/Time pattern string. The letters must be in uppercase or lowercase, as shown in the table (for example, MM not mm). Characters that are not picture elements, or that are enclosed in single quotation marks, will appear in the same location and unchanged in the output string.

Date/Time Pattern Letters

Element	Meaning
d	Day of month as digits, with no leading zero for single-digit days
dd	Day of month as digits, with leading zero for single-digit days
ddd	Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation
dddd	Day of week as its full name
M	Month as digits, with no leading zero for single-digit months
MM	Month as digits, with leading zero for single-digit months
MMM	Month as a three-letter abbreviation
MMMM	Month as its full name
y	Year as last two digits, but with no leading zero for years less than 10
yy	Year as last two digits, but with leading zero for years less than 10
yyyy	Year represented by full four digits
h	Hours, with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock
hh	Hours, with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock
H	Hours, with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock
HH	Hours, with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock
m	Minutes, with no leading zero for single-digit minutes
mm	Minutes, with leading zero for single-digit minutes
s	Seconds, with no leading zero for single-digit seconds
ss	Seconds, with leading zero for single-digit seconds
tt	Time-marker string, such as AM or PM

The examples in the Examples of Date/Time Formatting table assume that the date being formatted is August 6, 2003, @ 15:05:10:

Examples of Date/Time Formatting

Pattern	Locale	Result
"MMMM d, yyyy @ hh:mm:ss tt"	en_US	"August 6, 2003 @ 03:05:10 PM"
"MMMM dd, yyyy @ HH:mm:ss"	en_US	"August 06, 2003 @ 15:05:10"
"dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss"	fr_FR	"06 aout 2003 15:05:10"
"MMM d, yy @ h:mm:ss tt"	en_US	"Aug 6, 03 @ 3:05:10 PM"
"M/dd/yy"	en_US	"8/06/03"

[+] Boolean Formatting

Boolean Formatting

A Boolean picture string is simply two words separated by a comma. The first word is used if the Boolean value is True, and the second is used otherwise.
The Examples of Boolean Formatting table shows some examples:

Examples of Boolean Formatting

Field Code	Result
<$Text(True, "Yup,Nope")$>	"Yup"
<$Text(False, "Si,No")$>	"No"
<$Text(False, "walnut,peach")$>	"peach"

[+] String Formatting

String Formatting

Picture strings do not apply to string values. Strings are always output unchanged. If you want to output a piece of a string, or change the case, then you can use one of the string-manipulation functions previously described.