Placeholders | GlobalForms 10 Administration

Placeholders insert values from the form into text and settings. Write a placeholder in double braces, such as {{ data.firstName }}, and GlobalForms replaces it with the value of the field whose property name is firstName.

Where placeholders work

Where	Values you can use	Example
HTML Element Content	`data`	`<p>Thank you, {{ data.firstName }}.</p>`
Select Item Template	`item` (the option being shown)	`<span>{{ item.name }}</span>`
Select Data Source URL	`data`, `row`	`/makes/{{ row.makeList }}`
File Directory	`data`, `row`	`{{ data.department }}`
Edit Grid templates	`row`, `value`	See Edit Grid
Email action	`data`, `form`, `id`	See Email Action
Address to open after submitting	`_id`	See Submission Behaviors

The Content component doesn't fill in placeholders; it shows them exactly as typed. To show form values in text, use an HTML Element.

The braces look the same everywhere, but emails and Edit Grid templates follow different rules from the rest of the form. Those are covered on their own pages.

Placeholders on the form

These rules apply to the HTML Element, Select and File settings in the table above.

What you can write

You can write	Example	Result
A field value	`{{ data.invoiceNumber }}`	INV-10042
Arithmetic	`{{ data.qty * data.price }}`	10
A choice between two values	`{{ data.qty > 2 ? 'many' : 'few' }}`	many
Currency format	`{{ data.price \| currency }}`	$2.50
Capital letters	`{{ data.code \| uppercase }}`	INV-7
A formatted date	`{{ data.dueDate \| date:'MM/dd/yyyy' }}`	11/02/2026

A field that is empty or doesn't exist gives an empty result, not an error.
JavaScript functions such as encodeURIComponent() can't be called inside the braces; they give an empty result. Use a script instead. See Rules and Scripting.
Information about the form itself, such as form.title, isn't available.
A Date / Time value is stored as a full date and time, such as 2026-11-02T05:00:00.000Z. Use the date format shown above to display it.

Updating as the user types

An HTML Element updates as soon as a value it uses changes. A Select with a placeholder in its Data Source URL loads its list again only when one of the fields in its Refresh On setting changes, so set Refresh On to the field the URL uses. See Conditional Lists In Data Grids.

Placeholders in web addresses

Values are inserted exactly as typed, without URL encoding. In a URL, a value containing a space, &, #, / or ? can break the address. Use placeholders in addresses only for fields that hold simple values such as codes and numbers. For other values, build the address in a script with encodeURIComponent(), as shown in QR Codes and Barcodes.

Inside a Data Grid

In an HTML Element inside a Data Grid, data means the current row. {{ data.item }} shows that row's item. Fields outside the grid can't be used there.
In a Select inside a Data Grid, use row for the current row and data for the rest of the form.

Not to be confused with

SQL lookup routes also use double braces, for example {{ params.make }} in a route's query. Those are filled in on the server from the request, not from the form, and are covered on the SQL lookup pages.