Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript Build a Simple Dynamic Site with Node.js Creating a Basic Template Engine in Node.js A Simple Merge Utility

Sam Grumley
Sam Grumley
1,765 Points

I don't understand what goes between "%" + ?? + "%"

I don't understand what goes between the placeholders i have tried every variable from both files including objects.

index.js
var utilities = require("./utilities");

var mailValues = {};

mailValues.first_name = "Janet";

var emailTemplate = "Hi %first_name%! Thanks for completing this code challenge :)";

var mergedContent = utilities.merge(emailTemplate, mailValues);

//mergedContent === "Hi Janet! Thanks for completing this code challenge :)";
utilities.js
function merge(content, values) {
content = content.replace( "%" + values.emailTemplate + "%" ,values.mailValue);
  return content;
}


module.exports.merge = merge;

3 Answers

Umesh Ravji
Umesh Ravji
42,386 Points

Hi Sam, the values given to the merge method are an object which means that you have to iterate over all of it's key/value pairs to replace all the placeholders with thier correct values.

What you want to end up with inside your merge function is essentially content.replace('%first_name%', 'Janet'). This can be achieved by surrounding the key with percentages on both sides (placeholder), and replacing that placeholder with its value from the object.

function merge(content, values) {
  for (var key in values) {
    content = content.replace('%' + key + '%', values[key]);  
  }
  return content;
}
Emmanuel Molina
Emmanuel Molina
9,268 Points

Yeah, but why create a loop if there is only one key to replace ?

Why function merge(content, values) { content = content.replace("%first_name%", values.first_name); return content; } doesn't work ?

andren
andren
28,558 Points

Why function merge(content, values) { content = content.replace("%first_name%", values.first_name); return content; } doesn't work ?

That would not work because the challenge is not to build a function that only accepts one specific placeholder, the challenge is to build a function where:

You should be able to pass in a string with placeholders with percent signs (%) surrounding them.

The code in the index.js file is just there to show how the input to your function will be formatted and how the returned content should be formatted. But it is not the only input your function will be expected to handle, any placeholder and any number of placeholders should work.

So not only should this code work:

utilities.merge("Hello there %first_name%", {first_name: "Janet"});

But something like this code should work as well:

utilities.merge("Hi %first_name% %last_name% congratulations for winning our lottery prize on %date%.", {first_name: "Janet", last_name: "Smith", date: "10.08.17"});

And anything else along those lines.

andren
andren
28,558 Points

The name of the placeholder is what goes in between the %%, in the example above that would be first_name but your method should be able to handle a string with arbitrary placeholder names.

To do this you have to loop over the values object you are passed in to get access to the names of its properties (since that will correspond to the names of the placeholders), then use that name to pull the desired value out of the object. Like this:

function merge(content, values) {
  for(var key in values) {
    content = content.replace( "%" + key + "%" , values[key]);
  }
  return content;
}


module.exports.merge = merge;

With that code you can pass a string with any placeholder you want, for example:

"Hi %firstName% %lastName% congratulations for winning our lottery prize on %date%."

And as long as the object passed in contained values for those placeholders your function would replace them without any issue.

Sam Grumley
Sam Grumley
1,765 Points

Ahh yes, thanks heaps. The concept makes heaps more sense!