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Using a variable in HTML-Template-Library

Ameeta.J.5440

Each term, we create a welcome announcement with dates for each term. The announcement is stored it in a folder in shared public files (html-Template-Library) and embedded as an announcement in each course.

We would like to personalize the announcement for each student. So….

Added this code: Dear {FirstName},

The code worked fine when the file was previewed.

However upon reopening the file, the code changed to this: Dear {{FirstName}},

The embedded file does not display the first name but the code.

Is there a way to fix this?

Thank you for your help.

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Michel.M.3069

Hello,

In my experience, as soon as you open the file from the Brightspace shared files area with the edit command, those {variables} become unusable.

Once the file is uploaded, do not open it! If you do, you'll have to re-upload the file for it to work. I haven't found a simpler workaround for this, I hope someone else can offer another solution on this thread!

Ameeta.J.5440

Thank you Michel. Seems like a bug that needs to be fixed. Hope there is a solution. Will try to create a file and upload it and then not open it!

Victor.B.4864

Hi Ameeta,

I hope you are doing well.

The Brightspace HTML editor uses a third-party rich text editor to handle content editing. When you save a file containing replace strings like {FirstName}, the editor automatically escapes the single curly braces to double curly braces {{FirstName}} as part of its internal template handling. This prevents Brightspace from recognizing and evaluating the replace string, so the raw code displays instead of the student's name.

This is not a Brightspace defect but a known behavior of the embedded editor.

Workaround: Edit the HTML file outside of Brightspace using a plain text or code editor (e.g., Notepad, VS Code), ensure the replace strings use single curly braces {FirstName}, then upload the file directly to Public Files — overwriting the existing version. Avoid reopening or re-saving the file through the Brightspace HTML editor, as this will re-trigger the escaping.

I hope this meets your needs. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Victor

Ameeta.J.5440

Hi Victor,

Thank you for the information and explanation.

I tried following the instructions (create an html file using textedit. Give it the same name. Delete the original file in the public folder and upload the new file).

Unfortunately, its still displaying the variable name in the announcement.

Appreciate your help in figuring out how to resolve this.

Michel.M.3069

Hello @Ameeta.J.5440

Out of curiosity, is there a reason you are not using the Global Announcement tool? It seems that what you are trying to do could easily be done with this tool and it supports {variables}, and embedding the announcement in every course.

Kind regards,

Mike

Ameeta.J.5440

Hello Mike,

Unless I am mistaken, the global announcement will be published to ALL courses in the semester. We need to publish this announcement to a small group of courses within the semester.

Is there any other way to create the announcement with personalization and embed it in courses? We could do this by copying the announcement but that will mean that if we need to make any changes, we will need to go to each course to edit it.

Than you again for your help.

Michel.M.3069

Hello Ameeta,

You are not entirely mistaken, the Global announcement would publish to all courses on the system. I didn't understand that you were trying to publish to a subset of courses.

BUT! Good news! It is possible to create release conditions on a Global announcement:

So you could create multiple "ORG Unit Enrollment" rules (don't forget to pick Any condition instead of All conditions), but this could be tedious depending on how many spaces you want to hit.

Cheers,

Mike