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Hi,

I am trying to create a PDF template. However, I have a custom field that has data in JSON format. Is there anyway we can parse the data inside the template and render in the table format.

Thanks

Yep you can use the `eval` function - it isn't officially supported but I use it with good success

<https://freemarker.apache.org/docs/ref_builtins_expert.html#ref_builtin_eval>

use <https://freemarker.apache.org/docs/ref_builtins_expert.html#ref_builtin_eval_json|?eval_json>, especially when the json is from an external source (see the warning on `?eval` and at the bottom of `?eval_json`

For some reason I thought I tried eval_json and couldn't get it to work but eval worked for me. I'll have to give it another go if you got it to work.

just checked and I didn't end up using `?eval_json` myself as it wasn't available at the time (back when NS was using `v2.3.26`)

also, while `?eval` worked for me, it always gives me an error when I save the PDF template which makes me very uneasy

cause of the sample data netsuite uses to validate the template.
I think you have to wrap it in a bunch of checks (like `?has_content`), even though you _know_ that the data is going to be valid JSON

right - I do have the `?has_content` check in there but it likely needs something more robust for the validation - the error i see is
```Failed to "?eval" string with this error:

---begin-message---
Syntax error in ?eval-ed string in line 1, column 8:
Encountered "ipsum", but was expecting one of these patterns:
"."
".."
&lt;DOT_DOT_LESS&gt;
"..*"
"?"
"??"
"!"
"["
"("
")"
&lt;TERMINATING_EXCLAM&gt;
---end-message---```

should look for whether it starts with "["

`&lt;#if !record.field?starts_with('Lorem ipsum')&gt;${record.field?eval}&lt;/#if&gt;`
:sweat_smile:

i mean, it's low effort and saves me an extra click on save when i'm editing the template, so i kinda love that

also you never know when one template validation error is masking another one, so it is probably actually safer to implement something like that.
My apologies to Umar for hijacking the thread