How to survive as a developer for Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Now, this unfortunately is NOT yet available for AMPscript but one day in the future... well either AMPscript is gone or somebody will have written a plugin. Aside from that, for HTML, CSS, JavaScript and whatever preprocessor you might want to use in your project, there are powerful tools available that can auto-fix minor code issues and enforce code formatting rules.
Why? Linter's will tell you about potential code problems before they are published to PROD, making your life a hell lot easier.
Why? Having to adapt to multiple styles in one project makes the code harder to read and more difficult to debug.
Why? Your client will likely ask you to adhere to certain standards. Adapting your default configuration to these client standards usually reduces time spend on code reviews to the bare minimum.
Why? Junior developers can learn from how their code is changed by the auto-formatters and
Why? Still not convinced? The guys over at Prettier wrote an actual essay on this.
For Visual Studio Code you can get this AMPscript syntax highlighter. Also, you should manually assign *.ssjs of type JavaScript, providing you more options when it comes to linting and auto-formatting than if you were using *.js. It also logically separates your SSJS from JS, avoiding confusion.
Checkout the .eslintrc and .prettierrc which includes a configuration for JS, CSS and SSJS.
By all means, avoid making changes directly in SFMC's GUI. Best practice is to make all your changes in your local IDE instead (I recommend the free Visual Studio Code).
Why? Whenever you save a content block, there is no going back. No CTRL+Z, no undo last change - nothing. Your previous code is imply gone.
Why? If others open your CloudPage and accidentally make changes you (a) will never find out who did it and (b) have no way of recovering the previous version.
Why? The GUI does not offer proper code highlighting (even if you wrap your code in <script>...</script>)
Why? The GUI does not offer any linting / error correction. In your IDE you can utilize ESLint for your SSJS and JS code, as well as Prettier for your CSS
Ever tried to fix a bug and got annoyed by having to publish your page or send your email 1000 times per day? Turns out you can load any text file that’s freely available on the internet and run it through the server-side engines for both AmpScript and SSJS. The key is a method that’s similar to JavaScript’s eval() method together with another method that grabs the text content of a URL and returns it as a String.
Open a new CloudPage and replace everything in Code View with this:
%%= TreatAsContent(HTTPGet("https://myurl.com/loader.html")) =%%
Put all following files into your online service for quick editing:
<!-- loader.html -->
<!-- optionally load AmpScript file -->
%%= TreatAsContent(HTTPGet("https://myurl.com/myampcode.amp")) =%%
<script runat="server" language="JavaScript">
Platform.Load("core", "1.1.1"); // define one core version up front for all
// load SSJS file #1 via AmpScript
%%= TreatAsContent(HTTPGet("https://myurl.com/mycode1.ssjs")) =%%
// load SSJS file #2 via AmpScript
%%= TreatAsContent(HTTPGet("https://myurl.com/mycode2.ssjs")) =%%
// load SSJS file #3 via AmpScript
%%= TreatAsContent(HTTPGet("https://myurl.com/mycode3.ssjs")) =%%
</script>
<!-- optionally load HTML file via AmpScript -->
%%= TreatAsContent(HTTPGet("https://myurl.com/app.html")) =%%
// mycode1.ssjs
function MyUtilities() {
...
}
// mycode2.ssjs
function MySfmcApiWrapper() {
...
}
// mycode3.ssjs
var util = MyUtilities();
var sfmc = MySfmcApiWrapper();
// ... fancy app code here
Why? You save time because now you only update your online file on whatever webserver you like and don't need to re-publish your debug page ever again.
How? Internally, AmpScript is always processed & executed first and only afterwards it runs through the SSJS processor.
Thanks to my buddy Christian who published a full tutorial a while ago and taught me how to use this hack.
If you have access to your own web-server it is definitely recommended to use that one rather than a free online service for security reasons. Also, being able to integrate via SFTP will speed up your process.
If you do not have that, there are multiple services out there that offer quick and easy access to files you created online. A good, though not-save-for-passwords service are c9.io or codesandbox.io as it creates your own subdomain for each project you start.
Dropbox or your private OneDrive account may also serve the purpose while being a bit more secure. Enterprise accounts of these services often don't allow public sharing to anyone which is what you need to make this work.
Note: Some of these services might automatically apply formatting that breaks your code at their own will when you paste code there, making it imperative to use *.ssjs and *.amp file extensions as these will not be recognized and hence not auto-formatted.
Important: Please keep in mind never to store credentials in these online services to avoid security issues! If credentials or secrets are needed, retrieve them from SFMC's Key management (Administration section; for De-/EncryptSymmetric()) or from a Data Extensions if you need to use other types of credentials.
When testing your code you will likely want to see what's in your variables. Printing that to screen with Write(myVar) (or its alias form Platform.Response.Write(myVar)) can be cumbersome as it writes directly into your HTML code. Instead use this little method to get your output directly in the browser's debug console (e.g. Chrome Dev Tools):
<script runat="server">
Platform.Load("core", "1.1.1");
var console = {
log: function(string) {
Write('<script>console.log(`' + string + '`)</script>');
},
error: function(string) {
Write('<script>console.error(`' + string + '`)</script>');
}
}
</script>
Place the above your code and then use it like this:
<script runat="server">
var myCodeTest = 'Hello World';
console.log(myCodeTest); // prints "Hello World"
console.error('something went wrong'); // prints "something went wrong" in red letters
// or more real life:
try {
console.log('executing my fancy code');
// your fancy code here
// ...
} catch (ex) {
console.error("An error has occurred: " + Stringify(ex));
}
</script>
This is by far up to personal taste but I would recommend to stick any one folder structure in your Git repos for every CloudPage/E-Mail. For CloudPages and e-Mails a similar structure can be used, but keep in mind that JavaScript (app/) will not be executed in e-Mails and SFMC actually automatically removes any non-SSJS <script> nodes from your content blocks without warning.
This is what I would recommend after playing around with it for some time:
How you structure your app/ directory is likely up to whatever front end library you might be using. Angular(JS), react and others all come with their standard directory approach and it is recommended to follow these best practices.
In any case, you should try to map your local files to one content block each in the CloudPage - except for when you minify your front end code, then one content block per code type / per .min file should be used.
<!-- model layout of a CloudPage -->
<!-- Start of server-side code here -->
<!-- block 1 -->
server-1.amp
<!-- block 2 -->
server-2.initCore.ssjs
<!-- block 3 -->
lib.mySharedClass.ssjs
<!-- block 4 -->
server-3.ssjs
<!-- END of server-side code here -->
<!-- block 5 - this is where all your HTML goes -->
app-1.html
<!-- start loading CSS & JS below here -->
<!-- block 6 -->
app-2.loadExternalLibs.html
<!-- block 7 -->
app-3.style.min.css
<!-- block 8 -->
app-4.script.min.js
Load the Platform Core once before all other SSJS files to use one consistent version across the CloudPage:
<!-- initCore.ssjs -->
<!-- load this before all other SSJS files to use one consistent Core version across the CloudPage -->
%%[ /* <b>initCore.ssjs</b> */ ]%%
<script runat="server" language="JavaScript">
Platform.Load('core', '1.1.5'); // choose a version suitable to your needs!
</script>
Keep in mind that the above is just the minimal example. Of you have more code, it's good to split it up into files of up to 150 lines each, if possible.
Important: For optimal code highlighting, linting and auto-formatting you will need to remove the <script> ndoes around SSJS and <style> nodes around CSS in your local *.ssjs & *.css files. In the online version on the SFMC server however, you do need to include these in every file.
Any file should only contain markup language (HTML) or front-end code (CSS or JS) or AMPscript code or SSJS. You should avoid mixing this and mimic what the structure you saved locally. To still be able to easily recognize which content block contains what, add a little AMPscript at the beginning:
%%[ /* myAMPscript.amp */ ]%%
%%[
// insert AMPscript code here
]%%
or
%%[ /* mySSJS.ssjs */ ]%%
<script runat="server" language="JavaScript">
// insert SSJS code here
</script>
They can be set up via Email Studio and via Audience Builder ("Contact Builder"). The two interfaces look mostly similar but they do have distinct differences:
| Feature | Email Studio | Audience/Contact Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Where to find DEs | top navigation > Subscribers > Data Extensions | top navigation > Data Extensions |
| Sharing with BUs | You can either share an entire folder or a single DE. - Sharing a folder: via the right-click menu of shared folders in the left navigation. - Sharing single DE: Open the DE, then click the Permissions tab. The "Sharing Status" column reveals the sharing status for each BU. - You can distinctly choose what access rights are granted: View, Update, Delete, Manage Data, Transfer Ownership, Manage Data Retention |
n/a |
| Data Import sources | FTP, Upload (including Zips) | FTP, Upload, DataExtensions (no Zips) |
| Data Export destinations | FTP | Browser download, "Salesforce Objects & Reports", "Enhanced FTP" |
| Single Record Add/Update/Delete | no | yes |
| Delete All Records (Truncate table) | "Clear Data"-button | "Clear Records"-button |
| Columns Add/Update/Delete | yes, all at once (click on "Edit Fields" to activate); Note: this feature is deactivated in Email Studio if you set up data relationships with this DE in Contact Builder! |
yes, 1-by-1 (even when data relationsships have been set up) |
| Columns Update - Limitations | - You may never decrease the length of a field. - You may never change the field type. - If the DE is part of a relationship, you may not delete any field - Decimal length can never be changed |
You can actually easily set the Page Title and a few other SEO relevant settings ususally found in the page header's code via GUI in SFMC. While you are in the folder view, find the burger icon and delete icon on every page. Clicking the burger icon ("Page Properties") brings you to a page with an "Advanced Settings"-button and there to the "SEO" tab. Here you can set up page title, keywords, descriptions, and if search engines should be allowed to index the particular CloudPage.
| Name | SQL equivalent | Max Length | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text | String | 4000 |
"any text." |
| Number | Integer | ??? | 21 |
| Date | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Boolean | Boolean | - | True, False |
| Email Address | String | 254 |
"demo@domain.com"(a filter is applied making sure only standard compliant emails are stored) |
| Phone | String | ??? | ??? (adhering to E.164 standard) |
| Decimal | Decimal | 21,17, max sum is 38, with max 17 digits after the comma |
1234.56789 |
| Locale | Enum | 5 |
"en-us", complete list |
Only works in Email Studio - not in Contact Builder, despite the offered input field in Contact Builder.
When others create Business Units, it often happens that not all users get access to these by default. If you have access to the Business Edit right you can in fact always change what Business Units are visible to you and to others. However, while you are "logged into" a Child BU even the setup menu will not show these additional BUs to you, or present them grayed out.
Solution? Switch to the Parent BU and all options will re-appear.