Collection Variables: Introduction and Lists

Collection variables are used to specify which category of data you would like to pull information from.

Accessing variables within a collection

The syntax for collection variables or loops always requires:

{#} the hashtag - opens a loop

{/} the forward slash - closes a loop

There are two ways to get information from a collection. In the example below we will use the example of the directors collection that contains the directors Jessica Day, Winston Schmidt, and Nicholas Miller.

In example 1, we were able to access the director’s name using a _ to access the {name} variable within the directors collection.

In example 2, we opened the collection with a # and used the single variable {name} to access all of the directors names in the collection. We must also remember to close the collection with the closing tag {/}.

Loops

Example 2 above is an example of a loop. To begin looping through collections, we use the opening tag # before the collection name and use closing tags {/} when we want to end the loop.

Other ways to loop through collections is through a List or a Table.

Lists

Generated lists can be ordered or unordered. There are different ways to code lists.

-w:p

The -w:p function is used to create bulleted lists without an additional line. Use -w:p in the opening tag and remember to close the tag with {/}.

Example

You want to create a list of officers including their name and office.

You can also create a list using collection loops.