Cannot interpolate columns with "." in name

[karlcz]

I need to be able to interpolate all columns even if they have names that mustache does not like, e.g. with a . character (or any other that mustache might disallow).

• ideally, we should use a template system that does not make assumptions about names
• alternatively, we might use a workaround like string-replacing or otherwise "escaping" unsafe characters while producing the markdown environment, so someone writing an annotation can use this mangled name to access the column data

[chiragsanghvi]

I think we might need to get rid of Mustache as escaping also won't work. In addition other template languages also won't support it as . in javascript is a property of an object. janl/mustache.js#343

We can use handlebars, but for it you need to explicitly enclose the column-name in quotes if it has a dot or any special character that conflicts with handlebars syntax.

// Change this object to change your values
var obj = {
   ID: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland \t what is this",
   "this.is": "some name"
};

var handlebars = require("handlebars");
console.log(handlebars.compile('{{ID}} - {{"this.is"}}')(obj));

We can switch back to the old string replacement. Which I am sure supports it, but it won't have the encode and other escaping stuff.

https://runkit.com/chiragsanghvi/57b4b5f94c7bbd13004b43f6

[hongsudt]

#escape has been used in real deployments.. So we need to be careful about turning off features.

…

On Wed, Dec 14, 2016 at 5:16 PM, Chirag Sanghvi ***@***.***> wrote: I think we might need to get rid of Mustache as escaping also won't work. In addition other template languages also won't support it as . in javascript is a property of an object. We can use handlebars, but for it you need to explicitly enclose the column-name in quotes. // Change this object to change your valuesvar obj = { ID: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland \t what is this", "this.is": "some name" };console.log(mustache.render('{{ID}} - {{"this.is"}}', obj)); var handlebars = require("handlebars");console.log(handlebars.compile('{{ID}} - {{"this.is"}}')(obj)); We can switch back to the old string replacement. Which I am sure supports it, but it won't have the encode and other escaping stuff. https://runkit.com/chiragsanghvi/57b4b5f94c7bbd13004b43f6 — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#303 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAZUDD6iqY4aFiXIDt4pGBcdreeKZMRGks5rIJT4gaJpZM4LNksV> .[image: Web Bug from https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AAZUDDgwM3LD7IKw78doB6LdRkJSYNcOks5rIJT4gaJpZM4LNksV.gif] {"api_version":"1.0","publisher":{"api_key":" 05dde50f1d1a384dd78767c55493e4bb","name":"GitHub"},"entity": {"external_key":"github/informatics-isi-edu/ermrestjs" ,"title":"informatics-isi-edu/ermrestjs","subtitle":"GitHub repository","main_image_url":"https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/ 143418/17495839/a5054eac-5d88-11e6-95fc-7290892c7bb5.png"," avatar_image_url":"https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/ assets/143418/15842166/7c72db34-2c0b-11e6-9aed-b52498112777.png ","action":{"name":"Open in GitHub","url":"https://github. com/informatics-isi-edu/ermrestjs"}},"updates":{" ***@***.*** in #303: I think we might need to get rid of Mustache as escaping also won't work. In addition other template languages also won't support it as `.` in javascript is a property of an object. \r\n\r\nWe can use handlebars, but for it you need to explicitly enclose the column-name in quotes. \r\n\r\n```js\r\n// Change this object to change your values\r\nvar obj = {\r\n ID: \"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland \\t what is this\",\r\n \"this.is\": \"some name\"\r\n};\r\nconsole.log(mustache.render('{{ID}} - {{\"this.is\"}}', obj));\r\n\r\nvar handlebars = require(\"handlebars\");\r\ nconsole.log(handlebars.compile('{{ID}} - {{\"this.is\"}}')(obj));\r\n```\r\n\r\nWe can switch back to the old string replacement. Which I am sure supports it, but it won't have the encode and other escaping stuff.\r\n\r\n\r\nhttps:// runkit.com/chiragsanghvi/57b4b5f94c7bbd13004b43f6"}],"action":{"name":"View Issue","url":"#303# issuecomment-267208163"}}}

[hongsudt]

@karlcz can you please describe the workaround here..

[karlcz]

@hongsudt it's the second option I described in the original issue. Mangle column names when producing the environment object passed to the mustache interpreter, i.e. replace . or any other disallowed character with _ when forming the object keys for the environment dictionary.

Then, the DBA can mangle the names the same way in order to be able to use guards or interpolation based on that column.

Don't worry about collisions. If a DBA uses column names that differ only in . versus _, they can suffer the consequences...