Don't replace commas with semicolons in e-mail address fields

[GeorgeJ4336]

When a To, Cc, or Bcc field in an e-mail template is populated with a comma, such as by a field code, AppColl replaces the comma with a semicolon. On the surface, this makes sense, since it allows a user to use commas to enter a list of e-mail address field codes in the template and in contact detail records, and the resulting string (with semicolons, instead of commas, separating the addresses) is acceptable to e-mail agents.

However, when a client name includes a comma, for example between the first part of the client’s name and “Inc.,” the resulting string causes an unwanted character, i.e., a semicolon, to be included in the address, which needs to be manually edited before sending the message.

For example, I have a client whose name is of the form “Xxxxxx (USA), Inc.” If I use a field code, such as {Invoice.BillTo.Company}, in the “To:” or “Cc:” field, the comma gets replaced with a semicolon. Worse, if I send the message without manually deleting the semicolons, the display names in the sent message header get messed up.

My Default Invoice Email template includes the following in the "To:" address:

{Invoice. BillTo. First} {Invoice. BillTo Last} {Invoice. BillTo. Company} <(Invoice. BillTo.EmailNoCC}>

to create a nice display name in the delivered e-mail message.

However, in the case of my client with a comma in its name, AppColl generates something like:

Nicole Sxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx (USA); Inc. <nicole@xxxxxxxx.com>

"Nicole Sxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx (USA)" is considered to be an e-mail address, because it is separated from following text by a semicolon. However, "Nicole Sxxx..." is not a valid e-mail address, so it gets dropped, and the display name ends up being simply "Inc." which isn't very pretty.

I realize that AppColl has been replacing commas with semicolons for quite a while now, and many users may have templates that rely on such behavior. However, the behavior causes problems for client names that include commas. I'm not sure what to suggest.

-George

[gregg_appcoll]

Thank you for pointing this out George. We will get this taken care of and let you know when done.

[RichardS3059]

@GeorgeJ4336 At first glance, the right answer would seem to be don't change commas to semicolons except when parsing email address fields. There's no reason to change commas to semicolons elsewhere. But your template would fail even if they only did that and you had a BillTo.EmailNoCC value of "jack@xxx.com, jill@xxx.com"; that would produce an invalid email address:

Nicole Sxxxx Xsssss(USA), Inc. <jack@xxx.com; jill@xxx.com>