New field: {Matter. InventorFirstNames}

[SadiqA2304]

I'd like to request a new field in Appcoll, that returns a comma separated list of inventor first names.

Currently, the way we have to do it is like this:

Step 1 - template definition:
Hello {Matter.Inventor1.First}, {Matter.Inventor2.First}, {Matter.Inventor3.First}, {Matter.Inventor4.First}, {Matter.Inventor5.First},

Step 2 - form generation based on template (assume this matter has 3 inventors)
Hello John, Tim, Mike, , ,

Step 3 - manual editing
Hello John, Tim, and Mike,
[["and" inserted and extra commas removed]]

My proposal would eliminate step 3.

Proposed step 1 - template definition:
Hello {Matter.InventorFirstNames},

Proposed Step 2 - form generation based on template:
Hello John, Tim, and Mike,
[["and" inserted and extra fields removed by AppColl backend logic]]

A similar proposal is possible for other lists of variable length, such as inventor full names and email addresses. This would eliminate a lot of manual editing on our end and further reduce likelihood of errors.

[SadiqA2304]

@MarkW5689 IMO this solution has the same problem, which is the need for manual changes to what should be a pretty simple and easy field to be provided to us. For email addresses, your solution works great and I appreciate the info.

[MarkW5689]

One thing you can do (that we do) is this:

Hi {Matter.Inventor1.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor2.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor3.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor4.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor5.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor6.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor7.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor8.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor9.First}{+044+032Matter.Inventor10.First}:

That way you don't get the empty commas.

We do this for email addresses:
{Matter.Inventor1.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor2.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor3.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor4.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor5.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor6.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor7.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor8.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor9.Email}{+059+032Matter.Inventor10.Email}

[MarianaH7108]

@SadiqA2304 I agree! There's plenty of manual editing in templates that I would really like to see improved! More functions in templates would be a big deal for us!

[gregg_appcoll]

Hi Sadiq. Thank you for your suggestion. We have added this as a formal request with engineering for implementation. We do not have an ETA yet. However, we will let you once completed.