Fields and Placeholders

What is a Placeholder?

A placeholder is a word that will be replaced with something more useful once a report is generated. Placeholders always start with a $ to make them easily recognizable. Placeholders may be replaced with a student's name, the correct pronoun, or other user-entered input.

Name and Pronoun Placeholders

The Comment Generator recognizes many different placeholders, as shown below:

Placeholder:	What it will be replaced with:
$Student	Replaced with the student's name.
$he / $she / $they	Will be changed to the correct pronoun based on the student's gender. The replacement will match the case of the placeholder. The Comment Generator will also update verbs that follow these pronouns to the correct tense.
$him / $her / $them	Will be changed to the correct pronoun based on the student's gender. The Comment Generator will also update verbs that follow these pronouns to the correct tense.
$his / $her / $their	Will be changed to the correct pronoun based on the student's gender. The Comment Generator will also update verbs that follow these pronouns to the correct tense.
$his / $hers / $theirs	Will be changed to the correct pronoun based on the student's gender. The Comment Generator will also update verbs that follow these pronouns to the correct tense.
$himself / $herself / $themself	Will be changed to the correct pronoun based on the student's gender. The Comment Generator will also update verbs that follow these pronouns to the correct tense.

How to Add Placeholders to a Comment

When writing comments, you can add name and pronoun placeholders by either typing them as shown above, or by selecting the button to insert the student's name, or the button to insert a pronoun.

When done correctly, the editor will highlight student name placeholders in blue, like this: $Student. Pronoun placeholders will be highlighted in green, like this: $They. $He / $She / They will also catch many verbs that follow them, and change them to the correct tense. You will know when a verb will be changed as it will also be highlighted, such as $They are.

Does $He / $She / They miss a verb that you would like included? Please let us know and we will make sure it starts recognizing that verb.

Fields

Fields are placeholders that are replaced with a specific input when generating reports. These inputs can then have content added directly into them, allowing them to place that content in the final report.

Field Placeholders

The Comment Generator recognizes the following field placeholders:

Placeholder:	What it will be replaced with:
$text	Will be replaced with a text-input field. The final report will contain the text entered into this field. When generating reports, it will appear like this:
$number	Will be replaced with a number-input field. The final report will contain the number entered into this field. When generating reports, it will appear like this:
$quality	Will be replaced with a selector containing quality words. The final report will contain the quality word selected. The list will match the case of the placeholder. Also, if the word "a" or "an" appears before the quality word selector, it will be changed to match the word selected (e.g. "a" will change to "an" if "excellent" is selected). When generating reports, it will appear like this: excellent good basic insufficient
$extended	Will be replaced with a selector containing many quality words. The final report will contain the quality word selected. The list will match the case of the placeholder. Also, if the word "a" or "an" appears before the quality word selector, it will be changed to match the word selected (e.g. "a" will change to "an" if "excellent" is selected). When generating reports, it will appear like this: excellent outstanding exceptional wonderful fantastic good proficient effective quality fine basic adequate acceptable satisfactory rudimentary insufficient limited below grade-level lack of undeveloped
$frequency	Will be replaced with a selector containing frequency words. The final report will contain the field word selected. The list will match the case of the placeholder. When generating reports, it will appear like this: always almost always constantly usually mostly generally frequently often typically regularly sometimes occasionally seldomly rarely
$term	Will be replaced with a selector containing words relating to various periods of time. The final report will contain the field word selected. The list will match the case of the placeholder. When generating reports, it will appear like this: year grade term semester trimester quarter period
$date	Will be replaced with a date-input field. The final report will contain the date entered into this field. When generating reports, it will appear like this:
$today	Will be replaced with the current date.

How to Add Placeholders to a Comment

When writing comments, you can add name and pronoun placeholders by either typing them as shown above, or by selecting the button to insert a field.

When done correctly, the editor will highlight the field in red such as $text. $Quality and $extended will also grab an "a" or "an" before it and update it to the correct article when generating reports. If $quality finds an "a" or "an" before the placeholder, it will include them in the highlight: a $quality.