• Jinja is the templating language used in Rewst workflows. It allows you to create placeholders in your code that are filled in with real data when the workflow runs.

• Think of Jinja as your tool for working with dynamic data like user names, group IDs, and actions.

• Every time a Rewst workflow runs, the data processed is shown in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format in the context of the workflow.

• JSON organizes data into objects (also called context variables in Rewst workflows), with key: value pairs. For example, "action" is a key and "add" could be the value.

In JSON, objects may have additional attributes, organized within more braces. You can access a specific attribute using dot notation.

• For example, to get the organization ID, use "CTX.organization.id" in the Jinja Live Editor.

• If you need the entire object, ask for "CTX.organization" to get all its attributes and values.

To get familiar with your context data, complete these steps in Rewst:

1. Open the "Add or Remove User - Microsoft Group" workflow and go to the "workflow results" by selecting the graph icon.

2. Open the most recent success and review the Context data. This will show you all the information processed during the workflow execution.

Key objects like "action," "user_id," and "group_id" are visible as part of the context data. These were configured in the workflow input and are now accessible for use in Jinja code.

The Jinja Live Editor is a great place to experiment with Jinja code. You can paste in JSON data and practice writing Jinja statements without affecting any real data.

• Use two curly braces to output or print data from your workflow.

• Example:{{ CTX.action }} outputs the value of the "action" variable, such as "add" or "remove."

• Use {% %} for code blocks that control logic, such as if/else statements or loops.

• Example:{% if CTX.action == "add" %} The user was added{% else %} The user was removed{% endif %}

• Use {# #} to add comments in your code. Comments are ignored during execution but help others (or yourself) understand the code.

• Example:{# This is a comment #}

• Use a dash inside any of these delimiters to strip extra spaces.

• Example:{{- CTX.action -}}

Filters modify data in Jinja without changing the original information. Common filters allow you to format dates, capitalize text, or provide default values.

• Example: Use the d filter to avoid errors if a context variable is empty:

{{ CTX.group.displayName | d }} outputs an empty string if there is no display name for the group.

• Use dot notation in the output to specify parts of each item.

• The condition (typically, an "if" statement) is optional and filters based on criteria like "if the color is not red."

• If you want to turn the list into a string, apply the "join" filter. You'll find an example of this in the "Lunch Menu" exercises for this lesson.

For a few examples, refer to the Jinja List Comprehension Examples module.

We want a list of the apple brand names. Here's how the list comprehension breaks down:

• Output: The specific attribute we want is the apple's name. So, we use apple.name.

• For Loop: Loop through each apple with for apple in CTX.them_apples.

• Condition: No condition needed here.

The result is a list of brand names like Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, and Jazz, stored in CTX.apple_names. You’ll learn more about storing lists in the lesson on Creating an Option Generator Workflow.

This time, let's filter a list by the attribute "color" to create a new list that excludes red apples.

• Output: We want the whole apple this time, so we use apple.

• For Loop: Same as before, for apple in CTX.them_apples.

• Condition: Only include apples with the colors pink or green, by writing if "green" in apple.color or if "pink" in apple.color.

Alternative methods for the condition could be:

• if "red" not in apple.color

• if "Red Delicious" not in apple.name

This gives us a new list of only pink and green apples, stored in CTX.best_apples.

Here are a few examples of how and where you'll use Jinja in other course lessons:

• Building a Basic Form and Workflow: Form field names become input variables (e.g., user_id, group_id, action), which are passed into the workflow context for each form submission. If you've already completed this lesson, you've used Jinja by using code in your action parameters: CTX.group_id and CTX.user_id .

• Creating an Option Generator Workflow: You’ll configure output variables like {{ CTX.group_result }} for workflow output.

• Workflow Logic: Custom conditions use Jinja to check variable attributes, e.g., {{ Graph }} transition.

• Getting Modular with a Sub-Workflow: Input variables become required parameters when this workflow is used in a "parent workflow."

Data is created through workflow actions in two ways:

1. Action Result: When the action runs, Rewst gets raw data (e.g., Microsoft Graph API response) stored in the "Result" section.

2. Data Alias: If a transition condition is met, data aliases can store results (e.g., success or failure).

Check out this example of a Microsoft Graph List Groups action:

• Data is stored in group_list and validated by a data alias called hoorayin the "on success" transition.

• If the action fails, the data alias boowould show in the workflow execution results (as it is added to the "on failure" transition).

Pro Tip: Use a data alias to store and modify data as needed. You’ll practice this in the lesson on Creating an Option Generator Workflow.