Data Mapper formulas and functions
How Data Mapper formulas are written, stored and mapped in Extract, Transform and Load: uppercase single-operation syntax, error cases, string functions (CONCAT, JOIN, SPLIT), date functions and time zones, and $Vlocity environment variables.
Configure formulas to create or modify values within Data Mappers (concatenate, arithmetic, date formatting, etc.) across interface types (Transform, Extract and Load interface) for downstream use.
~7 min read · 10 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Add a formula on the Formulas tab, store it in a Formula Result Path and map that result for an Extract, a Transform or a Load.
- Write formulas the engine accepts: uppercase function names, one operation per formula, and node names with spaces quoted with
var:. - Concatenate and split strings with CONCAT, the
+operator, JOIN and SPLIT, and predict their results for numbers, nulls and empty strings. - Compare and format dates with DATEDIFF, FORMATDATETIME and FORMATDATETIMEGMT, and handle the UTC default of TODAY() and NOW().
- Use $Vlocity environment variables in formulas, default values and filters.
Key terms: Formula Result Path (the JSON node that stores a formula's result), single operation (one independent expression per formula, nesting allowed), error response {} (what a function returns when it can't evaluate its inputs), loose typing (the engine coerces types when the result type is clear), $Vlocity environment variable (a case-sensitive runtime value such as $Vlocity.NOW).
Key facts
- Detail
- Extract, Transform and Load; not Turbo Extract
- Detail
- Stored in Formula Result Path, then mapped
- Detail
- Returns null with no error logs
- Detail
- All uppercase, or "is not a Function or Operator"
- Detail
- One; no
;or\between operations
- Detail
- CONCAT and
+coerce to string;-,*,/return{}
- Detail
- Joins only the values before it
- Detail
- Java regex; escape a period as
\.
- Detail
- Operators treat dates as strings; use DATEDIFF
- Detail
- UTC by default;
$Vlocity.NOWuses user or org time zone
- Detail
- Double-quoted and case-sensitive
Sources for this section (8)
- Use Formulashelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Data Mappershelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Data Typeshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Functionshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- String Functionshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Operatorshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Date and Timehelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Environment Variableshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Why does
DAYOFWEEK("2025-01-01")return an error in a Data Mapper formula? - When does SPLIT return the input string unchanged?
- Why can a formula using NOW() show a different hour from the user's clock?
- What does
"Unit" * 4return in a Data Mapper formula? - How must
$Vlocity.N_DAYS_AGO:14be written as an Extract filter value?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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