[VELOCITY-743] The character ":" if present within the curly braces of a variable throws exception

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Won't Fix
• Affects Version/s: 1.6.2
• Component/s: Engine
• Environment: JRE 6, Apache tomcat 6.0.18
• Assignee: Claude Brisson
• Reporter: Vinay
• Created: 09/Nov/09 18:56
• Updated: 07/Jan/18 15:48
• Resolved: 10/Sep/16 15:58

Description

I am trying to write a template that is customized like this
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
<hi>
<variable1> ${EPL_JOBTITLE:varB_EPL} </variable1>
<variable2>${SPL_EMPLOYEENUMBER:varA_SPL} </variable2>
</hi>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now the ${EPL_JOBTITLE:varB_EPL} is custom parsed and replaced with the appropriate values in the context.
However, as soon as the Template is loaded by the velocity engine I get a

Template Parse Exception :
Encountered ":varB_EPL}\r\n\r\n\r\n" at MY Script - 1\Test this.vm[line 1, column 15]
Was expecting one of:
"}" ...
<DOT> ...

How is the ":" character an invalid one within braces ? Shouldn't it be supported within a variable name?