Quick Setup: Conditional Logic

Using S-Docs Render Statements

This is the main way to include or exclude sections of a document based on logic within the template itself. It does not require creating new Salesforce fields.

Basic structure

<!--RENDER=logical_expression -->
  content to show if expression is true
<!--ENDRENDER-->

The engine evaluates logical_expression; if TRUE, everything up to ENDRENDER appears in the final document.

If you are interested, please check out my working examples article for quick reference!

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AND / OR Logic Structure

AND

<!--RENDER=(logical_expression-1 && logical_expression-2) -->
  content to show if expression is true
<!--ENDRENDER-->

OR

<!--RENDER=(logical_expression-1 || logical_expression-2) -->
  content to show if expression is true
<!--ENDRENDER-->

• The expressions need to be contained within parenthesis.
• && or || are important to use.

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Nested Conditional Logic

You can nest up to 4 levels deep. This lets you represent dependent conditions—for example, missing phone and alternate numbers:

<!--RENDER=logical_expression_1stlevel -->
  content to show if expression is true
  <!--RENDER1=logical_expression_2ndlevel -->
    content to show if expression is true
  <!--ENDRENDER1-->
<!--ENDRENDER-->

<!--RENDER=logical_expression_1stlevel -->
  content to show if expression is true
  <!--RENDER1=logical_expression_2ndlevel -->
    content to show if expression is true
    <!--RENDER2=logical_expression_3rdlevel-1 -->
      content to show if expression is true
    <!--ENDRENDER2-->
    <!--RENDER2=logical_expression_3rdlevel-2 -->
      additional content to show if expression is true
    <!--ENDRENDER2-->
  <!--ENDRENDER1-->
<!--ENDRENDER-->

A few requirements: ✔ Each nested level must use a distinct render tag (RENDER1, RENDER2, etc.) ✔ Tags must be properly paired ✔ No skipping levels (i.e., RENDER2 must be inside RENDER1)

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CONTAINS & NOT CONTAINS

If you want to check if a field contains a substring:

<!--RENDER='{{!Contact.Name}}' CONTAINS 'Steve' -->
  Name contains “Tim”.
<!--ENDRENDER-->

And the opposite:

<!--RENDER='{{!Contact.Name}}' NOT CONTAINS 'Steve' -->
  Name does not contain “Tim”.
<!--ENDRENDER-->

This is helpful when looking for keywords or partial matches in text fields.

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When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Use Template Logic

Best For

✅ Dynamic document content that varies by prefix, status, tier, field values, etc. ✅ Avoiding dozens of separate templates ✅ Complex visibility logic embedded in template

Less Ideal For

❌ Extremely large text blocks controlled by simple rules — consider formula fields ❌ Logic that already exists elsewhere in your Salesforce processes

Pro Tips

• Always test edge cases (e.g., null values, unexpected values).
• Use AND/OR to simplify nested structures when deep nesting isn’t necessary.
• If text needs to be replaced within text area fields or rich text fields, consider the replaceall attribute.
• If render statements are needed in fields with character limits or are quite complex, consider formula fields or callable apex to achieve the goal.
• Ensure all HTML tags are either included in or outside of RENDER statements. If there is a mismatch, the template editor will save, but the document generation will fail.