Is this statement true about email templates or behavior within them?

Yes. IdentityIQ email templates use the Apache Velocity Template Language (VTL) , and these forms are valid Velocity reference syntaxes. $identityName is the normal shorthand reference. ${identityName} uses formal notation, which is particularly useful when the variable reference must be clearly separated from immediately adjacent characters. This permits the reference to be embedded or concatenated into surrounding text without Velocity interpreting the additional characters as part of the variable name.

The exclamation-mark form is a quiet reference . With $!identityName—or the formal quiet form $!{identityName}—Velocity suppresses the literal reference when the underlying value is null. This is useful in email templates because optional values should not produce visible strings such as $identityName when no value was supplied.

SailPoint ' s IdentityIQ documentation explicitly presents $identityName, ${identityName}, and $!identityName as VTL variable-reference forms and notes that the alternate forms are required in special situations. IdentityIQ email templates pass template arguments into the VelocityContext for this substitution.

References/topics: IdentityIQ Engineer — EmailTemplate objects, Apache Velocity, VTL references, formal references, quiet references.

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