Parameter identifiers, names, and values
This page is for template builders: the people who build the templates that others produce adaptations from. Every editable field in a template is a parameter, and each parameter has more than one facet. It has a hidden identifier that the template relies on, a name that people read, and one or more values that fill the field. Knowing which facet does what tells you what you can safely change once a template is in use. This page explains what a parameter’s identifier, name, and values each are, how parameters behave in the Extension for After Effects and in Template Builder, and how to name parameters well so you avoid rework.
The facets of a parameter
A parameter is an editable field in a template, such as a headline, a price, or a background image. When someone produces an adaptation, they fill in a form, and each parameter is one field in that form.
A parameter has three facets:
Identifier is a unique ID that the platform generates when the parameter is created. The template’s logic is tied to the identifier, not to the name. You never see or edit it, and it stays the same for the life of the parameter.
Name is the text shown against the field in the form. The name is what your colleagues read when they produce an adaptation, so it should describe clearly what belongs in the field. Because the logic follows the identifier, you can change a name at any time without breaking the template.
Values are the content that fills the field for a given adaptation. For a predefined-value parameter, which offers a dropdown of fixed options, the values are the options someone can select; for an open parameter, the value is whatever they enter or upload.
How you set these facets depends on which tool you build the template in.
Parameters in the Extension for After Effects
When you create a parameter in the Extension for After Effects, the platform gives it an identifier, and you give it a name. You can rename the parameter at any time, and reorder parameters in the form, without affecting the logic tied to them.
Each option in a predefined-value parameter has its own identifier too, so you can reword an option’s label without breaking the rules that use it.
Deleting a parameter is different. A new parameter gets a new identifier, even if you give it the same name, so the logic tied to the old one doesn’t carry over and you have to rebuild it. Settle a parameter’s purpose before you build logic on it, and rename it rather than recreate it when the wording needs to change.
Parameters in Template Builder
In Template Builder, you set a parameter’s name directly, and that name is what appears in the form. Its type is either a predefined value, with a dropdown of fixed options, or open text.
The values are the options a person can select in a predefined-value parameter, or the text they enter in an open-text parameter.
Naming parameters well
Choose names that tell the person producing an adaptation exactly what to enter, such as Headline, Product price, or Background image.
Clear names make the form easy to complete correctly, and you can refine them later as wording needs change.
Plan a parameter’s purpose and its set of values with more care, because the logic you build on them is harder to change once the template is in use.