Nesting Shortcodes in GFSearch

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BrightLeaf

You can include shortcodes inside the display attribute of GFSearch using double curly braces ({{ ... }} syntax). This allows you to embed other shortcodes—like gravitymath, gfsearch or any other shortcode—within the output for each entry.

Read more about the display attribute here.

Basic Syntax

Wrap any supported shortcode inside double curly braces:

[gfsearch display="Sum: {{gravitymath}}2+2{{/gravitymath}}"]
  • Works with both self-closing and wrapped shortcodes
  • Supports all shortcode attributes
  • Placeholders like {13} will be parsed before the nested shortcode is run

Placeholder Behavior

When nesting a gfsearch shortcode:

  • The outer gfsearch processes its own placeholders in the display string first
  • The nested gfsearch processes its own display attribute separately after it runs
  • Use the format gfs:id (no curly braces) inside nested shortcodes to refer to placeholder values
  • Likewise, when referencing entry values inside formulas or shortcode attributes, you may need to use a custom merge tag
    format. Using standard merge tags like {8} or {gfs:8} will break the shortcode. For example:
{{gravitymath scope='view' id='1014' filter='filter_19=gfs:21'}}~gfs.8.sum~{{/gravitymath}}

This correctly filters by field 21 and calculates the sum of field 8 using special merge tag syntax.

[gfsearch display="Lookup: {{gfsearch target='60' search='1' display='gfs:23'}}"]
John
[/gfsearch]

Best Practices & Caveats

  • Don’t mix single and double quotes inside the display attribute—if the outer string uses double quotes, use single quotes inside:
display="{{gravitymath scope='view' id='1014'}}2+2{{/gravitymath}}"
  • Even when using the Global Variables plugin, use the double curly brace syntax for your formulas if they are meant to run inside a GFSearch display attribute.
  • Shortcodes inside the display string must either:
    • Return a value that can be shown as part of a string alongside other placeholders or text
    • Or return a field/property ID when using the basic display format (e.g., display="gfs:23"), which GFSearch will interpret and replace with the actual entry value

Examples

Nested shortcode with computed math:

[gfsearch display="Total: {{gravitymath}}~gfs.8+gfs.9~{{/gravitymath}}"]

Nested gfsearch to pull related field:

[gfsearch target='60' search='1' sort_key='3' display="Submitted by {16} on {3}. Related: {{gfsearch target='61' search='2' display='gfs:23'}}"]
John
[/gfsearch]

This could output something like:

Submitted by John Smith on 2024-07-15. Related: Completed