Executing Function Logic in Visual Titles

[TheCardlessMoose]

I am wondering if someone has any experience with executing functions in the titles of their Quicksight visuals. I am attempting to do so and am encountering a very vague error.

I have a StartDate and EndDate parameters. I want to have two visuals. I would like the first to show data between the start and end dates. For example, if the Start/End date parameters are August 1, 2022 - August 3, 2022, I would like my visual title to read “Showing Data from Aug 1, 2022 to Aug 3, 2022”.

I would like the second to show data from the same date range, but the previous year. For example if the Start/End date parameters are August 1, 2022 - August 3, 2022, I would like this visual to read “Showing Data from Aug 1, 2021 to Aug 3, 2021”.

In experimenting, I was able to prove that I am able to execute Quicksight functions in the title of a visual. For example, here I was able to run the following code using the now() and addDateTime() functions to produce a promising output

However, there seems to be some reason I cannot run similar code while also using parameters. If I run that same code using my start date parameter I get this very vague error message:

I am hoping someone else has been down this road before and encountered this same error and can shed some light on what I’m missing.

[DeepakS]

@TheCardlessMoose, Instead of using a title you can create a custom narrative visual using the same date format function to format date parameters and overlay custom narrative visual on top of your KPI visual, something like this

[TheCardlessMoose]

This looks like it would work. Though, I guess I’m mostly just curious as to why some functions can be run inside the title of a visual while others cannot. Wondering if anyone knows the specific reason

[ed2910]

Hi, you need to surround parameters with << and >>. These are symbols for embedding any code.
See QuickSight: How To Using Parameters to Create Dynamic Titles & Descriptions - Data - QualityNet Confluence
Also in the latest release of QuickSight , when you type <<, the user interface changes to “Embed code” . You can just enter your parameter with a $ prefix. The UI doesn’t actually show << and >> anymore.

[TheCardlessMoose]

I see that when I type in the <<>> symbol, I am able to enter the code. However, the error I described occurs when I try to run some function on those parameters (such as formatDate()).

For example, in the title:

This is fine: Data between <<${StartDateParam}>> and <<${EndDateParam}>>

This throws an error: Data between <<formatDate(${StartDateParam}, 'dd MMM yyyy')>> and <<formatDate(${EndDateParam}, 'dd MMM yyyy')>>

And the main source of my confusion is that I can execute some functions but not others. For example, this is fine as well:
Data between <<formatDate(now(), 'dd MMM yyyy')>> and <<formatDate(now(), 'dd MMM yyyy')>>