# How to have if "string === string" in template?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [July 21, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404 "2020-07-21T16:11:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JQ331](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JQ331)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/1 "2020-07-21T16:11:34Z")
In my plugin, I want to have an `if` statement in a template, that evaluates whether a string matches a value.
Like this:
```
{{#each groups as |group|}}
{{#if group.name === "AwesomeName"}}
There is a match!
{{/if}}
{{/each}}
```
How can I do this in Discourse?
* * *
I understand that doing a straight {{if}} does not work in Ember/Handlebars. It looks like I have to register a helper. Something like this:
plugin/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/eq/js/es6
```
import { registerHelper } from 'discourse-common/lib/helpers';
registerHelper('eq', function(arg1, arg2) {
if (arg1 === arg2) {
return true
} else {
return false
}
})
```
plugin/assets/javascripts/templates/components/my-component.hbs
```
{#each groups as |group|}}
{{#eq group.name "AwesomeName"}}
There is a match!
{{/eq}}
{{/each}}
```
This doesn’t work. (There are no errors provided.)
I tried the solution [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plugin-template-helper/51160), which tries to use “makeBoundHelper”, but it doesn’t work for me either–there I get errors about “makeBoundHelper” is not a function.
I just want to be able to do an if statement for matching a string to a value. How do I do it?
---
### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/2 "2020-07-21T16:24:23Z")
You want to use [Computed Properties - The Object Model - Ember Guides](https://guides.emberjs.com/v3.12.0/object-model/computed-properties/)
Look at the Discourse source code for their particular code style though.
---
### Author:  [@JQ331](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JQ331)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/3 "2020-07-21T17:01:40Z")
Computed properties are interesting, but I’m not seeing the link to what I’m focused on here.
In my example, the key property is group.name, and I want to evaluate in the template whether that property matches “AwesomeName”. Not sure how computed properties would get around the need to use a particular type of `{{if}}` statement in the template that I haven’t been able to figure out.
---
### Author:  [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2020, 3:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/4 "2020-07-22T03:28:19Z")
Handlebars templates only have rudimentary boolean logic. You can do which checks the property for [truthy values](https://www.sitepoint.com/javascript-truthy-falsy/).
To do anything more complicated, you need to perform the logic in the Ember JS file associated with the template.
So say you have a template under `templates/components/my-component.hbs`. You’d have to use the JS file `components/my-component.js` to do the computation.
In that file you’d do something like this:
```js
import discourseComputed from "discourse-common/utils/decorators";
import Component from "@ember/component";
export default Component.extend({
@discourseComputed("string1", "string2")
property(string1, string2) {
return string1 === string2;
}
});
```
`property` is just the name of a function, but it could be any name.
Then in the template, you’d do something like this:
```plaintext
{{#if property}}
blah blah...
{{/if}}
```
This pulls the computed property in from the JS file and shows the content in the `#if` block only if `property` returns `true`.
---
### Author:  [@JQ331](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JQ331)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/5 "2020-07-22T22:38:45Z")
Thanks for this–it helps clarify a lot.
Haven’t quite gotten it to work yet–in part bc I’m not finding examples out there of using computed properties to do this kind of operation.
> [@justin](#):
>
> So say you have a template under `templates/components/my-component.hbs` . You’d have to use the JS file `components/my-component.js` to do the computation.
In my case, in my plugin, I am making the change in the group index template. So in the file: `plugin/assets/javascripts/discourse/groups/index.hbs` (I just put the entire groups index code there and add changes on top of it.)
Do you mean that the computed property js would go in a file I create that is: `plugin/assets/javascripts/discourse/groups/index.js`? Or can I just put that code in an initializer?
> [@justin](#):
>
> ```plaintext
> export default Component.extend({
> @discourseComputed("string1", "string2")
> property(string1, string2) {
> return string1 === string2;
> }
> });
>
> ```
This is my best attempt to implement what you are talking about–is this what you had in mind:
js:
```
export default Component.extend({
@discourseComputed("group.name", "Amazing_Name")
property(group.name, Amazing_Name) {
return group.name === Amazing_Name
}
})
```
hbs:
```
{{#if property}}
Yep There is a Match!
{{/if}}
```
Or did you mean that I should literally enter general values like “string1” and “string2” in `@discourseComputed,` and then change the template to `{{#if property group.name "Amazing_Name"}}` ? (only that way could I account for each value being dynamic in the template.)
Haven’t gotten either approach to quite work yet.
Thank you for your help.
---
### Author:  [@oca](https://meta.discourse.org/u/oca)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2021, 6:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/6 "2021-01-25T06:59:30Z")
Have you managed to make it work ? I crave for a detailed example of how to do that (add what content, in which file, and where in that file if that’s relevant).
---
### Author:  [@JQ331](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JQ331)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-have-if-string-string-in-template/158404/7 "2021-01-25T15:41:36Z")
I actually never got this to work myself and had to move on. It seemed silly to spend so much time on what normally would be a basic coding exercise. In my case I think it was likely a bit of incorrect syntax here and incorrect syntax there, but I never found full working examples. I would also be grateful for a full working example of how to do an` if string === string.`