Dynamic string building template

[TheDuke]

I'm looking for recommendations on the best approach to accomplish the following which is somewhat difficult to explain:

I have a text area control in a ux component with a button that populates it dynamically based on other values in the component. For instance, assume four textboxes as follows: textbox1 = 'Alpha', textbox2 = 'Beta', textbox3 = 'Sunday' and textbox4 = 'Monday'. When the user clicks the button, the text area is populated with 'Alpha Beta' on line 1 and 'Sunday Monday' on line 2.

This is easy as long as the order and line number are predetermined. The problem is different users want to populate the text area differently, e.g. 'Alpha Sunday' on line 1 and 'Beta Monday' on line 2, etc. What I'm looking to do is present the user with a template for them to select from the list of controls and put them in the order and line number they desire. Drag and drop would be the preferred interface but what I envision is them winding up with something like this:

Line1: {textbox1}{textbox2}
Line2: {textbox3}{textbox4}

I also want to give them the ability to add a word or phrase such as:
Line1: {textbox1} and {textbox2} (the output would be 'Alpha and Beta')

Any suggestions on how to best approach this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[GGandhi]

Re: Dynamic string building template

one way may be, like alpha does table design or entering a text message - press a button to do something. for example:
put the text area and place multiple buttons and when each button is pressed it will do one action, something like
get the value of textbox1 and add it to the textarea, same thing for the next three buttons, then another will add line feed, AND OR etc.,
so basically you can ask them to press button and build the string.

[TheDuke]

Re: Dynamic string building template

Thanks for the suggestion and you've given me a great idea. I could present the user with a list of control names with an option to add it to the end of the string. I could append a row to the list called add word/phrase that would prompt them for what to add. Essentially what I want to achieve is to allow my users to "define" what the button does. Maybe a little more detail would help...

One of the ux's is a jewelry entry form. It includes fields such as gold purity, gold color, gender, jewelry type, etc. The text area is a description of the item and the button would auto-fill based on the other control values. If I develop the solution above then the user could end up with a template where line 1 looks like {gold purity} {gold color} gold {gender} {jewelry type} that might translate into 18K white gold ladie's engagement ring. Other users might define line 1 in the template as {stone weight} carat {stone shape} {stone type} which might translate into 2.35 carat round diamond.

Essentially, I'm trying to give my users control over things that I'm constantly having to customize so my application can be more one size fits all. The only thing that might be easier is drag and drop but I'll settle for selecting a control from the list and clicking add to template. Any other ideas are certainly welcome.