Hello Tom,

It seems like you're on the right track, but the issue may lie in the timing of when the $data is being populated or passed to your custom hook. The placeholder data you’re trying to use may not be available at the time you're trying to access it. Let's walk through a few things you can try:

1. Make Sure Data Is Available:
   The placeholders you’re trying to access, like appointment_id, may not be populated at the moment the hook runs, depending on how and when the notification is triggered. Ensure that the data you're trying to manipulate is available at the point of execution.

2. Check Hook Context:
   Confirm that the hook is triggered in the correct context, where the $data array contains the values you're expecting. It’s possible that the data isn't available when your hook is firing, or it may need to be initialized first.

3. Customer ID:
   If you're looking for the customer ID instead of the appointment ID, you can check the $data array for keys related to the customer. Typically, customer_id should be available. You can try this in your function to see if it's populated correctly:

    

   function amelia_customerisvip($data) { // Check if customer ID is available if (isset($data['customer_id'])) { $customer_id = $data['customer_id']; return 'Customer ID: ' . $customer_id; } else { return 'Customer ID not found'; } }

   This will check if the customer_id is in the $data array and output it accordingly.

4. Using the Right Hook:
   Ensure you are using the correct hook for your desired outcome. You are using amelia_dynamic_placeholder_customerisVIP, which might not always pass the expected data. You might need a different hook depending on what you need to do with the data.

If you still cannot access the customer_id or other expected data from $data, you can also try logging the $data array at runtime to see exactly what’s being passed:

This will help you debug the structure of $data and confirm what’s available to you.

Let me know if that helps or if you need further assistance!