can Velocity set a default value for a variable when no value found in VelocityContext?

Question

Velocity just print the tag name if no value was found in VelocityContext, ie, $name in my template file, but there is no value for \"name\" in VelocityContext, so just \"$n

Answer 1

For an empty default value, $!name will do. Otherwise,

#{if}($name)${name}#{else}${default_value}#{end}

See http://velocity.apache.org/engine/2.0/user-guide.html#quiet-reference-notation