Problem with UpdateDE with multiple column filters

Question

We manage our audience on multiple data extensions and I'm trying to update them via UpdateDE on a cloudpage. One of our data extensions needs another filter besides email address and I can't seem to get the UpdateDE function to work with multiple column filters. Sample of what current implementation looks like below,

%%[
SET @b = 'A'
Set @em = AttributeValue('emailaddr')
  IF NOT EMPTY(@email) THEN
     Set @status = UpdateDE('DE_1',1,'EmailAddress',@em,'OptIn',0)
     Set @status2 = UpdateDE('DE_2',2,'email',@em, 'b', @b, 'opt_in',0)
  ENDIF
]%%

Would appreciate any help as I'm just starting out on Ampscript. p.s. how do people 'run' Ampscript without browsing a page? is there like a JSLint for Ampscript somewhere?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The main thing you need to be aware of here is the difference between the UpdateDE and UpdateData functions:

• UpdateDE: Only works in email messages
• UpdateData: Only works with landing pages and SMS messages

Read the documentation carefully for how to use correctly. It looks like your code should work if you use the correct function.

Best advice that I have for someone new to Ampscript is read the documentation carefully and have it handy to reference. There's also the Ampsript Guide, in which there is a "Best practices" section that you might find useful.