I need to pass a parameter into an ftl function so I can parse it and put it into a select object. the code below works when aipids = "*random*text*" but I can't figure out how to use the parameter passed in from the workflow.

<script type="text/javascript">
function filllist () {
   var index = 0
   var count = 0
   var aipids = ${aipid}
   while (index < aipids.indexOf("*",index+1)) {
     document.form.VersionId.options[ count ] = new Option(aipids.substring(index+1,aipids.indexOf("*", index+1)),aipids.substring(index+1,aipids.indexOf("*", index+1)))
           index = aipids.indexOf("*", index+1)
           count = count + 1
   }
}
</script>

using ${aipid} in the main section shows that aipid does contain a string so it's not that it is empty