[SOLVED] Question Mark in Username

The location substitution can evaluate the user parameter same as all other substitutions. Example as follows.

[cb:url location="profile_view" user="USER_ID_HERE" /]

You can not use a substitution inside of a substitution like you're attempting to do however unless that's a replacement from another source. Recommend reading the substitution tutorial below carefully.

www.joomlapolis.com/documentation/279-community-builder/tutorials/18353-using-substitutions-throughout-cb

You can also construct the URLs manually using the below.

index.php?option=com_comprofiler&view=userprofile&user=USER_ID_HERE

I had a feeling it was the nested substitutions causing the problem. So an alternative would be if there's a way to refer in the Who's Online User Text box to the default code output when nothing is in that box, similar to [value] in field formatting. Then I can conditionally use that for logged-in users or just the user's name for public viewing.

The "User-text" for the CB Online module will always pass substitutions through for the individual user rows. You don't need to supply a user parameter for those. So just using the below should link to the appropriate user.

[cb:url location="profile_view" /]

So there's no need to identify the user in that use case? That was the end game here all along.

Thanks very much, Kyle.

Correct, for "User-text" parameter you do not need to identify the user.