Does Mandrill's Render API ignore merge_vars that map to Handlebars variables?

Question

On Mandrill's Template API page, I plug in the following JSON to test the Render method upon clicking "Try it":

{
    "key": "MY VALID KEY",
    "template_name": "test1",
    "template_content": [

    ],
    "merge_vars": [
        {
            "name": "invoice_number",
            "content": "1001"
        }
    ]
}

The test results come back with my template but the one merge_var I'm testing has not been merged, i.e. the result still contains {{invoice_number}}:

{
    "html": "<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif;\">Dear Customer,</p>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif;\">Invoice {{invoice_number}} ...</p>"
}

Does Mandrill's Render API ignore merge_vars that map to Handlebars variables?

Answer 1

According to Mandrill support:

As you noticed, the render API call does not currently support Handlebars templates. While I can't provide an exact ETA for when the render API call will work with Handlebars, I can tell you that it's something that our developers are working to extend support for very soon.

I would suggest keeping an eye on our Mandrill API Documentation as that support will be noted there as an additional parameter for the call as soon as it is supported.