diff --git a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.spec.ts b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.spec.ts
index e9418ff47..55ed2817c 100644
--- a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.spec.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { DynamicDataService } from "src/app/shared/services/dynamic-data/dynamic
 import { _wait } from "packages/shared/src/utils/async-utils";
 import { TemplatedData } from "packages/shared/src/models/templatedData/templatedData";
 import { MockDynamicDataService } from "src/app/shared/services/dynamic-data/dynamic-data.service.mock.spec";
+import { DataItemsService } from "./data-items.service";
 
 const MOCK_ITEMS_LIST: FlowTypes.Data_listRow[] = [
   { id: "id_1", text: "item 1", number: 1, boolean: true },
@@ -89,11 +90,14 @@ describe("DataItemsComponent", () => {
           provide: DynamicDataService,
           useValue: new MockDynamicDataService({ data_list: { mock_item_list: MOCK_ITEMS_LIST } }),
         },
+        DataItemsService,
       ],
     }).compileComponents();
 
     fixture = TestBed.createComponent(TmplDataItemsComponent);
     fixture.componentInstance["hackProcessRows"] = mockHackProcessRows;
+    // HACK - support @local variable processing
+    fixture.componentInstance.parent = { templateRowService: { templateRowMap: {} } } as any;
     component = fixture.componentInstance;
     fixture.detectChanges();
   });
@@ -102,7 +106,7 @@ describe("DataItemsComponent", () => {
     expect(component).toBeTruthy();
   });
 
-  it("generates evaluation context for rows", async () => {
+  fit("generates evaluation context for rows", async () => {
     const renderedRows = await setTestRow(component, MOCK_DATA_ITEMS_ROW);
     // all rows should be populated with full item data alongside metadata fields
     expect(renderedRows[0]._evalContext).toEqual({
diff --git a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.ts b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.ts
index 1df33ce9c..2942e7773 100644
--- a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.component.ts
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ export class TmplDataItemsComponent extends TemplateBaseComponent implements OnD
   }
 
   private async handleRowUpdate(row: FlowTypes.TemplateRow) {
+    console.log("handle row update", row);
     const { templateRowMap } = this.parent.templateRowService;
     // HACK -
     row.value = row.value.replace(`@data.`, "");
diff --git a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.service.spec.ts b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.service.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.service.ts b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.service.ts
index d417e463d..334d5a44d 100644
--- a/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/shared/components/template/components/data-items/data-items.service.ts
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@ import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
 import { TemplateVariablesService } from "../../services/template-variables.service";
 import { FlowTypes } from "packages/data-models";
 import { flattenJson } from "../../utils";
-import { getNestedProperty, setNestedProperty } from "src/app/shared/utils";
-import { addStringDelimiters } from "packages/shared/src/utils/delimiters";
+import { setNestedProperty } from "src/app/shared/utils";
 
 type IDynamicHashmap = Record<string, { type: FlowTypes.IDynamicPrefix; fieldName: string }>;
 export type IDataItemsEvalContext = {
@@ -15,6 +14,7 @@ export class DataItemsService {
   constructor(private templateVariablesService: TemplateVariablesService) {}
 
   public async parseRow(row: FlowTypes.TemplateRow, templateRowMap = {}) {
+    console.log("parse row", row);
     const parser = new DataItemsParser();
     const parsed = parser.parse(row);
     const evalContext: IDataItemsEvalContext = {};
@@ -62,22 +62,19 @@ class DataItemsParser {
 
     if (_dynamicFields) {
       const flattened = flattenJson<FlowTypes.TemplateRowDynamicEvaluator[]>(_dynamicFields);
-      for (const [key, evaluators] of Object.entries(flattened)) {
-        const expressionVariables: { [prefix in FlowTypes.IDynamicPrefix]?: boolean } = {};
-        for (const evaluator of evaluators) {
-          const { fieldName, type } = evaluator;
-          // mark fields that are being tracked
-          expressionVariables[type] = true;
-          this.variables[`${type}.${fieldName}`] = { type, fieldName };
-        }
+      console.log({ flattened });
 
-        const existing = getNestedProperty(parsed, key) as string;
-        const delimited = addStringDelimiters(existing, Object.keys(expressionVariables));
-        // add delimeters but remove initial curly braces and replace all curly braces for `[]`
-        // so that can be directly evaluated in JS
-        const replaced = delimtedToJS(delimited);
-        setNestedProperty(key, replaced, parsed);
-      }
+      //   for (const [key, evaluators] of Object.entries(flattened)) {
+      //     const expressionVariables: { [prefix in FlowTypes.IDynamicPrefix]?: boolean } = {};
+      //     for (const evaluator of evaluators) {
+      //       const { fieldName, type } = evaluator;
+      //       // mark fields that are being tracked
+      //       expressionVariables[type] = true;
+      //       this.variables[`${type}.${fieldName}`] = { type, fieldName };
+      //     }
+
+      //     // setNestedProperty(key, replaced, parsed);
+      //   }
       delete parsed._dynamicFields;
       delete parsed._dynamicDependencies;
     }