Totaling parent table based on child table value

[Greg Fong]

I am trying to construct a system to track and forecast the cash flowing in and out of my business.
These are early steps and I am trying to see if Alpha can help me with this.

Invoices are entered into the TRANSACTIONS table
and a popup loads a character value into the Type field of the ACCOUNT table.
So every invoice will the following characteistics: a date, account number, amount, and a type
where TYPE is a category of supply or service lables as Groceries, Supplies, Utilities etc.)

The idea is that I could create a form that displays at a summary that consists of 6 columns.
column 1 = Date
Column 2= total amount due to "Supplies"
Column 3= total amount due to "Groceries"
Column 4= total amount due to "Utilities"
Column 5= total amount due to "Payroll"
Column 6= total amount due to all TYPES of expenditures

I have a set made up of 3 tables (Main_date_frame)

Table 1= MAIN_DATE
Date_key ( date field )


Table 2= TRANSACTIONS
Date ( 1 to many relationship to Date_key above) D
Account (supplier or service provider) N
Amount (Amount payable) N

Table 3= ACCOUNT
Account ( 1 to 1 with Account above) N
Type (category of supply or service eg Groceries, Supplies, Utilities etc)


The Date_key field in Table 1 MAIN_DATE is essentially a column of sequential dates.


I created a embedded browse within a form and the browse has 6 columns consisting of:

Date_key field and the following calculated fields

Calculated fields:
Supplies_col = total(iif(Account->Type="Supplies",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)
Groceries_col = total(iif(Account->Type="Groceries",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)
Utilities_col = total(iif(Account->Type="Utilities",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)
Payroll_col = total(iif(Account->Type="Payroll",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)
TRANSACTIONTOTAL= total(transactions->amount,grp->main_date)

I entered a series of dummy data and all the TRANSACTIONTOTAL amounts calculated correctly but I can't get
supplies_col, Groceries_col, utilities_col or Payroll_col to show anything but a zero value.

For any given date I could have several supplies type transactions as well as a few groceries type there may even be a payroll transaction. so what I am hoping to see in the browse is a row consisting of a date, a total of all the supplies type of invoices for that date, a total of all the groceries type of invoices for that date and a payroll total for that date.

[MikeC]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

This seems to be a duplicate thread in a different forum...
http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...027#post547027

Greg, what version are you using???? Doublepostings usually will not only distract users, but also hinder their being able to figure out a solution for you. It will many times make potential helpers just not even attempt as it tends to just become way too confusing....

[Greg Fong]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Sorry about the duplicate posting. I was not able to see the first posting appear on the board so I though that I had done something wrong.
I am using version 9.

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

desktop or web app?

Greg, if you strored the "type" of each invoice in the transactions table, you could use the tablesum() function to compute the total for each category filtered by the date_key.

[Greg Fong]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

This is a desktop application. Is this one of those situations where duplicating data is a good idea? Is there an elegant way to go about inserting the TYPE value from the child ACCOUNT table to a new field in the TRANSACTION table automatically?

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Greg, I'm glad you wrote back. On reflection let me change my advice.

You can compute the total using tablesum() for each category using the current account number, without adding the type field to the transactions table. Your structure is fine. It avoids redundant data and you won't have trouble later on if the user changes the type name for an account.

[MikeC]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Well,
at least now both threads have the same basic answer!!! :D

[Greg Fong]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

I am unaware of how to reach down into the child table using tablesum to get a total for those records of a certain type.

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Me either. You can't.

Use the Account number to get totals by account number. Or change your table structure and put the account type in the transaction table. Design decision based on the needs of your app.

[Greg Fong]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

I think I made a mistake linking the ACCOUNT table to the set. I will use it instead as a lookup to populate the TRANSACTION table. My only choice is to create an extra field.
Thanks so much for the insight.

[Mike Wilson]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Your structure has it so one supplier provides only one category of supplies. Is this true? There isn't a supplier that supplies groceries and supplies?

I do this with a summary table and run a script to populate the summary table for each month. This way, the summary table provides a rolling summary and allows comparing month to month easily. A version of the same script could be used to present the current month numbers.

[Greg Fong]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Tom, I am having trouble getting my calculated fields to select for the current date record.

This is my attempt with TOTAL
Supplies_col = total(iif(Account->Type="Supplies",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)



This is my attempt with DBsum

Supplies_col = tablesum("Transactions.dbf","Transactions->Type='Supplies'","Transactions->Amount")


This actually totals correctly, it selects for the current date:
I am trying to set something up select for both the current date and a specific type like "supplies" or "groceries"
transactionstotal = total(transactions->amount,grp->main_date)

[Greg Fong]

Re: Totaling parent table based on child table value

Fixed it! Just had my Duh moment a little while ago. I have been staring at this all day without seeing the problem.

RE: "This is my attempt with TOTAL "

Supplies_col = total(iif(Account->Type="Supplies",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)

I was refering to the wrong table it should have been the TRANSACTIONS table but not the Account table.
The correct line reads below.

Supplies_col = total(IF(TRANSACTIONS-Type="Supplies",Transactions->Amount,0),grp->transactions,grp->main_date)

Now if I can only figure out how to do the same with dbsum or tablesum i will have a better set of tools at my access.