Getting Disgusted

[Jeff Klages]

The book says I can define my very own function!

Gee.. thats really swell and all... but how do I use the blasted thing... the book is not clear about this at all.

Specifically, I copied (stole) the code someone posted for determining the age, based on today's date, of a person from their birthdate. I have a calculated field that should display the age... but it doesnt. Matter of fact... it just says "age"...lol

If I put the function in the action option of the field on the form, which event do I use? Since its a calculated field the cursor never gets to "enter" the field... stumped

I must need sleep

[French]

RE: Getting Disgusted

If you do a search in this forum for

user defined function

you should come across a topic titled:

RE: Count Business Days

or something very similar. If you read through that discussion, it should answer most of your questions.

[WillieLucas]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Here is a easy calculation for birthday
age = Calculation field
bod = the date of birth (the name of the field of your birthday field)
put this in your calculation on your form and call the calculation field age

if(cyear(System->Date)+right(cdate(Bod),4)>cdate(System->Date),year(System->Date)-year(Bod)-1,year(System->Date)-year(Bod))

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Jeff,

Here is how you can create your own function.

1. Select the code tab
2. Click the "new" button.
3. Select "function"
4. On the function genie that comes up enter the following
function name - "age"
Return type - numeric
In the name column enter "date_birth"
In the type columd enter "date"

This is what you will get in the function window:

function Age as N(Date_Birth as D)

end function

Now, cut and paste the following lines between those two lines

if alltrim(cdate(Date_birth))=""
age = 0
exit function
end if
years = val(left(cdate(date()),4))-val(left(cdate(Date_Birth),4))
if val(right(cdate(date()),4))>=val(right(cdate(Date_Birth),4))
age = years
else
age = years - 1
end if

Then end result in the window should look like this

function Age as N(Date_Birth as D)

if alltrim(cdate(Date_birth))=""
age = 0
exit function
end if
years = val(left(cdate(date()),4))-val(left(cdate(Date_Birth),4))
if val(right(cdate(date()),4))>=val(right(cdate(Date_Birth),4))
age = years
else
age = years - 1
end if

end function

Now, how do you use it. You can use it just like a regular A5 function. For instance, you want to find an age of a person. Their date of birth is stored in a field called "DOB" as a date. If you have a calculated field called age that is numeric, the expression for the calculated field would be

age(dob)

If dob has no date value, the age returned is 0. Remenber, whatever value you place within the brackets must be a date value and the return value is numeric.

Jerry

[forskare]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Here's what I use for my used defined function called 'Age'.

function Age as N(Birthday as D)
' type your code here

Age = year(date())-year(YourDateField)
if val(right(cdate(YourDateField),4)) > val(right(cdate(date()),4))
age = age - 1
end if

end function

kenn

[russ Boehle]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Alpha 5 v5 now has an age function built in. No need to code.
Wow- The gods must be watching. Mention something here and it magically is built in to Alpha 5.

Seriously though this indicates the ease with which Alpha 5v5 can be extended as Selwyn explained at the conference. It becomes trivial (for Selwyn, not for me) to add this sort of thing without recompiling, if there are new addins or functions download em and go.

Russ

[forskare]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Russ,

This is meant as a compliment to Selwyn. He is his own worst enemy. We could mention stuff to him all day, day after day and he'd keep adding 'em. I've never seen anyone try to please so many.

Lets see, 7 weeks and a couple days till June 1st, then sometime that month. Wonder what I'd have to do to be one of the first to buy v5??? It's a good thing we don't have to line up outside his door. He'd have to call the riot squad to keep the peace and quiet the clammering!

kenn

[russ Boehle]

RE: Getting Disgusted

I agree that perhaps it's time to freeze the feature set, but this shows how easy it is to add stuff to A5 without a full recompile and tinkering with C code. I assume he's doing this stuff on his coffee break.

Russ

[Peter.Greulich]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Ken, remember: A watched pot doesn't boil!

[forskare]

RE: Getting Disgusted

We/I are/am very fortunate that Selwyn has such dedication and commitment to the users. I say 'users' because he could have released v5 some time ago with alot less features. Financially, I think he could have made more by releasing some time ago and then charging for the upgrades.

Additionally, I believe Selwyn understands how important "ease of use' really is, not only with v4 but especially with v5. He demonstrated how major tasks can be accomplished so easily. It really puts Alpha5 ahead of Alpha 4 for ease of use and power. Given the nature of Windows, that's quite a feat.

For me, A5's ease of use allows me to frequently create a small database for a specific purpose. Add A5's power and I can do much more, more quickly, w/o code than I can do with Access. V5 will only put me in "warp speed".

So, to Selwyn I say, Thank you for providing a product that allows me to take my investigative work to new deminsions. I'm able to provide reports which have strong evidentiary value and result in positivie conclusions for the agency.

kenn

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Coffee break? Whats that? Selwyn and the rest of the development team are obviously working very hard to hit the release target and respond to our needs (and the neat "like to have" stuff). I have gotten some emails back from Selwyn that were sent late at night, saturdays, and sundays. Busy guys, but things are changing quickly.

The only "problem" I see with A5V5 will be that all of the "neat stuff" many of use have spent hours to develop, like an age function, popup calendars, etc are now included standard. Sure will simplify development, though. Like Ken, I can't wait for the final version.

Jerry

[Jeff Klages]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Well, none of the suggestions for this worked... but I FIXED IT!

I removed the age field.... end of problem... now on to the next problem.

[forskare]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Jeff,

Bear with me for a bit. I re-read your post. You stated, "I have a calculated field that should display the age... but it doesnt. Matter of fact... it just says "age"...lol"

When a calcualted field displays the name of the calculated field, rather than the result, the calculated field isn't defined correctly.

You name the calculated field 'Age'. How did you define it? If you use the Drag/Drop genie and drop a calcualted field on the form you should use the following expression:

UDF(DOB field)

where UDF is the name of your user defined function and DOB field is the field in the table which stores the person's DOB. That will work

Also, you said you solved the problem by removing the Age field. Specifically, what problem was solved? Do you now NOT have a field to show the age?

We gave you suggestions about the UDF but failed to realize that the problem is how the calculated field is defined. I don't want to beat this to death but it will work when done properly.

kenn

[Jeff Klages]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Ok.. one more shot at it then its time to move on to some other problem.

Here is the code for the Age UDF:

function Age as N(Date_Birth as D)

if alltrim(cdate(Date_birth))=""
age = 0
exit function
end if
years = val(left(cdate(date()),4))-val(left(cdate(Date_Birth),4))
if val(right(cdate(date()),4))>=val(right(cdate(Date_Birth),4))
age = years
else
age = years - 1
end if

end function

the calculated field on the form is named age, and its defined as Age(Birthdate)... Birthdate is the table field with the date info.

See whats wrong? And does/did Sherry Martin write books on A5? I liked her A4 books.

If this were A4 I could do this in my sleep...

[Stan Mathews]

RE: Getting Disgusted

Just pasted in your function and it works fine for me. From the interactive editor:

? age({01/22/1950})
= 52.000000

birthdate = {04/30/1982}
? age(birthdate)
= 19.000000


Possible conflict with a calculated field "age" calling a function "age()"? Try renaming the calculated field.

Verify that your field "birthdate" is a date field? Verify that your field is "birthdate" and not "Date_Birth"?

Grasping for straws, I know, but what works on one machine should work on another.