Why Doesn't this work?

[Ken L Herrold]

Guys:

I have a reconcile routine written for my alpha checkbook and want a field to comment on the success [or failure] of the reconciliation.

Simple enough, I want the calculated field to display either 'Whoops' or 'You Balanced' as seems obvious to an old A4 writer with the expression below.

if(calc->cbal0,"Whoops","You Balanced")

Why doesn't this work? Am I missing some syntax somewhere. Mind you all now if Calc->cbal is Zero 'You Balanced' should display - right - or have I gone completely bananas?

The calc field must certainly be numeric eliminating the need for quotes on the Zero - Right? I see, 'Inexact Match' in the expression builder at times in the 97 ways I've tried to write this.

Any Clues? For God's sake, don't anyone dwell on this as it is obviously not 'do or die' important. It's solution, however, might augment my understanding of this freakin' system [which on the other hand is awesome as well].

Ken the Newbie

[Stan Mathews]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Ken the Newbie,

You don't say where the calculated field "is". If it is on a form or a report, I can't see a problem. If you are referring to a calculated field in a table, which I don't think you are, then the field rules would have to be re-evaluated for the whole table.

You don't specify the calculation for calc->cbal. If the expression is something like debits - credits, how should Alpha evaluate it if both values are blank? That might lead to the 'inexact match' response. Try if(isnotblank("debits").and.isnotblank("credits")), debits-credits,0).

[forskare]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Ken,

I think you have a great idea, "Whoops" or "You Balanced"

If you haven't already done so, try searching the board using "A4 and expression" (quotes not included). There's been discussions in the past about converting A4 expressions to A5 expressions. Perhaps you might find that clue.

kenn

[Ken L Herrold]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Stanley,

The Calc field is on the form and the form has an imbedded browse. The 'Cbal' calc is based on two browse summary totals and a numeric field value from another form.

Look, All of the math works and displays properly on the form each time it is run. Both this text field and the references for the '0' or other amounts are on the form - not in the imbedded browse. This is not a report.

The current expression above DOES NOT get an "Inexact Match" message, the damned thing just doesn't work.-Displays 'Whoops' all the time - even when the 'cbal' field shows '0.00'

Thanks - For god's sake don't spend a lot of time on it.

Newbie Ken

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Ken,

Try displaying the calc field on your form, just to verify that the expected value is there. A blank numeric field will often be evaluated by xbasic as a very big number, which would always not equal zero. I'm wondering whether this might be what you are experiencing here. i.e. if for some reason the calc expression is not completing, the field may be blank, which would probably evaluate to non-zero. Since this is counter-intuitive I thought I'd mention it.

-- tom

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Ken,
Another possibility is that the calculated field may not evaluate to exactly zero depending on how it is calculated. It may be something like .00000001. For reliability, I always round off calculated fields. For currency numbers, use:

round(cbal,2)

Jerry

[Mike Konoff]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

If I recall correctly, I have had similiar type problems with things not working if the tables were empty; had no records.

Sorry if this sounds like a silly question, but do your tables have any records in them to perform the calculation on?

Mike

[forskare]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Ken,

For many who respond, the time spent on the problem is not the issue, it's the challenge of solving the problem. Everyone, benefits form a solved problem.

Good luck,

Kenn

[Ken L Herrold]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Thanks again to everyone for your input.

It still doesn't work. I've spent, now, hours thinking as you do, that the solution will bring light to the learning process. It didn't.

Thanks anyway.

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Ken,
Just a thought. Why not try

if(round(calc->cbal,2)=0,"You Balanced","Whoops")

For some reason, I has seen this work when the didn't. Also, are you sure that cbal is actually calculated before the expression runs? I managed to do that once or twice. Where is the expression located? One way to check the calculation order is to set the initial value of cbal to 0, possibly on the OnInit event for the form. If cbal is not being calculated, it will be zero and "You Balanced" will always popup.

Don't worry about spending time on "simple" problems. Even a simple bug can destroy a good program. I have spent hours trying to find why something doesn't work as I expect it. By the way, I also like the use of "Whoops". Everyone needs a sense of humor.

Jerry

[Ken L Herrold]

RE: Why Doesn't this work?

Jerry:

Thank yo so much for your interest. I did, indeed try the syntax you suggested - many times. Each time I entered it in the expression builder the status [evaluate] line said " This can not be evaluated at this time" --- no error dialog and this would seem O.K. Then when I attempted to save the change with the underlying "OK" I got a Windows - 'Illegal Operation' and shut down dialog and which closed out the whole program. [One of these days one of us is going to be convicted by Microsoft Cops and do hard time for this].

This is for information only for God's sake don't spend any time on it.

Thanks Again