Set Repetition 0 ???

[PeterHW]

Hi, I was just playing around with the great new features of V8 and I'm so glad to find that the SetField script step finally allows us to specify a repetition based on a variable or calculation.

When playing with this feature, my script accidentally tried to set a repeating field, without specifying the repetition number, i.e. the variable that should have held the repetition number was empty or 0.

Much to my amazement, another field (which holds the average of the repeating field) suddenly showed data, while none of the repetitions of the target field actually showed anything !? What the :

After further investigation, it seems that there is a repetition number 0, which is set when no repetition number is specified. There is no way to view the data in this repetition number directly, for instance using GetRepetition (Field;0) or by specifying a range of 0 to 1 repetitions in the Field/Control=>Setup=>Repetitions dialog (0 is simply not allowed as a value).

However, all functions that can be used on repeating fields, such as Min, Max, Average etc. all DO take the contents of this repetition 0 into account ! Strangely enough, the Last() function does return the value in repetition 0, even if other (thus higher) repetitions also contain data.

The only way to delete the data in repetition 0 is using the Set Field script step again.

It seems this is a bug / unintended behaviour. Although I can appreciate the fact that a repeating field (an array, basically) starts with repetition 0, this behaviour deviates from all previous versions. The effect the various calculations have does also seem to support this view. Should it be a feature, it is an undocumented one at best.

I couldn't find any previous reports of this, so I just figured I'd mention it. I'll report it to FM as well.

Regards,

Peter