Calculation Help

[Joe_Phoenix]

Hi All,

Need help with the following and I hope I can expalin it correctly.

I have a feild for which I have created the following CASE function for in a Calculation.

Case ( General Text 11 = 3;"Water is entering the subfloor through *(state location) elevations of the house and pooling along foundation wall – recommend drainage is improved to remove water.";General Text 11 = 4;"Hot water system overflow outlet drains towards the external wall of house and needs re-directing to avoid build up of excess moisture.";General Text 11 = 5;" The air-conditioning unit run-off is adjacent the external wall and is causing damp areas conducive to termite attack. Recommend re-directing flow away from house perimeter.";General Text 11 = 5.1;"The air conditioning unit is positioned against the external wall of the garage and does not allow visual inspection behind it. Unit should be re-positioned approximately 50mm off the wall to allow visual inspection.";General Text 11 = 5.2;"The hot water system is positioned against the left hand external wall and does not allow visual inspection behind it. Unit should be re-positioned approximately 50mm off the wall to allow visual inspection.";General Text 11 = 5.3;"Water storage facilities (tanks) installed adjacent to building, does not permit thorough inspection to this area.";General Text 11 = 5.4;"Steps installed at *(state location) bridge the mesh-line and may permit concealed termite entry.";General Text 11 = "";"___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________")

It works fine when entering the number and producing the right result. The problem I have is I can want to also modify the text ie:*(state location) (as above), by entering information in this area. Or by free typing in the field which goes blank when I exit from the field.

(GOD I hope that makes sence)

Thanks

Joe

[Vaughan]

Is the field a calculation field, or a text field that has this Case function as the auto-enter?

Calculation fields cannot be edited directly: their result depends on the value of the fields the function references.

A text field with the auto-enter can be edited. I'd try that.

Also, look into technique for doing mail merge with FileMaker Pro. You can set up the Case statement so the state location is entered directly into the text. It would be something like this:

Case (

General Text 11 = 3;

"Water is entering the subfloor through " & state location & " elevations of the house and pooling along foundation wall – recommend drainage is improved to remove water." ;

etc

Note that here I assume there is a field called "state location" and it contains the necessary data in the correct format.

[Joe_Phoenix]

Hi,

The Case funtion has been added as a Auto-Enter specified Calculated Value.

The location as described could be anything such as "30mtrs from left had side of rear shed" depending on the information being sent through by my technicians.

When you say Text as an Auto feature are you referring to Auto Complete using previous?

Joe

[Joe_Phoenix]

I have tried a different avenue and need to know if this can affect me in any way.

I have made each choice ie; 3, 4, 5, 5.1 ect a drop down box from a value list that can be modified.

Is this a valid option to use.

Joe

[comment]

I am guessing you are using the same field for making the selection AND for the actual text. If so, your auto-entered calculation re-evaluates every time the field is modified, causing the field to go blank. This COULD be solved by adding a default result of the field itself, but...

The fact is that this not a good method overall. You should be using TWO fields for this, one to select the clause number and another for the actual text. Also, keeping data in calculation formulas is not good practice. The best way would be to have another table with all the clauses and their texts, and use a lookup to populate the field.

[Joe_Phoenix]

Fantastic,

Makes perfect sence. Thanks for the advise.

Joe