Creating a calculation

[gdebruin123]

Hi,

I could use some help with figuring out a calculation and not sure if this should be done through a script or calculation.

I have one field (A) that has text and I want to have a calculation result into another field (: that if field A contains X it will return a number in field B.

Appreciate the help. Yes I am a novice :P

Edited October 31, 2010 by Guest

[comment]

if field A contains X

This can be read in two ways:

a) the text in field A is "X";

the text in field A contains the string "X", e.g. "eXtra".

[gdebruin123]

Field A would contain for example "1234.56.7890-5.3% - resin". My goal is to have a field that would calculate 5.3% x another field which has the cost. This field A would have different value per record. Hope this clarifies it. Thanks for reply.

[comment]

Field A would contain for example "1234.56.7890-5.3% - resin". My goal is to have a field that would calculate 5.3% x another field which has the cost.

This seems like an altogether different question. Why do you keep all this information in a single field, instead of breaking it out into three (assuming "1234.56.7890" is a single data item)? Then you could simply multiply the cost by the field that holds the "5.3%" value.

[gdebruin123]

Hi,

I understand that would be easier from a calculation standpoint, however it would mean each item (new record) we enter we would need to fill out that additional field. So my thought was that if if one field had certain data (the data would be HTS codes for US customs) it would return in another field either the duty rate and or the duty calculation for that item which would be the % times the cost of the product. The field is currently set to pull form a value list. So I pull down the correct code and then hope to have a field that calculates the duty or returns the percentage from which I can create the calculations. I do need the field with the duty code in it since this needs to be shown on the purchase orders we create from the individual items.

Maybe I am making this more difficult It just seemed there should be an easier solution rather than having to enter stuff again.

Appreciate your help. Thanks.

[comment]

You don't need to enter anything again. I am not really able to understand your description, but I am quite sure it's better to enter data into separate fields and use a calculation to put it together then the other way round.

In some cases - for example, when the data is imported - this is not possible. But even then, you would use calculations to parse out the individual values automatically.