Global variables & not defined messages

What is the exact text of the message?

ReferenceError: gRdoApplyCommission is not defined
3:AcroForm:txt.BrokerPOC:Calculate
gRdoApplyCommission is not defined
1:AcroForm:num.SS.Credit.EM2:CalculateException in line 1 of function top_level, script AcroForm:num.SS.Credit.EM2:Calculate

My comment in re the above: gRdoApplyCommission IS defined and the spelling and case of each instance is exactly as defined.

George, the problem seems solved now but I don't know why. I removed the global variable definitions from the document level function and placed those global variables into their own separate Document level script. I concurrently received another error message referencing a simple document level function that had nothing to do with what I was working on. Since I was no longer using that unrelated function, I deleted it. Now all seems to be working just fine.

Are you sure you were not redefining the variable each time the function was called or the variable only existed as long as the function was active.

I have found that testing for the existence of a global variable before trying to use it is most helpful. If it does not exist, then I can define it if needed.

See Acumen Journal for August 2004.

Note that variables that you want to be document-global need to be declared outside of a function. If they're defined inside of a function, they are local to that function. If declared outside of a function, they are document-global as soon as the line where they are declared is executed. Since code in a document-level JavaScript are executed when the document is opened, they will become available when the document is opened.

Elements of both of your comments were at play I believe. When I first experienced the problem the global variables were declared outside of the function, and were not re-defined inside the function. I moved the global variables inside the function and deleted the separate document level script declaring them, not realizing I was doing the wrong thing, as explained by George Johnson. It quickly became apparent that was the wrong thing to do, so I removed them from the function and again declared them in a separate document level script.

I concurrently received another error message referencing a separate document script defined to "calculateNow()" (so that calculations were performed each time the document was opened), and since I had no need of that, I deleted it, and all was well. I suspect the document level "calculateNow()" script was executing on document open before the others and throwing the error bc it wasn't finding the global variables.

That brings up 2 more questions: (1) what is the order in which document level scripts execute (in the order they appear in the document Java Script Functions dialog box?); and (2) if a document level function defines a math calculation that field-level calculations depend on, does the function calculation always execute before the field level math calculations? (I don't see a reference to function math formulas in the dialog box that allows you to re-order field level calculations.)

That sounds like a likely explanation.

Acrobat seems to order document-level scripts alphabetically in the PDF, and executes them in that order. I've never found that documented anywhere, only discovered it empirically.

Scripts attached to a Page Open action execute after the document-level scripts are executed, so that would be an option for placing code that you want to execute after any document-level code.

Good to know.

As to the second question, if for example the formula Z = (X * Y) is defined as a document level function, and "X" and "Y" are input into fields "txtA" and "txtB" after document open, and a formula in a field level calculation attached to field "txtC" needs "Z" as one element of its formula, is Z calculated and returned by the function as soon as X and Y are supplied, so that Z is available for the second formula? My focus in this question is on your statement that code in a document level script executes when the document is opened, yet in my example the figures needed to calculate "Z" are not supplied until after the document is opened.

When I say that document-level code is executed, it means that any declared variables are initialized and then available for later use by other code. Think of a function that's defined in a document-level JavaScript as another document-global variable (because it is). Any functions defined in document-level JavaScript are similarly available for later use by other code.

These two are equivalent and are called the same way:

var myfunc = function(x, y) {
return x * y;
}

function myfunc(x, y) {
return x * y;
}

// Returns 42
var Z = myfunc(6, 7);


In your example, the function that returns the value Z can be called in the calculate event of txtC, passing it the values of txtA and txtB. When the document-level code that defines the function is executed, it doesn't calculate anything at that time, it just becomes available for later use by other code.

Thank you. That is clear.