Hide Form Field when Constituent Fields are Unfilled

Hello,
Setting the value for TotalPriceA to the empty string "" instead of 0 should keep you from getting $0.00 in the field. Try the following javascript in the "custom calculation script" under the "Calculate" tab for TotalPriceA:

//set up variables
var QuantityA=this.getField("QuantityA").value;
var UnitPriceA=this.getField("UnitPriceA").value;
var CalcTotalPriceA=QuantityA * UnitPriceA;

//set TotalPriceA field
TotalPriceA = this.getField("TotalPriceA");
if (CalcTotalPriceA > 0){
TotalPriceA.value = CalcTotalPriceA;
}else{
TotalPriceA.value = "";
}

Good luck,
Naomi Basickes
Appligent, Inc
www.appligent.com

Unfortunately, no, it doesn't work. The field is indeed blank when it's empty, but it does not calculate the values of the other fields. It does not respond to the other fields being filled at all. Also, if I fill the field manually with 0, it shows $0.00.

Is this a problem related to when the script is called?

Since you are using a MacIntosh, LiveCycle Designer is not available and the code that you posted is for LiveCycle Designer FormCalc.

When testing numeric fields, one needs to convert the value to a string. If the calculation scirpt is updating the focused field, one should use the "event.value" and not the field name.

// clear this field with supressed zero value
event.value = '';

//set up variables
var QuantityA = this.getField("QuantityA");
var UnitPriceA = this.getField("UnitPriceA");

if (QuantityA.valueAsString != '' & UnitPriceA.valueAsString != '') {
event.value = QuantityA.value * UnitPriceA.value;
}

Since this basi calculation can be used many times within an order sheet, one could create a document level script to process passed values and return the necessary result and the custom calculation script can be simplified to just changing the row identifier.

function Extend(Quantity, Price) {
// function to compute the product of two values

var Extension = ''; // default action if no value

// compute extenstion only if there are values
if (Quantity.toString() != '' & Price.toString() != '') {
Extension = Number(Quantity) * Number(Price);
}

return Extension; // return default value or extended value
} // end function


// calculation script for each field. Just change the "Row" value as needed
var Row = "A"
event.value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);

And if one wanted to perform this script as part of a total field for rows "A" - "F":

var Row = "A";
this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);
event.value = Number(this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value);

Row = "B";
this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);
event.value = Number(this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value) + event.value;

Row = "C";
this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);
event.value = Number(this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value) + event.value;

Row = "D";
this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);
event.value = Number(this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value) + event.value;

Row = "E";
this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);
event.value = Number(this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value) + event.value;

Row = "F";
this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value = Extend(this.getField("Quantity" + Row).value, this.getField("Price" + Row).value);
event.value = Number(this.getField("TotalPrice" + Row).value) + event.value;

if (event.value.ToString() == '') event.value = '';

This script worked as-is; thanks!

However,

this seems like a non-intuitive restriction. Would it not be easier (less script, less processing power) to compare reals than strings?

Where does one enter document-level scripts?

I have a follow-up question. Using this system, if I understand it correctly, the resulting field is a string and not a number. If that's true, can the value of this field be used in additional calculations (say, as part of a sales tax calculation)?

One has to test numbers as a string value becuase JavaScript is not a very strict about data types and will change the between string and number as it thinks fit. That is why there is a "Number()" constrictor to force values to numbers, the "toString()" method to force to a string, and "isNaN()" method to test for numbers.

Thom Parker has the [url=http://www.acrobatusers.com/tech_corners/javascript_corner/tips/index.php?sort=true&search_keyword=All]JavaScript Corner[/url]column with lots of excellent articles, including [url=http://www.acrobatusers.com/tutorials/2007/js_document_scripts/]Entering Document Scripts[/url].