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Simplified calculations

nmara
Registered: Feb 4 2007
Posts: 102

Quick question about basic calculations in Adobe 8.0. When I right click a text box, and choose "calculated - Read only" and it gives me the opportunity to create a custom script. In 7.0, there was a simple way to do mathematical calculations, like sum. Is that also possible in 8.0? The run field auto detection is awesome, by the way.
 
Thanks in advance,
 
Nat

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8, Windows
dbaker
Expert
Registered: Feb 10 2006
Posts: 413
Hi Nat --

I don't know what you are referring to when you write "right click a text box, and choose "calculated-Read only".

If I understand what your question means, the short answer is yes, you can still do the same process.

1. Double-click the text field to open the Text Field Properties dialog box, and click the Calculate tab.
2. Click Value is the dropdown arrow to open the list of basic calculations that you are looking for. The options include sum, product, average, minimum, maximum as before.
3. Click Pick to open the Field Selection dialog box, which lists the existing fields in your document that can be used for calculation.
4. Select the appropriate fields and click OK.
5. Click Close to return to the document.
6. Test the fields. The target calculated field shows the return of the calculation you set.

Make sure that:
* the format category selection is Number on the Format tab of the Text Fields Properties dialog box for all fields.

* only the field showing the result of the calculation is set as Visible-Read Only on the General tab of the dialog box.

donna.

A prolific author and writer of many Acrobat books, as well as books on graphic and Web design software.
Donna lives on a lakeshore in central Canada, where all manner of wildlife from muskrats to coyotes come to call.

nmara
Registered: Feb 4 2007
Posts: 102
Hi Donna,

Thanks a lot. I will try and clarify a bit. I imported an .xls file into Adobe 8.0. Once the form imported ,I reset the tab order. So far so good. The name of the column was created as Hours_Qtr_Hrs_Rowx(x= row #). For calculation ease, I right clicked on the top 4 cells and changed the names (individually) to Hrs[0}, Hrs[1], etc.

The bottom cell is where I wanted to sum them. In Lifecycle Design doubleclicking does not open properties window, so I right clicked>palettes>Object. I now have 3 tabs available: field, value & binding. I chose numeric field. on the Value tab, I chose Calculated-Read only as the type. I selected Calculation script and this is what I typed:
Sum (hrs[0], hrs[1], hrs[2]). I left the defaults on the binding tab, which just showed the cell name and None as the default binding.

The form opens up, but when I enter data into the cells, the cell with the sum function remains blank.

This was easy to do in 7.0, what am I doing wrong in 8.0?

Sorry for the novel..

Nat