Troubleshooting Calculations

What are the values that could be averaged?

What are the possible range of averaged values?

Can you force the value of the average to a null if no average is computed?

Allowing for a null average would allow for an average of zero if this is a possible computation result that should be included in a later calculation but a null value could then be excluded from other calculations.

So in my first section I have Rating 1, Rating 2, Rating 3, Rating 4, and Rating 5. Each of those combo boxes have scores from 1-5 with .25 incriments (So 1, 1.25, 1.50, 2, etc.)

In my second section I have Rating 6-12 with the same values of 1-5 with .25 incriments.

How would I force the value to a null when averaged?

I do have a script in my first section entitled "Score"
It follows:
// Custom calculate script for text field
(function () {

var v;
var count = 0;
var sum = 0;

// Loop through combo boxes
for (var i = 1; i < 6; i++) {
v = getField("Rating " + i).value;
if (v !== " ") {
count++; // Increment counter
sum += v; // Add value to sum
}
}

// Calculate average
if (count) {
event.value = sum / count;
} else {
event.value = "";
}

})();

Since you are repeating a count, sum, and divide or average calculation multiple times, I would have used a couple of document level functions. Also since only the values or fields names change for the calculations one could create a parameter of an array and then process the values or names in the array.

The custom calculation for "Score 1" is then:

The custom calculation for "Score 2" is:

And the custom calculation for the overall score is:
The custom calculation for "Score 2" is:

I cut and pasted all of the scripts and they aren't working.

It confusing to explain versus visually seeing it.

So I have a 3 page pdf.
Page 1- I have a section of goals that have rating scales next to them. The ratings go from 1,1.25,1.50,1.75,2.00, etc... up to 5. I also have a blank rating that is the default.
I currently have a script that is working where if a goal isn't filled out them it won't count in the average.
So I have combo box fields, "Rating 1, Rating 2, Rating 3, Rating 4, Rating 5. Then I have a text field called "Score" which averages up the ratings.

Page 2- I have (7)combo boxes with the same rating scale of 1-5. The are called "Rating 6-12" Then I have a "Score 1" at the botton that is averaging those fields.

Page 3- I have a text field called "Section 1" which pulls the "Score" from page 1.
I have another text field bellow called "Section 2" which pulls the Score 1" from page 2.
Then I have a text field called "Overall Rating" which averages out the "Section 1" and "Section 2" score.

However if the "Section 1 or 2" is 0 or blank, I don't want it to count towards the "Overall Rating"

Hope I explained it better.

See Sum Numeric Values Only for a working example with drop down and text fields.It is hard to properly cut and paste code from the revised forum.

The document level scripts:

function FieldNames2Values(aNames) {
/*
from the list of passed field names
create an array of the values of those
fields as a string variable
*/
var aValues = new Array();
// loop through the names
for(i = 0; i < aNames.length; i++) {
// get the value of the named field
aValues[i] = this.getField(aNames[i]).valueAsString;
} // end for loop array names
return aValues;
} // end FieldNamee2Values

function Count(aValues) {
/*
count the number of values that are numbers
excluding any blanks, nulls, or other Not a Number values
*/
// a variable to count the number of numeric values
var nCount = 0;
// loop through array of values
for(i = 0; i < aValues.length; i++) {
// test for non blank, not null and not NaN
if( (aValues[i] != "") & (aValues[i] != " ") & (!isNaN(aValues[i]) ) ) {
// count the passed item
nCount++
} // end if not null, not blank, not NaN
} // end for loop of values
// if no items counted force result to Null
if (nCount == 0) nCount = '';
// return the computed count
return nCount;
} // end Count

function Sum(aValues) {
/*
sum the number of values that are numbers
excluding any blanks, nulls, or other Not a Number values
*/
// variable for the computed sum
var nSum = 0;
// loop through the fields
for(i = 0; i < aValues.length; i++) {
// test for non blank, not null and not NaN
if( (aValues[i] != "") & (aValues[i] != " ") & (!isNaN(aValues[i]) ) ) {
// sum the passed item
nSum += Number(aValues[i]);
} // end if not null, not blank, not NaN
} // end for loop of values
// if sum is zero force to null
if (nSum == 0) nSum = "";
// return computed sum
return nSum;
} // end Sum

function Average(aValues) {
/*
compute the average excluding null, spaces and other Not a Number values
*/
// variable for result
var nAverage = "";
// count the values
var nCount = Number(Count(aValues));
// if counted items then compute average
if(nCount != 0) {
// compute the average with the sum and count of the numeric values
nAverage = Number(Sum(aValues)) / nCount;
} // end compute average
// return the computed average or null if no average computed
return nAverage;
} // end Average

Score 1:
event.value = Average(FieldNames2Values(["Rating 1", "Rating 2", "Rating 3", "Rating 4", "Rating 5"]) );

Score 2:
event.value = Average(FieldNames2Values(["Rating 6", "Rating 7", "Rating 8", "Rating 9", "Rating 10", "Rating 11", "Rating 12"]) );

Overall average:
event.value = Average(FieldNames2Values(["Score 1", "Score 2"]) );

Yea! It seems to be working so far.

Last question,

When I save the file and email it to someone, they say they can only save a blank copy. Why is that?

They have Reader and you have not provided a copy of the form with "Extended Reader Rights".

For some reason after I saved the file the formulas aren't working.

So page 1: "Score" I put in
// Custom calculate script for text field
(function () {

var v;
var count = 0;
var sum = 0;

// Loop through combo boxes
for (var i = 1; i < 6; i++) {
v = getField("Rating " + i).value;
if (v !== " ") {
count++; // Increment counter
sum += v; // Add value to sum
}
}

// Calculate average
if (count) {
event.value = sum / count;
} else {
event.value = "";
}

})();

Page 2 under "Score 1" I put:
event.value = Average(FieldNames2Values(["Rating 6", "Rating 7", "Rating 8", "Rating 9", "Rating 10", "Rating 11", "Rating 12"]) );

Page 3 under "Overall rating" I put:
event.value = Average(FieldNames2Values(["Section 1", "Section 2"]) );

I downloaded the pdf file you sent. When I add in the calculation under my own field, nothing pops up. It is blank.
Where you talk about the document level functions, do I use all those codes under one field or seperate them?

Got it to work. Thank you for your help.

For document level functions, there is a special document area for this code, So where does JavaScript live in Acrobat?" and Entering Document Scripts by Thom Parker. Placing the function scripts in this special location will allow Acrobat to initialize this code and make it available to all form fields. Placing a function in a form field will keep the function uninitialized and not available until that form field is processed. This can result in a function never being initialized because the location of the code within field where the code is located is never accessed or processed.Acrobat JavaScript is an interpretive language so the code needs to be syntax scanned and tokenized before it can be processed and this process only occurs as the individual pieces of code are encountered in the normal processing of the PDF.