Simple problems mean I must be missing fundamentals

I've been doing ok with livecycle forms on a basic level. But there are some simple things driving me bananas. I'm using FormCalc in my following single-page practice dynamicXML form examples:
 
On the Click event of a button:
if (textfield1=="") then
xfa.host.messageBox("This field is empty","This is an alert")
endif
Nothing happens when the button is clicked. Ditto if I use textfield1.rawValue
 
In this next example, I set up a single column 4 row table. For this application, the table must be Positioned rather than Flowed, so the user can see all available filled and unfilled rows. The intent is if a row is empty between two filled rows, the filled rows will "rise up" to occupy the empty row, as in row3 will fill row2, row4 will fill row3, etc., and any remaining empty rows will be grouped together as the last rows of the table.
So on the practice form Click event of a button:
for i=0 upto 2 do //to prevent table row overflow, I'll tackle after this works
if (table1.row[i]=="") then
table1.row[i]=table1.row[i+1]
table1.row[i+1]=table1.row[i+2]
endif
endfor
Again, nothing happens when the button is clicked. Using .rawValue doesn't work either.
 
No doubt some of you are smiling, as these things must be so staightforward, and I don't see it. I've searched every Adobe publication I have but cannot find anything directly addressing this.