R/G Expression Explanations And Examples

There are many things to consider when entering a valid expression.  Below please find some explanations and rules along with some examples. 

Order of expression evaluation.

• Anything enclosed in parenthesis gets evaluated first.

• The expression is evaluated from left to right.

• Certain Special Functions are assigned a higher priority and are evaluated in the following order.

1^st    ^

2^nd   *  /

3^rd   +  -

4^th   =  >  <  >=  <=

5^th   AND

6^th    OR

Sample #1 - Expression 1 + 2 * 5 + 8 equals 19 

1^st  -   2 * 5  equals 10        1 + 2 * 5 + 8

2^nd  -  1 + 10 equals 11       1 + 10 + 8

3^rd  -  11 + 8 equals 19        11 + 8

Sample #2 - Expression (1 + 2) * (5 + 8) equals 39 

1^st  -   1 + 2 equals 3            (1 + 2) * (5 + 8)

2^nd  -  5 + 8 equals 13          3 * (5 + 8)

3^rd  -  3 * 13 equals 39         3 * 13

What makes up an expression.

• Numeric literals - Any valid number (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4.25, etc.)

• String literals - Any set of characters enclosed in quotation marks (i.e. "ABC", "Hello!", "123ABC", etc.)

• Special Functions - Functional or mathematical portions of an equation (i.e. <, +, MID(, (), AND)

• Space - Spaces are used to make expressions more readable and separate the parts of the expression.

• Field names -  Short names that describe the different fields displayed in the Field List. See Insert Field Name to find out the easiest way to insert a valid field name.  All field names have the following format:  

  Prefix	File List Item	Exclamation Point	Field List Item	Actual Field Name
  dta	GLActMst	!	HInd	dtaGLActMst!HInd
  dta	UTCmpMst	!	CompName	dtaUTCmpMst!CompName

   

Sample #1 - dtaGLActMst!HInd

        FIELD NAME is dtaGLActMst!HInd

            dtaGLActMst!HInd

        TRANSLATION: (For a description of how field names are translated see Insert Field Name.)

        RESULT TYPE:

            [string variable] 

Sample #2 - (dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal <> 0) AND (dtaGLActMst!HInd = "D")

        SPECIAL FUNCTIONS are ( <> ) AND ( = ) 

            (dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal <> 0) AND (dtaGLActMst!HInd = "D")

        NUMERIC LITERAL is 0

            (dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal <> 0) AND (dtaGLActMst!HInd = "D")

        STRING LITERAL is "D"

            (dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal <> 0) AND (dtaGLActMst!HInd = "D")

        SPACES USED are

            (dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal  <>  0)  AND  (dtaGLActMst!HInd  =  "D")

        FIELD NAMES are dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal   dtaGLActMst!HInd

            (dtaGLActMst!CurYrBegBal <> 0) AND (dtaGLActMst!HInd = "D")

        TRANSLATION:

        RESULT TYPE:

            [true/false variable]

Other rules for setting up an expression.

• Left parenthesis must have a matching right parenthesis following it.

• Right parenthesis must have a matching left parenthesis preceding it.

• Every string literal MUST begin with a quotation mark and end with a quotation mark.

• String variables, string literals or true/false variables can NOT be directly compared to numeric variables or numeric literals.

Some examples of expressions that can be used for an If Condition.

Example #1 - dtaGLActMst!HInd = "D"

        TRANSLATION:

        RESULT TYPE:

            [true/false variable] 

        REASON FOR EXPRESSION:

               This report will only print detail G/L accounts.

Example #2 - LEFT(dtaGLTJEHdr!TJEDt, 6) = LEFT(DATE, 6)

        TRANSLATION:

        RESULT TYPE:

            [true/false variable] 

        REASON FOR EXPRESSION:

               This report will only print temporary journal entries that are dated in the current month.

Example #3 - QTD(DATE, dtaPRUnemp, Amt) <> 0

        TRANSLATION:

        RESULT TYPE:

            [true/false variable] 

        REASON FOR EXPRESSION:

This report will only print employees if their quarterly unemployment amount is not zero.

Example #4 - dtaBIOnHand!SerNo > "" AND dtaBIOnHand!Qty > 0

        TRANSLATION:

        RESULT TYPE:

            [true/false variable] 

        REASON FOR EXPRESSION:

This report will only print a line if there is a serial number AND the quantity is greater than 0.