Functions Used in Formulas

Working with Formulas > Functions Used in Formulas

This is a reference section that provides information about all the functions available in the software.  Below, you'll find a discussion about the categories of functions you can use in the software along with a description of how each function is documented.

Types of Functions

The software supports a variety of different function types including:

Conversion Functions - Functions used in converting one type of data to another type (e.g., converting a character type to a numeric type).

Date/Time Functions - Functions used in working with time and date types (e.g., identifying the day of the week for a given date).

Numeric Functions - Functions used in working with numeric data types (e.g., rounding a number or calculating the power of a number).

Text Functions - Functions used in working with character data types (e.g., turning all characters to upper case or showing only a portion of a string).

List Functions - Functions used for aggregate calculations (e.g., finding the average or sum of a group of numbers).

Other Functions - These are useful functions that don't have a classic category (e.g., creating an IF statement and finding record numbers/identifiers).

 
In addition, this manual also provides an index of all available functions for your reference..

Function Page Formatting

Please note that each function page is broken down into four areas:

Description

This area provides a short statement describing the purpose and use of the function.

Function Format

This area provides the they syntax required to use the function.  For example, the following is provided for the STR() function:

STR(number [, precision])

"STR" is the function name, followed by the expression in parentheses.  The word "number" means that this value must be numeric (for instance, the number "123" or a referenced numeric field ("Fieldname").  The area in [brackets] is optional.  In this case, you can also provide a precision value if required in your formula.  For the number "123.23", if you wish to have a string "123.2" you would use a precision of "1".

Return Value

This area tells you what type of value the function returns.  For instance, a formula may return a number or character type.

Examples

This area offers examples of how the function is used.  Examples always show actual numbers or strings, however, in practice you can reference field names as well.  An example may state:

STR(10.55, 1) = "10.5"

However, in practice, you may actually reference a field name (e.g., "Field1") that has a record containing "10.55" like this:

STR(Field1, 1) = "10.5"