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Formula Questions

Formula questions enable Admin users to create a mathematical formula using answers to questions on the form, basic maths symbols and numbers to display a read-only answer on the entry form. This question is useful where a total of a number of fields might need to be returned or a percentage displayed. This guide will explain how to use the functionality but will not include direct examples of how to calculate maths. If you have a formula that you are having trouble calculating please create a support ticket and the support team will assist.

How to Create a Formula Question

This section will look at the specific functionality of the Formula Questions. For information on how to create forms and all question settings see the Question List Guide.

  • Value/Formula – the field in which the formula is entered
  • Insert question reference – inserts a question into the Value/Formula input field, styled so that it will be used correctly
  • Prefix – Used to add characters before the total such as £ or $
  • Suffix – Used to add characters after the total such as %

Only questions which contain numbers can be used as part of the formula and therefore only the following questions are available:

  • Integer
  • Select
  • Textbox
  • Duration

Note – if an answer to a question in the formula contains text then the answer will return N/A

How to Create a Formula

To create a formula, select the questions you wish to use as part of the calculation from the Insert Quest Reference. Each time a question is selected it will appear in the Value/Formula input field.

Admins can use match symbols to create a formula:

  • + – add
  • – – subtract
  • * – multiply
  • / – divide

It is not necessary to include the = sign as part of the formula.

Make sure there are no spaces in the formula.

Admins can add numbers to the formula, such as to calculate a percentage:

[QuestionName]/100*20% which will return 20% of the value of the number entered into the question

Note – when calculating a formula any questions hidden by a dependency, regardless of whether they contain a value or not, will not be included in calculating the total.

Working with Currency

Formula questions have been designed to support currency options. The functionality described below can be used in conjunction with Custom Field Validation to ensure that entrants provide the currency in the format that admins require.

Admins can use the prefix field on the question settings to define the currency symbol, such as £, $ or €

To define the decimal character and the thousand separators admins will need to update the options on the Award Settings.

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Go to Actions>Awards
  3. Click Edit on the relevant Award
  4. Scroll to the Formula Questions section
  5. Specify a character for Decimal separator. This will appear before the pence/cents for the answer. Leave this blank to exclude.
  6. Specify a character for Thousands separator This will appear every three numbers so that the currency is formatted. Leave this blank to exclude.
  7. Select Yes/No to Use thousands separator in answer which defines if the value returned by the Formula questions used the separator as part of the answer.