Help with test template formula

[China Diapers]

I have created the below template:

program:format_number(test(field('#duration'),divi de(field('#page_count'),field('#duration')),0),"{0 :5.1f}");

What I was intending it would do is return 0 where the 'duration' field is blank (thereby avoiding division by zero) else the quotient of page count divided by duration value.

What is actually happening is the result is never 0, it is either the quotient or a division by zero error, so it appears the test is ignored or I am misunderstanding the purpose of the test function.

Screenshot attached for context.

Any ideas?

[China Diapers]

Originally Posted by China Diapers

I have created the below template:

program:format_number(test(field('#duration'),divi de(field('#page_count'),field('#duration')),0),"{0 :5.1f}");

What I was intending it would do is return 0 where the 'duration' field is blank (thereby avoiding division by zero) else the quotient of page count divided by duration value.

What is actually happening is the result is never 0, it is either the quotient or a division by zero error, so it appears the test is ignored or I am misunderstanding the purpose of the test function.

Screenshot attached for context.

Any ideas?

That said, the below returns true where the duration value is populated, and false where it is not as I would expect.

program:test(field('#duration'),"True","False");

[chaley]

Your problem comes from the fact that arguments to template functions are all evaluated before the template function itself. This means that the divide is calculated even when the test is false. Said another way, the test is an "&" and not an "&&". There is no shortcutting.

You can fix it by computing a legal divisor that is used in the test, but with the test returning the "else" value. This template is an example. I didn't use your column names, but it should be clear enough.
program:

program:
	dividend = raw_field('#myint2');
	divisor = ifempty(field('#myint'), 1);
	format_number(
		test(field('#myint'),
			divide(dividend, divisor),
			0),
		"{0:5.1f}");

The reason I used "raw_field" is that my column was formatted with currency signs and commas, and I wanted to retrieve only the base number.

[China Diapers]

Originally Posted by chaley

Your problem comes from the fact that arguments to template functions are all evaluated before the template function itself. This means that the divide is calculated even when the test is false. Said another way, the test is an "&" and not an "&&". There is no shortcutting.

You can fix it by computing a legal divisor that is used in the test, but with the test returning the "else" value. This template is an example. I didn't use your column names, but it should be clear enough.
program:

program:
	dividend = raw_field('#myint2');
	divisor = ifempty(field('#myint'), 1);
	format_number(
		test(field('#myint'),
			divide(dividend, divisor),
			0),
		"{0:5.1f}");

The reason I used "raw_field" is that my column was formatted with currency signs and commas, and I wanted to retrieve only the base number.

Thanks for the explanation. Your example works great.