User`s Manual
Contents
1. TriggerCalc works with Group fields as well as Contact fields The method for creating calculations is the same TriggerCalc will automatically detect the active view TriggerCalc User s Manual 5 Version differences Standard version Ability to run calculations for the current contact DEBENT ARR Ability to run calculations for the current lookup or all contacts Syntax Editor Oo S F O Trigger Syntax Builder File referencing in trigger syntax _ NEN ANM 20 basic functions 30 advanced functions Registering TriggerCalc You may buy licenses from Exponenciel Registration is based on ACT user names so you will have to supply your ACT username when registering Once given a registration code make sure that ACT is open then open Windows Explorer and the TriggerCalc folder by default c Program Files ExponencielN TriggerCalc Double click the TriggerCalc exe file In the Standard version dismiss the warning message telling you that no arguments were specified The About window will show up Type the registration code in the box below your username and close the window In the Pro version simply go to the Help About menu To upgrade from TriggerCalc to TriggerCalc Pro proceed the same way and overwrite the existing registration code with the new one Support For support please contact support exponenciel com TriggerCalc User s Manual 6 TRIGGERCALC STANDARD The information in this section is valid2. File Edit Insert Functions are inserted with arguments placeholders shown in red Simply clicking once on a placeholder allows to select it so that you may type the real argument or insert a field or another function x Syntax Editor Contact Fields File Edit Insert 50 If lt logical tesat gt lt value if true cvalue if false Inserting an operator The buttons lists all operators for easy insertion in your calculation Inserting comments You may add comments using the quote button Comments appear in green and start with the quote sign Any character right of a quote sign and up to the end of a line rather up to the next carriage return since a line may wrap is considered a comment and ignored by TriggerCalc TriggerCalc User s Manual 16 Because spaces and tabs are 1gnored and with the ability to add comments you can make your calculations easily readible by anyone as in the following example xi Syntax Editor Contact Fields File Edit Insert Ji 50 Level field If 51 lt 10 if of units is lower than 10 Level i Then write Level 1 in Level fiela Lewel 2 ElsBeB write Level z Saving your syntax in a file You may save your syntax in a tcs TriggerCalc Contact Syntax or tgs TriggerCalc Group Syntax file using the File Save or Save As menu These files may be directly referenced in a trigger as explained in Referencing a file in your trigger syntax below Loadi
3. Simulating radio buttons Pro version Simulating radio buttons uses the same approach as simulating a checkbox If 50 and 51 are the 2 fields that you want to work together you want when you insert an X in 50 to blank out 51 and vice versa For the trigger of field 50 and 51 use 50 1f Leja ae TES N 51 if 50 D es Tm Note You probably would want to remove the 2 fields from the tab order Tools Design layouts to prevent automatic triggering of the calculation when tabbing through fields Copying the content of a field to another field Both versions This is really simple If 50 is the field to copy to 51 51 1 50 Rev February 5 2005 v 2 2 4
4. Iffield51 is lower than 500 the value is O Important note concerning the syntax editor the syntax editor will not detect if you insert a function inside another function So you have to escape the semi colons with a backslash manually Using a formula to define the target field Starting with version 2 2 you may define the target field by a calculation In this case though make sure you use a double sign to separate the calculation from the target field calculation Ex imagine that field 50 may have 2 values When it contains ValueA you want today s date to be entered in field 51 When it contains ValueB you want today s date to be entered in field 52 51 If 50 ItemA 0 1 J zzNow The Trigger Syntax builder As seen in the TriggerCalc Standard version section of this manual and in Referencing a file in your trigger syntax above there are several things not to forget when writing a trigger syntax like inserting a space between the path and the calculation and avoiding spaces in the calculation or the file reference Tr Trigger Syntax Builder Here are different items you might need to create your triggers Program path only C Documents and Settings sGillesshly Documents BAT rniggerCal Copy Calculation syntax only 5051 52 Copy C Documents and SettingssGilles Muy Documents BST riggerCal Full syntax Copy Notes IF you want to run more than 1 calculation at once separate th
5. are properly built you could then convert your fields to numeric or currency Creating a button for manual calculations You don t have to use triggers You may also add a button to your toolbar instead of using the triggers That way the calculation is triggered only when the user wants it To create a button follow these steps Do Tools Customize Window Click the Custom Commands tab Click New then Browse and locate TriggerCalc Add the proper syntax at the end of the command line like 50 51 50 below Enter a Command Name and Description Click Apply not OK C Customize ACT Contacts Window c m WNP Toolbars Menus Keyboard Custom Commands Custom Commands IT TrigaerCalc User User2 50 Mew EADocuments and Settings Gilles My Documents BST rigger m DESwitch Eg C Documents and Sethings Gilles My Documents wW BSDE S wik DEBE Command name T ggerCalUserl User2450 Command line Inciel TriggerCale T rigaerCalc ese 50 51 50 Browse Start in C Program Files E xpanenciel TriggerCale T rig Description Useds 0000000000 Icon Tooltip text Uses EN Menu test Userbs50 OOO Bun Moma coc aso 6 Then click the Toolbars tab 7 Select Custom Commands in the Categories dropdown list 8 Select and drag the command and drop it on the toolbar wherever you want That s it When you click the new button the calculation will b
6. o DateDiff interval datel date2 firstdayofweek firstweekofyear returns the number of time intervals between two specified dates Ex if 51 2 12 12 2003 and 52 2 12 15 2003 then datediff d 51 52 23 You can use the DateDiff function to determine how many specified time intervals exist between two dates For example you might use DateDiff to calculate the number of days between two dates or the number of weeks between today and the end of the year To calculate the number of days between datel and date2 you can use either Day of year y or Day d When interval is Weekday w DateDiff returns the number of weeks between the two dates If datel falls on a Monday DateDiff counts the number of Mondays until date2 It counts date2 but not datel If interval is Week ww however the DateDiff function returns the number of calendar weeks between the two dates It counts the number of Sundays between datel and date2 DateDiff counts date2 if it falls on a Sunday but it doesn t count datel even if it does fall on a Sunday If datel refers to a later point in time than date2 the DateDiff function returns a negative number Interval Firstdayofweek firstweekofyear Setting Descr Value Descr Value Descr yyyy Year 1 Sunday l Start with week in which q Quarter 2 Monday Janl occurs m Month 3 Tuesday y Day of year 4 Wednesday 2 Start with the 1 week that d Day 5 Thursday has at least 4 days in the new W Weekday 6 Friday year w
7. period or use 1if payments are due at the beginning of the period If omitted O is assumed guess value you estimate will be returned by Rate If omitted guess is 0 1 10 percent TriggerCalc User s Manual 29 EXAMPLES OF CALCULATIONS Calculating the age of a contact Pro version If 50 is the date of birth field DateDiff yyyy 50 Now Converting a date into a string Pro version If 50 1s the date to convert Weekdayname Weekday 50 amp amp Monthname Month 50 amp amp Day 50 amp amp Year 50 Ex 01 11 2004 is converted into Sunday January 11 2004 Capitalizing the first character of a field Both versions If 50 1s a string UCase left 50 1 amp Lcase Mid 50 2 Ex Send an Invoice is converted to Send an invoice Note to capitalize the first letter of each word see the Fcase function in the String functions of the standard version Simulating a checkbox Pro version To simulate a checkbox write a calculation that inserts an X if the field 1s blank and blanks the field if the field already has an X If 50 1s the field you want to use for a checkbox use this trigger syntax as an Entry trigger for field 50 LA 50 lt gt T W m WX Note You probably would want to remove the checkbox field from the tab order Tools Design layouts to prevent automatic triggering of the calculation when tabbing through fields TriggerCalc User s Manual 30
8. slash and a forward slash V This applies to the Syntax Editor as well Closing the syntax editor When you close the Syntax Editor window though the File Close menu or the regular Windows close button you will be prompted to save your work Whether you save it or not you will be taken back to the Prompt screen and the Calculation field will be automatically filled so that you may run your calculation by clicking the Run button If you saved your syntax the field will show the proper syntax referencing the file you just saved see Referencing a file in your trigger syntax below If you did not save it the field will show the first line of your syntax properly formatted to be run 1e with spaces and comments removed TriggerCalc User s Manual 16 Referencing a file in your trigger syntax One of the most interesting festures of the Pro version is the ability to reference a file in which your calculation syntax is stored in the trigger syntax The proper way to reference a file 1s the following C Program Files Exponenciel TriggerCalc TriggerCalc exe File File Path In which File Path 1s the path to the file Suppose that you saved your calculation in a file named calc tcs Remember that ACT does not tolerate spaces in the arguments so make sure you replace any space with the character In the case mentioned above the file path would therefore be File C NProgram Files Exponenciel TriggerCalc Calc txt If th
9. such as deposits to savings is represented by negative numbers cash received such as dividend checks is represented by positive numbers rate interest rate per period For example if you get a car loan at an annual percentage rate APR of 10 percent and make monthly payments the rate per period is O 1 12 or 0 0083 per payment period in the range 1 through nper nper total number of payment periods in the annuity For example if you make monthly payments on a four year car loan your loan has a total of 4 12 or 48 payment periods pv present value or value today of a series of future payments or receipts For example when you borrow money to buy a car the loan amount is the present value to the lender of the monthly car payments you will make fv optional future value or cash balance you want after you ve made the final payment For example the future value of a loan is 0 because that s its value after the final payment However if you want to save 50 000 over 18 years for your child s education then 50 000 is the future value If omitted O is assumed type optional when payments are due Use 0 if payments are due at the end of the payment period or use 1if payments are due at the beginning of the period If omitted O is assumed o NPer rate pmt pv fv type returns the number of periods for an annuity based on periodic fixed payments and a fixed interest rate For all arguments cash paid out such as
10. 9 Operator precedence Typically the operator precedence the order in which the operators are evaluated is which means that 90 3 1 equals 151 and not 200 you first multiply then add TriggerCalc follows this rule for simple calculations like the one above but for more complicated calculations make sure you use parenthesis to help TriggerCalc determine in which order it should proceed with the calculations in the example above it would mean writing 50 3 1 instead of 50 3 1 Besides the 4 basic operators you may also use Boolean operators Yes is returned if the comparison is true No if the comparison is false o gt lt gt lt lt gt allow to compare values Ex if field 50 5 and 51210 and 52 450 53151 then 52 returns No o NOT is used to perform a logical negation Ex if field 50 5 and 51 10 and 52 2 NOT 50 2 51 then 52 returns Yes o AND OR XOR logical exclusion EQV logical equivalence IMP logical implication may also be used Ex if field 5025 and 51210 and 52 50 5 OR 51 8 then 52 returns Yes Note If you would rather get the numeric equivalent of True and False returned instead of Yes and No add a tilde sign in front of your calculation 1 will be returned instead of Yes and O instead of No field 50 25and 51210 and 52 450 5 51 then 52 No 52 2 50 2 51 then 52 0 Conditional statements To a certain extent you may use the option see the note
11. 9 Additional functions included in the Pro version ccccsscccccceeeeeeeseeececeeeecaeaeeeseeeeeeeeaaaeenses 20 ORAE TTITS PO RN ne RTT EU P 20 NOLAN HG ab ECHOS abusus a E IE m DEL IE LM a Isi ES DUE 20 Mathematical TUDCHOTS coerente culi endet dte tua etos lb o ao tanto us tem uc deua era eau 21 SSUES BUC TIO NE M 21 BESSEREN TIED LITT NE 27 Formac FUCO S ova essere erue ERE Due versui SEXE Ceo ose Extat A ax gett tentent dix occ teda esed i que Sees urea 24 TriggerCalc User s Manual 3 Poan a Donc HON Sos ost e Destra tpe peor tu Dont gelu dte D os Aid 22 EXAMPEESOOFPFCALCUELAT IONS 2355 6e EEI yn np Hoe eaae ae eo nano ao een eo eo ean a een vo eo ceno aaae 29 Calculating the age of a contact Pro version eessssssssoeeersssssssseeeresssssssserrrssssssseeeressssss 20 Convertine adate 1nto stine Pro version Jenene uade Cond uus eau lem uda Cad end 20 Capitalizing the first character of a field Both Versioms ccccssssssseececccceeeeeeeseceeeeeeaaes 20 simulatine checkbox Pro Version J P s Debut ee Hb ED de eina 29 Simulating radio buttons Pro version ssssssessseeeseeeeeeeeene nnne eene nnn nnne 30 Copying the content of a field to another field Both versions esses 30 TriggerCalc User s Manual 4 INTRODUCTION Purpose of the add on The main objective of TriggerCalc is to allow calculations between fields The standard versi
12. Multiple cilc uton eeri E E O 11 ETO a idu d ene EE M E e E ee ere 12 Creating a button for manual calculations eeeseeeessssssesesseeeenenne eene nnne eene 12 TRIGGERCAE PRO 5nincoaicietis ele ode Dabo gos oc byta dicssa o cea Co ela Pie eo 20 sata EL ev ea odora Frage ds 13 TEC DESIDERO 13 DUCES VICO Oa ta quete as ee uut Deum ad ED UU ee ee ee Teen dU R 14 Irisettimb Te LOS ooo ensi eeu iot Wry E Ae Ludo eua a Cause N ree nee ee EE Cu 14 Meerane TUNCHIONS 05006 racio apoes E O E EE EE EEEa 15 Irisertne an OPCL ALON eiei a Detto ta D oU E RLCN D DU DuE tied 15 sering Commen 3c eet bor te t ennt ESSEN ORE Udo Pur Sont e emet Esse eR uode Do er ode e x educi pue yale 15 Savino vour Syntax dna Ile uoces eot dr densa v egu ove utt bus eoo debeam da vetu a ede budsanios 16 oam de eenass distet Gta e ie se LA dfc Moi E ead 16 Previews and testi your Sy ba K db sssteiiserbeesine d ek he ah eive dae aa a esit 16 Iunone muluplecalculattODSsses5 dae evo et Fageo itta ua de vce dep pv vs acu A tu deu cut pru UE dd 17 Closine the syntax COIEOTE vosoiso taie lont eim aateusote Eciam e Doom Fein mentes cines Lo do da od onte 17 Referencins filein your trig eer Sy TAX uses eoa ae eed oc reo gehe a Heic DEO EAE 18 Wsine a Tunch on inside another TUNCHON ouo o todo se tonta a cu bisi Are aM aa uide ca MP SU LUbUE 18 Using a 1ormula to derine the tar Cet Held iio Eq p beni Id acieeieiee ts 19 The Pere Ser Syntax Dude cennin 1
13. TriggerCalc TriggerCalc Pro v 2 2 Another efficient and affordable ACT Add On by TriggerCalc User s Manual 2 Table of contents INTRODUC TION nii a a a a Ea 4 Purpose OF Ne adi Onsen a N A 4 FLOW TE W OPK S er a E E E E a M EN 4 NV CUS HOMO HIS Ie ai a N S N 5 Resisterme E E E E t din E E A E E E E tants art 5 PPO E E E E N US UE 5 TRIGGERCALC STANDARD 5252 iio ooi a a aaaea 6 Sene up Caleu UON a a a 6 Using the trigger feature for automating calculationSs sessseeeeessssssssseerrsssssssseerrsssssssseeeees 6 W inten Hnelda should dhave aitrte geb 1 ies e A Mec a Ano ut DUE e e ON EDDIE 7 Calculation SV Did acea eo oae dpa ME ncitidiolis o nais diana tad IM acteiion tas 7 Iba vanis pA Field IDS M Y 7 OG AOU pos cca eet UEM EMG ME M E CUI M NM EM eee a MEE M cae eee 8 BSC Retains c tice tenants cde E nents tenet ae Sr dati equ cedi detipa tu utc dat umts 8 OP CTO CC CC SC Cacus ote sa ecco een cae ane oe aT a aaNet sen 9 COMAIIONAL STALE INC IS anana a a toot ictde Med attetaas 9 Functions included in the standard Version cccccccsssssssesececcceccaeeessescceeeeeeaaeeseeeeeeeeesaaaeenees 10 DateTime TUDCLHODS siue tete bete p ets eto E footer Ed Ra tane to debe tuN tota fone sce dd a rale P 10 SUCTUS TUNC ONS i aec eot auo a ED saat t Ea e e DR ED evo Fus EEpa unu Opec pn dade 10 Mathematical TiC GOS cs aoaen eme tusa equ E eauccanb Nata CUR psal desint i ans 11
14. above to build conditional statements For instance 50 51 blue 10 will return 0 if field 51 is not equal to blue and 50 if equal to blue Note the tilde in front and then the minus sign because 51 blue will return 1 if true For true support of conditional statements see the If function included in the PRO version TriggerCalc User s Manual 10 Functions included in the standard version TriggerCalc can accept a number of different functions The function names are not case sensitive Date Time functions o NowQ will return the current date and time Ex 50 2 Now will insert 1 31 2003 9 10 50 PM in field 50 o TimeQ will return the current time Ex 50 2Time will insert 9 10 50 PM in field 50 o Day will extract the day from a date Ex if field 50 2003 01 31 then Day 50 returns 31 o Weekday will return the day of the week Sunday 0 Monday 1 etc Ex if field 50 2 2003 01 31 then Weekday 50 returns 6 o Weekdayname will return the name of the day Ex if field 50 2 2003 01 31then Weekdayname 50 returns Friday o Month will extract the month from a date Ex if field 50 2003 01 31 then Month 50 returns 1 o Monthname will return the name of the month Ex if field 50 2 2003 01 31then Monthname 50 returns J anuary o Year will extract the year from a date Ex if field 50 2 2003 01 31then Year 50 returns 2003 o Hour Minute and Second will extract th
15. atical functions o Absreturns the absolute value of a number Ex if field 50 5 32 then Abs 50 returns 5 32 o Sgn returns lif the number is 20 0 if the number 0 1if the number is 0 Ex if field 50 5 32 then Sgn 50 returns 1 o Sqr returns the square root of a number Ex if field 50225 then Sqr 50 returns 5 o Intreturns the integer portion of a number Ex if field 50 25 52 then Int 50 returns 25 Multiple calculations TriggerCalc allows for multiple calculations Simply separate your calculations by a backward slash In this case the forward slash to start any calculation is mandatory Example Program path VIriggerCalc exe 53 452 10V 52 452 5 In this example the program sums up User2 10 and copies the value to User3 then it removes 5 to User2 TriggerCalc User s Manual 12 Note the calculations are performed from left to right which might make a difference if a field is used in a calculation and modified in another one like in the example above Errors In case the calculation is invalid like 1 divided by 0 or 50 A TriggerCalc will return ERR Note numeric or currency fields in ACT will not allow accept this message therefore the field will remain blank or will be blanked out if it previously had a value Therefore you may want to run tests before you convert your fields to numeric or currency so that you can be made aware of any errors When you are sure the calculations
16. c mean of the values numeric values only Blank and characters are ignored Fx if 51 210 52 is empty blank and 53 220 then Avo 51 52 53 215 o Large k valuel value2 returns the k th largest value numeric values only Blank and characters are ignored Ex if 51 210 52 212 and 53 220 then Large 2 51 52 53 222 o Small k valuefT value2 returns the k th smallest value numeric values only Blank and characters are ignored Ex if 51 210 52 222 and 53 220 then Small 3 51 52 53 210 Mathematical functions o Thecos sin tan exp atn and log functions are supported o Round value of decimals returns a number rounded to a specified number of decimal places Ex if 50 2 123 4875 then Round 50 3 2 123 488 String functions o Left value f of chars returns the first amp of chars characters from the value starting from the left Ex if 50 2 414 555 1212 then Left 50 3 2 414 o Right value of chars returns the first amp of chars characters from the value starting from the right Ex if 50 2 414 555 1212 then Left 50 8 2 555 1212 o Mid value start pos of chars returns of chars from the value starting from the start pos character If of chars is omitted it returns all characters right of the pos Ex Ex if 50 2 414 555 1212 then mid 50 5 3 2 555 TriggerCalc User s Manual 22 Date functions o Age date returns the age of a date new in v 2 2 4
17. cimal character Inserted in series of O or indicates the thousand separator A double comma indicates that the number should be divided by 1000 If the format string contains at least a O or converts the number to scientific notation Ex Format 2343 3 0000 00 02343 20 Format 2343 3 S 00 2 343 00 Format 45 45 Date and time formatting Displays the date as ddddd the time as ttttt if one or both are specified d Displays the day 1 to 31 dd Displays the day using 2 digits 01 to 31 ddd Displays the day using 3 characters Sun to Sat Displays the full day Sunday to Saturday TriggerCalc User s Manual 25 ddddd Displays the date in Short date format your Windows settings dddddd Displays the date in long time format your Windows settings W Displays the weekday Sunday is 1 etc q Displays the quarter y Displays the day 1 to 366 ttttt Displays the time in Time format your Windows settings Ex Format 01 15 2004 dddd Thursday Format Now ttttt 2 10 07 19 AM Financial functions o FW rate nper pmt pv type returns the future value of an annuity based on periodic fixed payments and a fixed interest rate The rate and nper must be calculated using payment periods expressed in the same units For example if rate is calculated using months nper must also be calculated using months For all argaments cash paid out such as deposits t
18. culated using months nper must also be calculated using months For all argaments cash paid out such as deposits to savings is represented by negative numbers cash received such as dividend checks is represented by positive numbers rate interest rate per period For example if you get a car loan at an annual percentage rate APR of 10 percent and make monthly payments the rate per period is O 1 12 or 0 0083 nper total number of payment periods in the annuity For example if you make monthly payments on a four year car loan your loan has a total of 4 12 or 48 payment periods pv present value or value today of a series of future payments or receipts For example when you borrow money to buy a car the loan amount is the present value to the lender of the monthly car payments you will make fv optional future value or cash balance you want after you ve made the final payment For example the future value of a loan is 0 because that s its value after the final payment However if you want to save 50 000 over 18 years for your child s education then 50 000 is the future value If omitted 0 is assumed type optional when payments are due Use 0 if payments are due at the end of the payment period or use 1if payments are due at the beginning of the period If omitted O is assumed o PV rate nper pmt fv type returns the present value of an annuity based on periodic fixed payments to be paid in the future an
19. d a fixed interest rate The rate and nper arguments must be calculated using payment periods expressed in the same units For example if rate is calculated using months nper must also be calculated using months For all argaments cash paid out such as deposits to savings is represented by negative numbers cash received such as dividend checks is represented by positive numbers rate interest rate per period For example if you get a car loan at an annual percentage rate APR of 10 percent and make monthly payments the rate per period is O 1 12 or 0 0083 nper total number of payment periods in the annuity For example if you make monthly payments on a four year car loan your loan has a total of 4 12 or 48 payment periods pmt payment to be made each period Payments usually contain principal and interest that doesn t change over the life of the annuity fv optional future value or cash balance you want after you ve made the final payment For example the future value of a loan is 0 because that s its value after the final payment However if you want to save 50 000 over 18 years for your child s education then 50 000 is the future value If omitted O is assumed type optional when payments are due Use 0 if payments are due at the end of the payment period or use 1if payments are due at the beginning of the period If omitted O is assumed TriggerCalc User s Manual 28 o Rate nper pmt pv fv type gues
20. deposits to savings is represented by negative numbers cash received such as dividend checks is represented by positive numbers rate interest rate per period For example if you get a car loan at an annual percentage rate APR of 10 percent and make monthly payments the rate per period is O 1 12 or 0 0083 pmt payment to be made each period Payments usually contain principal and interest that doesn t change over the life of the annuity pv present value or value today of a series of future payments or receipts For example when you borrow money to buy a car the loan amount is the present value to the lender of the monthly car payments you will make fv optional future value or cash balance you want after you ve made the final payment For example the future value of a loan is 0 because that s its value after the final payment However if you want to save 50 000 over 18 years for your child s education then 50 000 is the future value If omitted O is assumed type optional when payments are due Use 0 if payments are due at the end of the payment period or use 1if payments are due at the beginning of the period If omitted O is assumed o Pmt rate nper pv fv type returns the payment for an annuity based on periodic fixed payments and a fixed interest rate TriggerCalc User s Manual 2 Therate and nper arguments must be calculated using payment periods expressed in the same units For example if rate is cal
21. e calculations with a backward slash and a Forward slash Remember that no space is allowed in the calculation syntax Both Trigger fields in SCT are limited in size 254 characters If your full syntax is too long create a file with the syntax editor and reference the file instead TriggerCalc User s Manual 20 The Trigger Syntax Builder which you may display by clicking the Builder button of the Prompt screen writes your syntax for you based on the content of the Calculation field so that you may simply copy and paste the syntax in ACT trigger field Additional functions included in the Pro version The Pro version of TriggerCalc also includes the following functions Note the use of semi colons to separate items when multiple arguments are needed If function The syntax of the if function 1s the following o I f logical test value if true value if false Ex if field 51 1 then If 51 1 Yes No returns Yes The value if true and value if false arguments are optional Omit them if you don t want the value of the field to be changed Ex if field 51 0 then If 51 21 Yes will not modify the target field Ex if field 51 1 then If 51 21 No will not modify the target field If on the contrary you wish to blank out the target field then use double quotes Ex if field 51 0 then If 51 21 Yes will blank out the target field Statistical functions o Min valuefT value2 retur
22. e argument file is in the same folder as the TriggerCalc executable you may use the AppPath keyword as in AppPath Calc txt so the actual whole command line would be C Program Files Exponenciel TriggerCalc TriggerCalc exe File AppPath Calc txt NOTE Referencing a text file may result in higher response time particularly if the file is not stored on your own machine Using a function inside another function It is possible to use a function in one or more arguments of another function But you then need to escape its semi colons with a backslash For instance you may create a function like this one SO If 51 True Avg 51 V 52 V 53 n a The Avg function is an argument of the IF function Note the presence of the backslashes which escape the second level of semi colons You could have more than argument using a function as in 50 If 51 True Max 51 V 52 V 53 Min 51 V 52 V 53 If you want to add more levels of functions you may do so by adding a backslash for each additional level as 1n 50 Min if 51 21000V 1000 1f 51 52500 W 500 W 0 52 TriggerCalc User s Manual 19 This example of multi level calculation could be explained like this 50 will be the lowest value of field52 and a value defined like this o iffield51 is higher than 1000 then the value is 1000 o Iffield51 is higher than 500 but lower than 1000 then the value is 500 o
23. e hours minutes and seconds of a date time Ex if field 50 9 10 50 PM then Hour 50 returns 21 for 9PM String functions Even though not always necessary it is recommended to always surround strings with quotes o amp is really an operator It concatenates strings Ex if field 502 Mr and 512 Huffman then 50 amp 51 returns Mr Huffman To insert a space use the underscore character as ACT won t allow a space in the arguments 50 amp amp 51 returns Mr Huffman o Ucase will convert to uppercase Ex if field 50 2 Chicago then UCase 50 returns CHICAGO o LCase will convert to lowercase Ex if field 50 2 Chicago then LCase 50 returns chicago TriggerCalc User s Manual 11 o Fcase will capitalize every first letter of the words of a string Ex if field 50 A1 HARDWARE then Fcase 50 returns A1 Harware o Trim will remove leading and trailing spaces Ex Trim Chicago returns Chicago o Ltrim will remove leading spaces Ex Ltrim Chicago returns Chicago o Rtrim will remove trailing spaces Ex Rtrim Chicago returns Chicago o Len will return the number of characters in a string Ex if field 50 Chicago then Len 50 returns 7 o Space x will insert x spaces Ex space 10 returns 10 spaces o Val returns a number in a string It stops at the first character it does not recognize as part of a number Ex if field 50 12C then Val 50 returns 12 Mathem
24. e performed TriggerCalc User s Manual 15 TRIGGERCALC PRO This section details features of the TriggerCalc Pro version only If you are a registered user of TriggerCalc Standard version you may upgrade to the Pro version see Registering TriggerCalc above On top of the features of the Standard version the Pro version features o A Prompt screen which allows to run a manual calculation for the current contact the current lookup or all contacts o A Syntax editor with syntax coloring features to help you create and test your calculations o The ability to save your calculations in a file and to reference the file in your trigger syntax o A Syntax Builder to help you create trigger syntaxes o More than 30 additional functions The prompt screen In the Pro version if you run the program without command line argument you will get the Prompt screen x TriggerCalc Prompt File Edit Options Help Calculation 50 51 52 Calculate far f Curent contact Editor NE t look i urrent lookup Builder f All contacts The TriggerCalc Prompt screen allows to run a calculation for the current contact current lookup or all contacts A typical use of the prompt screen would be the following you already have created a trigger to automatically run a calculation when future changes happen to your contact fields and want to run the same calculation for all contacts of your database first All you have to do is e
25. ear 1 Sunday l Start with week in which q Quarter 2 Monday Janl occurs m Month 3 Tuesday y Day of year 4 Wednesday 2 Start with the 1 week that d Day 5 Thursday has at least 4 days in the new W Weekday 6 Friday year ww Week 7 Saturday 3 Start with first full week of h Hour the year n Minute S Second Firstdayofweek and firstweekofyear are optional If omitted a value of 1 is assumed TriggerCalc User s Manual 24 Format function The syntax of the format function 1s the following o Format expression format Ex 1f field 51 22343 3 then Format 51 0 00 returns 2343 30 The format argument is a string of characters with one or more of the following characters String formatting A character should appear at this position If there 1s no character for this position a space is inserted If there are more than one they are applied from right to left Ex Format AbcD gt ABCD similar to the UCase function Format 4142345678 9 0 9 0 0 414 234 5678 Format 2345678 Q9 9 2 6 0 9 2 234 5678 Format 2345678 2 9 2 0 2 234 567 8 Number formatting A digit is supposed to appear at this position If there is none then O is displayed If the format string contains more 0 than the number to be formatted extra Os are added in front or at the end Combined with 0 or specifies the number of digits which should appear on each side of the de
26. f Record Count 63 Field Count 86 Table Name CONTACT Company 25 Contact 26 Address 1 27 Address 2 28 User 1 50 User 2 51 User 3 52 User 4 53 User 5 5A The field IDs are shown next to the field name Note that the field name may be different from the label used in your layout If you can t find the field you are looking for go to the Tools menu choose Design Layouts and the name that appears in the field is the actual field name TriggerCalc User s Manual Ex You want to write the sum of the User1 and User2 fields in the User3 field as in the example discussed before You can see that User field ID is 50 User2 field ID is 51 User3 field ID is 52 Hence the syntax 52 4M 50 H 51 Operators Basic Operators You may use any of these four basic operators plus minus multiplied by divided by You may use parentheses as well Examples of calculations You may use any combination of the above operators with or without parentheses You don t have to use field IDs in the calculation if they are not necessary For instance 53 x1 51 2 00 0 05 53 4M 50 51 52 User4 equals 5 of User2 100 User4 equals User1 User2 User3 53 x 50 125 51 5 etc 53 4 52 Copies User3 to User4 53 20 Resets User4 to 0 53 4 53 10 Removes 10 from User4 VVVvVyVvvv 53 450 4 H51 etc Concatenates User1 and User2 w a space between TriggerCalc User s Manual
27. for both the Standard and Pro versions In some cases the Pro version has advanced features that make some of this information less useful although still valid Setting up a calculation Using the trigger feature for automating calculations As explained before a typical use of TriggerCalc is in conjunction with ACT trigger feature This ACT feature allows to launch a program whenever the user enters or exits a field To set up a trigger you need to be an administrator of the database Go to the Edit menu and choose Define fields then select the field you want to set a trigger for and go under the Triggers tab To set up a trigger click on the button in the trigger field and locate the program you want to be triggered In our case locate TriggerCalc exe by default it would be located in the c Program Files Exponenciel TriggerCalc folder then click the Open button The path will now appear in the trigger field As shown below simply add your calculation at the end of the line see Calculation syntax below on how to determine the proper syntax for your calculation Note Make sure you insert a space between the program path and the argument but don t insert any space in the calculation itself or ACT will declare the path invalid Define Fields Fields Advanced Record type Attributes Drop down Triggers New Field Delete Field Select program ta Launch when entering Field Ticker Su
28. mbal Title User 10 Launch when exiting Field figgerCale TriggerCalc exe 52 b H 51 Cancel TriggerCalc User s Manual Which field should have a trigger In the example shown here the calculation adds the User1 to the User2 field and writes the total in the User3 field You will want this calculation to be performed automatically every time the user exits the User1 or User2 fields so that you can make sure that whenever the user changes these fields User3 is re evaluated Therefore you would need to create 2 exit triggers with the same syntax one for the User1 field and one for the User 2 field Calculation syntax The syntax of your calculation is critical Make sure you follow these rules It is good practice although not mandatory to start with a forward slash The first item of the calculation is the Target Field ID in between brackets Then the sign Then the calculation itself O O O Determining Field IDs In a calculation each field is referred to by its ACT internal ID To know what the IDs of your fields are run the actdiag exe program located in the ACT folder by double clicking it in Windows Explorer then go to the Reports menu and choose Database Fields Report You will be prompted to choose a database and log into it then asked if you want the report to be displayed in Notepad Say yes and you ll get a report like this Database CX My Documents ACTA Database ACT6demo db
29. ng a file You may load a previously saved file using the File Open command Previewing and testing your syntax Clicking the Preview and Test button v opens the Preview and Test window ES Preview and Test Result of the calculation Far the current contact Press the Run Test button 50 Level field IE those Fe if of units is lower than 10 S EDHERPSDMWEEUN IEES SEM EISE SiS ie thine bevel a TriggerCalc User s Manual 17 In this window the field IDs are automatically replaced with the values of the corresponding fields in the current contact If you click the Run test button the result of the calculation is displayed in green next to the button ES Preview and Test Result of the calculation Far the current contac Dee I se ake i oe asa ease ie if of units is lower than 10 Level 1 Then write Level 1 in Level field SIE aeee ose jee Note to run further tests you may change the values contained in the fields of the current contact save the contact if you want the new values to show in the window and press the Run test button again to see the impact of your changes When you are done close the Preview and test window by pressing the Windows close button X and you will be taken back to the Syntax Editor window Running multiple calculations As explained in the TriggerCalc standard version you may run multiple calculations at once Calculations need to be separated with a backward
30. ns the smallest value numeric values only non numeric values are ignored Ex if 51 210 and 52 220 then Min 51 52 210 o MinC valueT value2 returns the smallest value characters are accepted the sort is based on the characters so in this case 10 is higher than 20 Ex if 51 2 ProductA and 52 ProductB then MinC 51 52 2 ProductA o Max valuel value2 returns the highest value numeric values only non numeric values are ignored Ex if 51 210 and 52 220 then Max 51 52 220 o MaxC valuel value2 returns the highest value characters are accepted the sort is based on the characters so in this case 10 is higher than 20 Ex if 51 ProductA and 52 2 ProductP then MaxC 51 52 2 ProductP o Count valuel value2 counts the number of values that are numeric Ex if 51 21 52 X and 53 22 then Count 51 52 53 Z2 TriggerCalc User s Manual 21 o CountC valuetvalue2 counts the number of values that are not blank Ex if 51 1 52 is empty blank and 53 2 then CountC 51 52 53 2 o CountBlank valuel value2 counts the number of values that are blank Ex if 51 1 52 is empty blank and 53 22 then CountBlank 51 52 53 21 o Countlif logical test valueT value2 counts the number of values that meet the given condition Ex if 51 2 Yes 52 2 Yes 53 2 No then CountIf Yes 51 52 53 2 o Avg valuet value2 calculates the arithmeti
31. nter the calculation part of your trigger syntax in the Calculation field select All contact and press Run TriggerCalc User s Manual 14 You may also use the Prompt screen to regularly update your database by running a calculation the same way without even setting up a trigger If you created a file through the Syntax Editor see below for your trigger you may load it through the File Open menu and run it The Syntax editor The Syntax Editor is a full featured syntax editor with automatic syntax coloring To open the editor click the Editor button in the Prompt screen BS Syntax Editor Contact Fields File Edit Insert 50 2 51 5Z You may type directly in the window or use the different buttons set up to help you create your calculations Inserting fields With the Syntax Editor no need to run the actdiag exe file to find out what your field IDs are The button displays a list of all fields in your database and the field ID surrounded with brackets 1s automatically inserted when you click a field x Syntax Editor Contact Fields Fie Edit Insert TriggerCalc User s Manual 15 Note if you are in the Contact screen when you launch TriggerCalc the contact fields will appear in the field list If you are in the Group screen the group fields will appear Inserting functions The fx button lists all the available functions so that you may quickly insert them E Syntax Editor Contact Fields
32. o savings is represented by negative numbers cash received such as dividend checks is represented by positive numbers rate interest rate per period For example if you get a car loan at an annual percentage rate APR of 10 percent and make monthly payments the rate per period is O 1 12 or 0 0083 nper total number of payment periods in the annuity For example if you make monthly payments on a four year car loan your loan has a total of 4 12 or 48 payment periods pmt payment to be made each period Payments usually contain principal and interest that doesn t change over the life of the annuity pv optional present value or lump sum of a series of future payments For example when you borrow money to buy a car the loan amount is the present value to the lender of the monthly car payments you will make If omitted 0 is assumed type optional when payments are due Use 0 if payments are due at the end of the payment period or use 1if payments are due at the beginning of the period If omitted O is assumed TriggerCalc User s Manual 26 o IPmt rate per nper pv fv type returns the interest payment for a given period of an annuity based on periodic fixed payments and a fixed interest rate The rate and nper arguments must be calculated using payment periods expressed in the same units For example if rate is calculated using months nper must also be calculated using months For all argaments cash paid out
33. on may only perform calculation for the current contact The Pro version may perform calculations for the current contact the current lookup or all contacts A typical example of use would be that you want the value of FieldB to change when the value of FieldA changes Using ACT trigger feature you could set TriggerCalc to automatically launch when the user exits FieldA so that FieldB is automatically updated in the event any change was made to FieldA How it works Most of the time you will want to use TriggerCalc in conjunction with ACT trigger feature to make automatic calculations when the user enters or exits a field but it may also be used to manually update fields ACT trigger feature allows to launch a program when you either enter or exit a field in ACT Define Field screen under the Edit menu each field may be assigned an Entry or an Exit trigger ie the path of a program you want to fire either on entering or on leaving the field In this case the program to be launched will be TriggerCalc At the end of the TriggerCalc path you simply add the calculation you want the program to perform as in C Program Files V Exponenciel TriggerCalc TriggerCalc exe 52 50 51 TriggerCalc program path 1 space calculation Fach field is referenced by its internal field ID in between brackets Here we are adding the User field referred to as 50 to the User2 field 51 The result is displayed in the User3 field 52
34. s returns the interest rate per period for an annuity For all arguments cash paid out such as deposits to savings is represented by negative numbers cash received such as dividend checks is represented by positive numbers Rate is calculated by iteration Starting with the value of guess Rate cycles through the calculation until the result is accurate to within 0 00001 percent If Rate can t find a result after 20 tries it fails If your guess is 10 percent and Rate fails try a different value for guess nper total number of payment periods in the annuity For example if you make monthly payments on a four year car loan your loan has a total of 4 12 or 48 payment periods pmt payment to be made each period Payments usually contain principal and interest that doesn t change over the life of the annuity pv present value or value today of a series of future payments or receipts For example when you borrow money to buy a car the loan amount is the present value to the lender of the monthly car payments you will make fv optional future value or cash balance you want after you ve made the final payment For example the future value of a loan is 0 because that s its value after the final payment However if you want to save 50 000 over 18 years for your child s education then 50 000 is the future value If omitted O is assumed type optional when payments are due Use 0 if payments are due at the end of the payment
35. w Week 7 Saturday 3 Start with first full week of h Hour the year n Minute S Second Firstdayofweek and firstweekofyear are optional If omitted a value of 1 is assumed o DateAdd interval number date returns a date to which a specified time interval has been added Ex if 51 2 12 12 2003 then DateAdd d 3 51 2 12 15 2003 You can use the DateA dd function to add or subtract a specified time interval from a date For example you can use DateA dd to calculate a date 30 days from today or a time 45 minutes from now To add days to date you can use Day of Year y Day d or Weekday w TriggerCalc User s Manual 23 The DateA dd function won t return an invalid date The following example adds one month to January 31 DateAdd m 1 31 Jan 95 In this case DateA dd returns 28 Feb 95 not 31 Feb 95 If date is 31 Jan 96 it returns 29 Feb 96 because 1996 is a leap year oq d Day W Weekday Week o DatePart interval date firstdayofweek firstweekofyear returns the specified part of a given date Ex 1f 51 12 12 2003 then DatePart y 51 346 346 day of the year You can use the DatePart function to evaluate a date and return a specific interval of time For example you might use DatePart to calculate the day of the week or the current hour The firstdayofweek argument affects calculations that use the w and ww interval symbols Setting Descr Value Descr Value Descr yyyy Y
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