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Participating Frequently
May 10, 2019
Answered

If/Else Statement from text to numbers in PDF Form

  • May 10, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 4378 views

Hello, I have been reading few answers in this forum but none is about my case. I'm trying to add an IF / ELSE statement to a quote form in PDF but is not working and obviously I'm writing a wrong code.

I have a drop list called "STATE" and another text field called "FL_CALC". Now my question is how can I get a numerical result result in "FL_CALC" field depending the selection made in "STATE"  field?

All that I need is: that number "145" appear in "FL_CALC" field when you choose FL state in "STATE" field... if you choose any other state, then in "FL_CALC" appear 450. Is this possible?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer try67

Sure. Use this code as the custom calculation script of "FL_CALC":

event.value = (this.getField("STATE").valueAsString=="FL") ? "145" :  "450";

2 replies

Karl Heinz  Kremer
Community Expert
May 10, 2019

I would recommend that you learn how JavaScript works. It's not overly complex, and you can probably learn a lot about it in just an afternoon. A while ago I wrote a blog post about how to learn to program in JavaScript for Acrobat: Learning to Program JavaScript for Adobe Acrobat - KHKonsulting LLC

In general, an if else statement looks like this:

if (somethingIsTrue) {

  // .... if block

}

else {

  // .... else block

}

If "somethingIsTrue" is true, then the "if block" gets executed, otherwise the "else block".

So, in your example, the user picks the "STATE", and when STATE is set to "FL", you want FL_CALC to be 145, and otherwise you want FL_CALC to be set to 450:

if (this.getField("STATE").value == "FL") {

  this.getField("FL_CALC").value = 145;

}

else {

  this.getField("FL_CALC").value = 450;

}

This does not contain any error checking (e.g. what happens if the field "STATE" or "FL_CALC" does not exist?), so you may want to look into some exception handling.

The code as I've described it will work from e.g. a global calculation script. If you want to do a calculation script, you will need to set the return value for the event handler: You want to calculate FL_CALC based on the "STATE" field, so you will need to create a custom caulcation script for the field FL_CALC. There are more elegant ways to do this, but to keep it easy to understand, I would recommend you use something like  this:

if (this.getField("STATE").value == "FL") {

   event.value = 145;

}

else {

  event.value = 450;

}

Participating Frequently
May 10, 2019

Thanks Karl... I will give a try tomorrow when I be back to my office.... thanks for taking time to answer me....

try67
try67Correct answer
Community Expert
May 10, 2019

Sure. Use this code as the custom calculation script of "FL_CALC":

event.value = (this.getField("STATE").valueAsString=="FL") ? "145" :  "450";

Participating Frequently
May 10, 2019

Thanks for your prompt response, unfortunately I already left my office but tomorrow morning I will try... Thanks a lot try67, I have reading a lot of your post and believe me, 2 days ago I knew "CERO" about java script and PDF forms... Today I almost finalize my first form using a lot of your answers.

Thanks...