Calculations with "Empty" values

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Guest

Hello everyone and thank you for all your support,

I am having a little problem that should have a reasonably easy solution. I
have to make some addition calculations in one of my queries.. where a list
of costs should be added up to give me a grad total. The problem is that
sometimes, some of these costs are not present. I am having a hard time
trying to get Access to understand these "empty" values as zeros for the
calculation.

But that's not it.. I dont want to set the default value for these costs as
zero, cause I don't want a list of meaningless zeros on the report I
generate. I want the have the boxes there and transparent, so that when there
are no values, nothing shows up on the report.

Basicaly, I need to find a way to consider all "empty" values as zeros for
the calculation. Maybe with a AutoSum function or something..

I'd appreciate any help or tips,
Carlos
 
Carlos,

I would still set the default value to zero. You can simply restict zeros
from printing on the report.

Try the Nz() function. This converts a null value to empty string or some
other value you specify.

i.e. Nz([FieldName],0)

If you have empty strings instead of nulls this won't work. In that case
you can write a function that compares to empty and set to zero.

HTH,
Josh
 
If I do set the default value to zero, how do I restrict the zeros from
showing up on my report?
I am currently using transparent boxes, that when empty or null don't show
up.
I have:

Total: finance![Cost 1]+finance![Cost 2]+finance![Cost 3]+finance![Cost 4]

Where finance is my table and Cost 1,2,3,4 are the costs to be added up.
Problem is, I only get a value for "Total" when I have values for all Costs
1,2,3,4.

I want it to add up even if some of these costs have null values.

Thank you for everything,
Carlos

"Joshua A. Booker" escreveu:
Carlos,

I would still set the default value to zero. You can simply restict zeros
from printing on the report.

Try the Nz() function. This converts a null value to empty string or some
other value you specify.

i.e. Nz([FieldName],0)

If you have empty strings instead of nulls this won't work. In that case
you can write a function that compares to empty and set to zero.

HTH,
Josh

Carlos said:
Hello everyone and thank you for all your support,

I am having a little problem that should have a reasonably easy solution. I
have to make some addition calculations in one of my queries.. where a list
of costs should be added up to give me a grad total. The problem is that
sometimes, some of these costs are not present. I am having a hard time
trying to get Access to understand these "empty" values as zeros for the
calculation.

But that's not it.. I dont want to set the default value for these costs as
zero, cause I don't want a list of meaningless zeros on the report I
generate. I want the have the boxes there and transparent, so that when there
are no values, nothing shows up on the report.

Basicaly, I need to find a way to consider all "empty" values as zeros for
the calculation. Maybe with a AutoSum function or something..

I'd appreciate any help or tips,
Carlos
 
Carlos,

Try this:

Total: nz(finance![Cost 1],0)+nz(finance![Cost 2],0)+nz(finance![Cost
3],0)+nz(finance![Cost 4],0)

You can restrict zeros in the query for the report's recordsource.

HTH,
Josh

Carlos said:
If I do set the default value to zero, how do I restrict the zeros from
showing up on my report?
I am currently using transparent boxes, that when empty or null don't show
up.
I have:

Total: finance![Cost 1]+finance![Cost 2]+finance![Cost 3]+finance![Cost 4]

Where finance is my table and Cost 1,2,3,4 are the costs to be added up.
Problem is, I only get a value for "Total" when I have values for all Costs
1,2,3,4.

I want it to add up even if some of these costs have null values.

Thank you for everything,
Carlos

"Joshua A. Booker" escreveu:
Carlos,

I would still set the default value to zero. You can simply restict zeros
from printing on the report.

Try the Nz() function. This converts a null value to empty string or some
other value you specify.

i.e. Nz([FieldName],0)

If you have empty strings instead of nulls this won't work. In that case
you can write a function that compares to empty and set to zero.

HTH,
Josh

Carlos said:
Hello everyone and thank you for all your support,

I am having a little problem that should have a reasonably easy
solution.
I
have to make some addition calculations in one of my queries.. where a list
of costs should be added up to give me a grad total. The problem is that
sometimes, some of these costs are not present. I am having a hard time
trying to get Access to understand these "empty" values as zeros for the
calculation.

But that's not it.. I dont want to set the default value for these
costs
as
zero, cause I don't want a list of meaningless zeros on the report I
generate. I want the have the boxes there and transparent, so that
when
there
are no values, nothing shows up on the report.

Basicaly, I need to find a way to consider all "empty" values as zeros for
the calculation. Maybe with a AutoSum function or something..

I'd appreciate any help or tips,
Carlos
 
Yes! Thank you very much Josh.
Your information helped me alot.
Only thing is, the ",0" is incorrect. The nz fuction goes back to zero
automatically. I tried it as u said and got an error on the commas.. I then
looked into the nz function and saw the correct format to it.

But this was exactly what I wanted. Thank you very much.

"Joshua A. Booker" escreveu:
Carlos,

Try this:

Total: nz(finance![Cost 1],0)+nz(finance![Cost 2],0)+nz(finance![Cost
3],0)+nz(finance![Cost 4],0)

You can restrict zeros in the query for the report's recordsource.

HTH,
Josh

Carlos said:
If I do set the default value to zero, how do I restrict the zeros from
showing up on my report?
I am currently using transparent boxes, that when empty or null don't show
up.
I have:

Total: finance![Cost 1]+finance![Cost 2]+finance![Cost 3]+finance![Cost 4]

Where finance is my table and Cost 1,2,3,4 are the costs to be added up.
Problem is, I only get a value for "Total" when I have values for all Costs
1,2,3,4.

I want it to add up even if some of these costs have null values.

Thank you for everything,
Carlos

"Joshua A. Booker" escreveu:
Carlos,

I would still set the default value to zero. You can simply restict zeros
from printing on the report.

Try the Nz() function. This converts a null value to empty string or some
other value you specify.

i.e. Nz([FieldName],0)

If you have empty strings instead of nulls this won't work. In that case
you can write a function that compares to empty and set to zero.

HTH,
Josh

Hello everyone and thank you for all your support,

I am having a little problem that should have a reasonably easy solution.
I
have to make some addition calculations in one of my queries.. where a
list
of costs should be added up to give me a grad total. The problem is that
sometimes, some of these costs are not present. I am having a hard time
trying to get Access to understand these "empty" values as zeros for the
calculation.

But that's not it.. I dont want to set the default value for these costs
as
zero, cause I don't want a list of meaningless zeros on the report I
generate. I want the have the boxes there and transparent, so that when
there
are no values, nothing shows up on the report.

Basicaly, I need to find a way to consider all "empty" values as zeros for
the calculation. Maybe with a AutoSum function or something..

I'd appreciate any help or tips,
Carlos
 
Carlos,

I'm glad you got it to work.

For the record, the nz function does not go to zero auotomatically.
It goes to a zero length string. For example:

nz(Null)= ""
nz(Null,0)=0

HTH,
Josh

Carlos said:
Yes! Thank you very much Josh.
Your information helped me alot.
Only thing is, the ",0" is incorrect. The nz fuction goes back to zero
automatically. I tried it as u said and got an error on the commas.. I then
looked into the nz function and saw the correct format to it.

But this was exactly what I wanted. Thank you very much.

"Joshua A. Booker" escreveu:
Carlos,

Try this:

Total: nz(finance![Cost 1],0)+nz(finance![Cost 2],0)+nz(finance![Cost
3],0)+nz(finance![Cost 4],0)

You can restrict zeros in the query for the report's recordsource.

HTH,
Josh

Carlos said:
If I do set the default value to zero, how do I restrict the zeros from
showing up on my report?
I am currently using transparent boxes, that when empty or null don't show
up.
I have:

Total: finance![Cost 1]+finance![Cost 2]+finance![Cost 3]+finance![Cost 4]

Where finance is my table and Cost 1,2,3,4 are the costs to be added up.
Problem is, I only get a value for "Total" when I have values for all Costs
1,2,3,4.

I want it to add up even if some of these costs have null values.

Thank you for everything,
Carlos

"Joshua A. Booker" escreveu:

Carlos,

I would still set the default value to zero. You can simply restict zeros
from printing on the report.

Try the Nz() function. This converts a null value to empty string
or
some
other value you specify.

i.e. Nz([FieldName],0)

If you have empty strings instead of nulls this won't work. In that case
you can write a function that compares to empty and set to zero.

HTH,
Josh

Hello everyone and thank you for all your support,

I am having a little problem that should have a reasonably easy solution.
I
have to make some addition calculations in one of my queries.. where a
list
of costs should be added up to give me a grad total. The problem
is
that
sometimes, some of these costs are not present. I am having a hard time
trying to get Access to understand these "empty" values as zeros
for
the
calculation.

But that's not it.. I dont want to set the default value for these costs
as
zero, cause I don't want a list of meaningless zeros on the report I
generate. I want the have the boxes there and transparent, so that when
there
are no values, nothing shows up on the report.

Basicaly, I need to find a way to consider all "empty" values as
zeros
for
the calculation. Maybe with a AutoSum function or something..

I'd appreciate any help or tips,
Carlos
 

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