Add Formulas to Questions

Introduction

Formulas can be created by you and added to a form in the form builder. Formulas will automatically perform an operation on any number values entered on the mobile app when the form is filled out.

How to add a formula to a question

Within the Form Builder in the web app, click into the form you want to work in.
Drag or click on the "Formula" field to add it to your form. For example, you may add the following questions:
- "How many technicians attended the meeting?"
- "How many managers attended the meeting?"
Add the number question that will calculate the answers of the value questions entered. For example, you may add the following question:
- "How many total people attended the meeting?"
Within the Default field of the last number question (#3 in above example), enter your calculation using the fxID of the value questions (this can be found on the question beside the files link). For example, you may type:
- ={33250}+{33251}
Click Save .

Question Types which can be part of a formula

The following question types can be in a formula's expression.

Question Type	Formula Value
Single Select	The value of the "Score" setup for the selection will be used as the formula value.
Multi Select	The sum of the values of the "Score" for all of the selections made will be used as the formula value.
Number/Short Text	The value entered will be converted to a number and used as the formula value. For Short Text a non-number would obviously break the formula. For example what's 2 + hotdog? Right our algorithms don't know either.
Date	The formula value will be expressed as the number of days since the first day of the year.
Time	The formula value will be expressed as the number of minutes since midnight in the users local time.

Formula Behaviors on Question Types

The following question types can have their answer set:

Question Type	Behavior
Single Select/Multi Select	The formula will automatically select the selection with a "Score" value closest to the result of the formula. If 2 selections are equi-distant from the result, the first selection of the 2 are chosen.
Number/Short Text	The formula will automatically enter the result of the formula as the answer to the question
Date	The formula's result will be in "day" units. This result will be added to the "now" date/time. Then the time portion of the date/time will be stripped.
Time	The formula's result will be in "minute" units. This result will be added to the "now" date/time. Then the date portion of the date/time will be stripped.

Formulas relating to other formula questions

When using a formula based on another question with a formula, instead of using the "Formula" question type, use a "Number" question type. Fill in the formula in the "Default" field.

Formula Operators

Order of operations will be honored. Please Contact us to ask about more complex operations, we may already support it!

= equal
+ add
- subtract
* multiply
/ divide

Some other things to know about formulas.

All fxID need to be wrapped in curly braces: {} . Note that this is not parenthesis: ()
The fxID will never change for a question, so if you move it around or delete it - it's consistent and unique to that question.
Formulas will only work if there is a value entered in every question that is included in the formula calculation.
We find that it's easiest to create a form in its entirety before making the formulas.
Formulas can be tricky - so be patient and make sure to double-check your work.