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D
DKinsley
Level 9
June 23, 2015
Question

Substr Function

  • June 23, 2015
  • 16 replies
  • 6698 views

I have a script that "walks" through all the records in an Access database table to find the largest file ID number. This script has been working correctly. Now I need to add a prefix to all the ID numbers. This requires me to modify my script so it ignores the one character prefix (prefix is either a "T" or a "Y"). I was trying to use the Substr function to accomplish this.

This is the original script that works:


while(!oDB.isEOF()){

 if(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value > nMaxID)

  nMaxID = Number(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value);

 oDB.next();

}

Below is how I tried to modify the script above to ignore the prefix but I get an error that says Substr is not defined. What have I got wrong?


while(!oDB.isEOF()){

 if(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value > nMaxID)

  nMaxID = Number(Substr(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value,2,12);

 oDB.next();

}

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16 replies

Magus069
Magus069
Level 10
June 23, 2015

Hi there,

If I'm right, the substr function does not have a capital S...

while(!oDB.isEOF()){ 

     if(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value > nMaxID) 

          nMaxID = Number(substr(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value,2,12); 

     oDB.next(); 

} 

D
DKinsleyAuthor
Level 9
June 23, 2015

Unfortunately, with the lower case "s" I am still getting the substr undefined error.

jasotastic81
jasotastic81
Level 8
June 23, 2015

substr is a method in JavaScript. Should you use xfa.record.DataConnection.FileName.value.substr(2,12) ?

D
DKinsleyAuthor
Level 9
June 23, 2015

substr appears to be a Formcalc method only - not JavaScript. Your suggestion stopped the error but it does not appear to be doing what i expected. Are you sure it can alos be used in JavaScript?

jasotastic81
jasotastic81
Level 8
June 23, 2015

Here's the method working using JavaScript.

Maybe the problem is with how the method works. The first parameter is the starting location of the substring, and the second is the number of characters to take. So, from your example, you start with character 2 and take 12 characters. If you only want to ignore the first character, try substr(1,12). That starts at the first character in the string. (Keep in mind that characters in the string are numbered starting from 0.)

Magus069
Magus069
Level 10
June 23, 2015

Yes it can be used in JavaScript... Just one last thing, make sure that your value is a String before using substr.. so try using value.toString().substr(2,5)

D
DKinsleyAuthor
Level 9
June 23, 2015

Does substr have to be used in the calculate event? I have all my script in the exit event.

jasotastic81
jasotastic81
Level 8
June 23, 2015

No, that's just where I put mine for that example.

radzmar
radzmar
Level 10
June 23, 2015

I'm just quessing because I cannot create a similar scenario at my end right now, but you should try to store the records value in a variable before you apply the substr() method.


while(!oDB.isEOF()){  

if(xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value > nMaxID) 

var vValue = xfa.record.DataConnection1.FileName.value;

nMaxID = Number(vValue, 2,12);  

oDB.next(); 

}


D
DKinsleyAuthor
Level 9
June 24, 2015

radzmar,


Your script does not have substr in it? Is it missing?

The script is going out to the database and looking for the largest number. The numbers start with either "T" or "Y" so I need to have the script ignore the first text character and only look at the remaining numeric digits. I would thing the substr would need to be run before the value is saved in a variable. 

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