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cursor position when jumping from field to field

Question asked by n.ueberschaeresri-rw-esridist Employee on Jan 20, 2019
Latest reply on Feb 1, 2019 by nRogerGouv
  • Comment • 3

I have a long list of integer fields (25 fields) from where I want to calculate the total in the end. I have put all as default=0 to make sure that no "NULL" value is disabling my calculation. When I now use the "tab" to jump from field to field the cursor is placed after the default 0 so the user always has either to go manually before the zero or has to delete the zero before starting to type his own value. I would prefer to have the whole default value selected when reaching the field so it would automatically be overwritten when I start typing. Is there a way to do that? Or is there a different way to make sure I can use the field for my calculations? I was just thinking of using if(${field}!=NULL,...) but that would mean I have to do a 25times nested "if...", right? There must be an easier way...

 

Thanks for your input!

j.moore-esristaff
j.moore-esristaff Employee Jan 20, 2019 5:29 PM
Correct Answer

Hi Nicole

 

This suggestion originally posted here by James Tedrick might be what you're after:

 

- if you have a few calculations, you can use the coalesce() function to provide an alternative value if a question is not answered (null) - coalesce(${q1}, 0) will return the value in q1 when present, 0 otherwise

- an alternate formula to coalesce would be: if(string-length(${q1}) = 0, 0, ${q1})

- If you have a large number of calculations, you can add a calculate question after each measurement to store the coalesce or if/string-length function (likely making the bind:esri:fieldType null to not add fields to the table) and use the calculate questions' values instead.

 

Two other (less elegant) options, using your default 0:

  • User could simply enter more digits immediately after the zero - the leading zero will be ignored.
  • Experiment with different appearance options. The 'spinner' appearance could be handy for questions accepting small numbers (say < 10). The 'calculator' appearance overwrites the default on entry (however, the other calculator functions it presents could cause confusion).

 

 

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Jim

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