I’m new to this, so this might be dumb 
Can someone give me a good definition of both a variable and a formula, and tell me what the differences are?? Thanks!
Listserv Archives (BOB member since 2002-06-25)
How 'bout, a variable ends up describing the result of a formula, query, or the contents of a field… Like the variable TotalReportSize contains the total disk space used by some set of reports, AverageReportSize may contain the sizes averaged over the number of reports… a variable could be just simple text, like UserName…
A formula may use one or more variables, formulae, constants, whatever , along with some computation… The formula for the variable MySquareArea might be MySquareLength * MySquareWidth…
Eazy?
Brent
- and a constant might be like Pi - the variable would be set and not changed, like MyPI =3.1415etc… just used for legibility, eg, makes more sense to say Pi instead of the number…
I’Can someone give me a good definition of both a variable and a formula, and tell me what the differences are?? Thanks!
Listserv Archives (BOB member since 2002-06-25)
Hi,
Can someone give me a good definition of both a variable and a formula, and tell me what the differences are??
Essentially variables are formulas with names. A formula is a calculation or logical statement that manipulates the data in a report. Each time you change a formula, the old one remains and a new one is created. Therefore, if you keep all of the old formulas, you will have many superfluous calculations in your report. If you modify a variable, then the new definition replaces the old variable.
Hope that helps!
–
Michael Malone
Senior Consultant
WCI Consulting
Listserv Archives (BOB member since 2002-06-25)
In a message dated 00-01-17 13:59:16 EST, you write:
Can someone give me a good definition of both a variable and a formula, and
tell me what the differences are??
Kari:
You might want to take a look at a document on our web site. I did a presentation at the BusObj User Conference titled “Variables and More Variables” which talks about not only the differences between variables and formulas, but provides some advantages of variables. There are also some ideas / examples of different variables that you may find useful.
The “sequel” (SQL?) to that presentation was done the following year and is also on the web site.
You can find both of these presentations at:
That page contains all of the presentations that Integra consultants have presented over the past several years. Hope this helps!
Regards,
Dave Rathbun
Integra Solutions
www.islink.com
Listserv Archives (BOB member since 2002-06-25)
Hi,
Can someone give me a good definition of both a variable and a formula, and tell me what the differences are??
Essentially variables are formulas with names. A formula is a calculation or logical statement that manipulates
And another benefit of variables is that you can refer to them in other formulas and variables. This is useful if you want to break up a complex calculation into a series of smaller, but logical steps. This is particular true if you consider input and output contexts (have a look at the bo help files). A variable can be created and set to be evaluated within its current context (or not) - that variable can then be used later even if the reports structure has changed (i.e. sections and breaks and so forth have been changed, removed etc) however, the context of the variable will not change and therefore the result will be the same whereever used.
If you want a more descriptive answer, please feel free to email me.
Regards
Brian Patterson
Listserv Archives (BOB member since 2002-06-25)