NumberFields property

The number fields of this form screen as an array.

Accessing all number fields of a form screen through this property has many uses:

• Calculating the sum of all number fields of a form screen.
• Enabling a button only if all number fields of a form screen are valid.
• Deciding which background color to use based on whether the number fields of a form screen are valid.
• Collecting the labels and values of all number fields of a form screen as a text string, for use as the body of an email.
• Only allowing a user to move forward to the next screen if they have filled out all number fields of a form screen.

The following sections detail how these scenarios can be realized. Skip to the examples at the bottom for the concise version.

Summing all number fields

This formula returns the sum of the values of all number fields of a form screen:

The formula above can also be written as follows:

However, as the SUM function is looking for an array of numbers to add together, and number fields return numbers through their Value properties, .Value,Value is inferred and does not need to be spelled out.

In fact, you may be able to make the formula even shorter:

In the formula above, .Items.Value,Items,Value is inferred. In other words, the Items property is accessed, which includes not only fields, but also buttons and text boxes. As buttons and text boxes cannot return numbers, they are ignored by the SUM function, meaning that SUM(Screen1)SUM(Screen1) returns the sum of all items that can return numbers, including number fields, number drop-down fields and date and time fields.

If you explicitly only want to include the values of number fields, and not values of number drop-down fields and date and time fields, be sure to write SUM(Screen1.NumberFields)SUM(Screen1,NumberFields).

Summing the other number fields of a form screen

Let's say that the form screen Screen1 consists of ten number fields, Field1 through Field10. If Field10 should contain the sum of the other number fields, it is tempting to try to associate this formula with the Value property of Field10:

However, that formula will not work. Instead, you'll get an error message, because you're effectively asking that the calculated value of Field10 includes the value of Field10 itself.

This is similar to trying to use the formula Field1 * 2Field1 * 2 for the Value property of Field1, effectively asking that the value of Field1 should be set to the value of Field1, multiplied by two. This is known as a circular calculation, and results in an error message.

In order to solve this issue, the formula needs to reference the number fields to include in the calculation explicitly:

Above, Field1:Field9Field1:Field9 creates an array consisting of Field1, Field9 and all items that appear between them. Notably, Field10 is not part of the array.

Enabling a button only if all number fields are valid

The Enabled property of a button determines if users can interact with the button. If a button should only be enabled if all number fields of Screen1 are considered valid, associate this formula with the Enabled property of the button:

Above, the Screen1.NumberFields.ValidScreen1,NumberFields,Valid formula returns an array of logical values (TRUE or FALSE), where TRUE indicates that a number field is valid and FALSE indicates that a number field is invalid. The AND function, when applied to this array, returns TRUE only if all array elements are TRUE. In effect, the button is only enabled if all number fields of the form screen are valid.

Making the background color red if a number field is invalid

The BackgroundColor property determines the background color of a screen and all screens that follow that have no explicit background color set. That means that if the background color is set for the first screen of an app, and no other screens have a background color set, the first screen determines the background color of the entire app.

We can make use of this knowledge to make the background of the entire app red, but only if at least one number field of the form screen Screen1 is invalid. This formula is associated with the BackgroundColor property of the first screen:

The formula fragment Screen1.NumberFields.ValidScreen1,NumberFields,Valid returns a logical array, where TRUE indicates that the corresponding number field is valid and FALSE indicates that the corresponding number field is invalid. Applying the NOT function to this array negates every element, meaning that TRUE indicates that a number field is invalid and FALSE indicates that a number field is valid. (The ! operator would have had the same effect.)

Then, the OR function is applied to this array. It returns FALSE only if all elements of the array are FALSE. In other words, it returns TRUE if one or several elements are TRUE, meaning that it returns TRUE if one or several number fields are invalid.

Finally, the IF function is used to return the color red if one or several number fields are invalid. Otherwise, IF returns a blank value, which has no effect on the background color. The net effect is that the background color of the app is made red if one or several number fields of Screen1 are invalid.

Including all number field values of a form screen in an email

The Body property of email report buttons allows the body of an email to be set through a formula. While email report buttons have built-in support for including field values, through the IncludedFields property, building a text string manually to include in the email body allows us more flexibility.

Consider this formula, which should be associated with the Body property of an email report button:

Above, the formula fragment Screen1.NumberFields.LabelScreen1,NumberFields,Label returns a text array, made up of the labels of the number fields of Screen1. The formula fragment Screen1.NumberFields.FormattedValueScreen1,NumberFields,FormattedValue also returns an array, this time made up of the formatted values of the number fields. Using &, the labels are joined together with the values, separated by a colon.

The resulting text array, where every element consists of a label, followed by a colon and a value, is converted into a single text string using the TEXTJOIN function. Its first parameter, NEWLINE()NEWLINE(), ensures that the array elements are separated from one another using line breaks.

Requiring all number fields of a form screen to be filled out

The NextScreenAvailable property of form screens determines if users are allowed to move forward to the next screen. If a user should only be allowed to move forward once all number fields of a form screen have been filled out, associate this formula with the NextScreenAvailable property of the form screen:

The ISDEFINED function returns a logical array when its sole parameter is an array. TRUE elements in the array indicate that the corresponding number fields have defined values, that is, have been filled out, and FALSE elements indicate that the corresponding number fields have not been filled out.

Finally, the AND function returns TRUE only if all elements of the array are TRUE, otherwise it returns FALSE. The net effect is that AND returns TRUE only if all number fields of Screen1 have been filled out, prompting the NextScreenAvailable property to only allow users to proceed once all number fields have defined values.

Ranges versus this property

If the form screen Screen1 only consists of the number fields Field1, Field2 and Field3, these formulas are equivalent:

The second formula uses a range to create an array consisting of Field1, Field3 and all items that appear between them, which in this case is only Field2.

The chief advantage of the NumberFields property, compared to a range, is that there is no need to update formulas when additional number fields are added to a form screen. If Field4 were to be added to the form screen, the Field1:Field3Field1:Field3 range would have to be changed to Field1:Field4Field1:Field4 everywhere it is used.

By contrast, Screen1.NumberFieldsScreen1,NumberFields automatically includes Field4, and any other number fields that are added.

Filtering number fields

If you want to process only a subset of the number fields returned from this property, use the FILTER function. It can base its decision on which number fields to return on the property values of the number fields.

This formula only returns visible number fields:

Crucially, you can also filter on the names of the number fields, using standard text functions. This formula only returns number fields whose names include the text string "Required":

If you use a deliberate naming strategy for your number fields, you can use FILTER in conjunction with this property to ensure that you only process a specific subset of number fields.

Related properties

Use the NumberFields property of a form group to access all number fields of said form group and the NumberFields property of the app object to access all number fields of the entire app.

The Fields property returns all fields of a form screen, not just number fields. The Items property returns all items of a form screen, including fields, buttons, text boxes and named values. Use TextFields, SwitchFields, DateTimeFields, NumberDropDownFields and TextDropDownFields to access other kinds of fields.

Examples