Utilising formula fields
The formula field instantly performs calculations based on values added to other fields on the application form. To create your formula you'll need to reference the slugs or short titles of these fields. This must be enclosed in curly braces.
Note: all field types are supported excluding table fields, content fields, and other formula fields.
Configure a formula field
- In the Manage workspace, navigate to Applications and click Edit form, selecting the correct form if multiple have been configured
- Locate where you'd like to place your formula field click the + that appears
- In the configuration tray on the right side of the page, select Formula from the Field type drop-down
- Provide a Label and Short title
- If desired, add in Hint and/or Help text to provide context to entrants
- In the 'Options' section, key in your formula utilising the functions listed below
- Under the 'Access' heading, choose whether this field is hidden from applicants by deselecting the Read checkbox if necessary
Tip: hidden fields can be shown to reviewers during the evaluation process, for more information see: Show/hide fields for reviewing. - Save when finished
Examples
If you want to calculate the year-on-year growth in revenue for two fields with short titles "2020" and "2021" you would reference each field as {2020} and {2021} in your formula. Here's how it will look:
({2021}-{2020})/{2020}*100
To round the result to two decimal places you can use the round function as follows:
round(({2021}-{2020})/{2020}*100,2)
Available functions
The formula field supports almost 400 different functions, many of which will be familiar if you use formulas in Excel and other spreadsheet tools. Here are some examples of what you can do.
Number and currency fields
| Average Takes the average of the specified fields |
average({field1},{field2},{field3},{field4}) |
| Sum Sums the specified fields |
sum({field1},{field2},{field3},{field4}) |
| Min Returns the smallest number of the specified fields |
min({field1},{field2},{field3},{field4}) |
| Max Returns the largest number of the specified fields |
max({field1},{field2},{field3},{field4}) |
| Round Rounds to specified number of decimal places |
round(number,count) |
| Roundup Rounds up to specified number of decimal places |
roundup(number,count) |
| Rounddown Rounds down to specified number of decimal places |
rounddown(number,count) |
Strings
| Concatenate Combines several text strings into one string |
concatenate({field1},{field2},...{fieldn}) |
| Exact Returns true if both strings are exactly the same |
day({field1},{field2}) |
| Left Extracts a given number of characters from the left side of a text string. |
left({field},4) |
| Lower Converts the text to lowercase |
lower({field}) |
| Mid Returns a substring of a given length starting from a specific position |
mid({field},start_position,length) |
| Proper Capitalises the first word of a string |
proper({field}) |
| Replace Replaces a substring of a given string |
replace({field},start_position,length,"new string") |
| Right Extracts a given number of characters from the right side of a text string. |
right({field},4) |
Dates
| Today Returns today's date |
today() To format the date use text(today(),"MM/DD/YYYY") |
| Days Calculates the difference between two date values |
days({field1},{field2}) |
| Month Returns the month for a date value |
month({field1}) |
| Year Returns the year for a date value |
year({field1}) |
| Day Returns the day for a date value |
day({field1},{field2}) |
| Edate Shifts the date by the given number of months |
edate({date},months) To format the date use text(edate({start},3),"dd/mm/yyyy") |
| Hour Returns the hour for a given time |
hour({time}) |
| Now The current date and time |
now() To format use: text(now(),"dd/mm/yy hh:mm:ss") |
| Weekday Returns the number that corresponds to a day of the week |
weekday({field}) |
| Weeknum Returns the number that corresponds to the week of the year |
weeknum({field}) |
Engineering
| bin2dec Converts a binary number to decimal |
bin2dec({field}) |
| bin2hex Converts a binary number to hexadecimal |
bin2hex({field}) |
| dec2bin Converts a decimal number to binary |
dec2bin({field}) |
| dec2hex Converts a decimal number to hexadecimal |
dec2hex({field}) |
| delta Returns true(1) if both numbers are equal otherwise false(0) |
delta({field1},{field2}) |
Information
| isnumber Returns true if the field contains a number |
isnumber({field1}) |
| iseven Returns true if the field contains an even number |
iseven({field}) |
| isodd Returns true if the field contains an odd number |
isodd({field}) |
| istext Returns true if the field contains text |
istext({field}) |
Logical
| if If/then test |
if({field1}>1000,"then value1", "otherwise value2") |
| add Returns true if all arguments are true |
and({num1}=3, {num2}=3) |
| or Returns true if at least one argument is true |
or({num1}=3, {num2}=3) |
Good to know
- Unlike Excel or many other spreadsheet tools, it isn't necessary to add a = symbol to indicate the start of a formula.
- The formula is stored referencing the field slugs, not the short title. If a field's short title is changed later, existing formulas that reference that field will not break.
- Calculated values are stored on the application record when the application is saved. This will allow a formula field column to be added to the many of the views in the platform, such as Applications in the Manage workspace.
- Changes to a formula after applications already exist with saved values will trigger a recalculation of all stored values.
For a breakdown of other field types supported by Good Grants, see our dedicated guide: Field types.
