Equations in Tables and BOMs

You can specify calculations for equations using different methods:

  • Use text strings for built-in column headings in a BOM to specify mathematical expressions. Use single quotation marks in the equation display (for example, 'ITEM NO.' or 'ITEM NO.'*'QTY.').
    Built-in column headings for BOMs include Item No., Qty., and Part Number.
  • Use custom properties in equations. When you select a custom property, it appears in single backward quotation marks in the equation display (for example, `Price`).
  • Use the # symbol in front of a column heading item (for example, #'PART NUMBER'). This syntax ignores non-numeric text in the calculation. If you do not use this syntax and an item includes non-numeric characters, the value appears as 0.0.
  • Type regular text strings that do not represent column headings in double-quotes (for example, "$").
  • An IF function returns one value if a condition is true, and another value if the condition is false. Specify the IF function using semi-colons to delimit the outcomes for IF functions as follows: 
    IF(test_condition; value_if_test_condition_true; value_if_test_condition_false)

    For example:

    Equation: 

    IF('DESCRIPTION'<>""; 'DESCRIPTION'; "-")

    Result:

    DESCRIPTION value (if not empty) or "-".

    You can use conditional operators for the test condition in an IF function:

    Symbol Description Example
    = Equals 'Description' = "" (The description property is empty)
    > Is greater than 'Qty.' > 2
    < Is less than `Length` < 2
    <= Is less than or equal to  
    >= Is greater than or equal to  
    <> Is not equal to 'DESCRIPTION'<>"" (the description property is not empty)
  • Sum, Average, Count, Max, and Min operate on cell entries of the table. For example, Ave(A1,A5) displays the average of the entries of cells A1 and A5.
  • You can use the colon syntax along with cell numbers to indicate operations on rows or columns. For example, SUM(A1:A5) gives the sum of the values from cells A1 through A5.
  • You can use *, +, /, and -, for multiplication, addition, division, and subtraction, respectively.