[b]Converting string to number[/b]

[madsstiig]

Hi.
I found a formula in another thread about this:
stringvar x := {yourdbfield};
stringvar z;
numbervar y;
for y := 1 to len(x)
do
if isnumeric(x[y])
or x[y] = "." then
z := z + x[y]
else z;
tonumber(z)
HOWEVER when I use it it seems that my resulting numbers are multiplied all the way down through the report.
My string {VWDEPSTAT.DID} is actually a patient-ID (which in Denmark is always the same number for each patient no matter where in the system the patient is registered - always the same 8 digit social security number).
Using the above solution makes the first entry an 8 digit number equal to the social security number but the next patient's number is multiplied by 100 and so forth.
What's wrong?
Best regards Mads Stiig, Denmark

 

[lbass]

It sounds like the solution you are trying to use is inappropriate to your situation. What are you trying to do? Why do you want to convert the ID to a number? Please also show samples of the ID field.

-LB

 

[madsstiig]

The reason why I need to convert from string to number is that I need to anonymize some patients in a report and want to multiply the number by a constant (e.g. 0.4 to make the number smaller and immediately unrecognizable but still recognizable if needed).
A social security number in Denmark reflects birthdate as DDMMYY plus a 4 digit 'serial number'. So if you're born July 4th 1967 your social security number would start with 040767 and end with the 4 digit code looking something like 040767-0735.
Would this be possible to accomplish? Why does the formula above not work for me?

 

[madsstiig]

... the '-' doesn't count in the number by the way. In the system the number would be 0407670735 ...

 

[lbass]

You probably just need to reset the variables, as in:

stringvar x := {yourdbfield};
stringvar z [red]:= ""[/red];
numbervar y [red]:= 0[/red];
for y := 1 to len(x)
do
if isnumeric(x[y])
or x[y] = "." then
z := z + x[y]
else z;
tonumber(z)

But this is more complicated than you need. Try instead:

tonumber(replace({table.string},"-",""))

-LB