ToNumber Help

[szeiss]

I have a report that is accessing data from an Oracle 8i database.&nbsp;&nbsp;The field in the table I'm accessing is called FiscalYear and is stored as a VARCHAR2(4) with data such as 1998, 1999, 2000.&nbsp;&nbsp;If I click on the field in CR8 and browse the field, it says it's a string value.&nbsp;&nbsp;I also have a parameter field in my report called StartYear which is a number.&nbsp;&nbsp;My formula is:<br><br>ToNumber({BUDGET_HISTORY_AFS2.FISCALYEAR})={?StartYear}-1<br><br>I then get the error message &quot;string is non-numeric&quot; which according to help means &quot;The string is non-numeric.<br>The argument to the ToNumber function must be a number stored as a string (for example, a customer number, an ID number, etc.). The string may be preceded by a minus sign and may contain leading and trailing blanks. You have used an argument that is non-numeric and therefore cannot be converted to a number. Change the argument to numeric and recheck.<br><br>I can't seem to figure this one out, can anyone help.<br><br>Thanks,<br>Sherry

 

[MalcolmW]

Check out the Val function, and the following is good practice:<br>From Crystal Reports help...<br>When using the ToNumber function, you should first test the value with the NumericText function. NumericText returns a value of TRUE only if the value in the string can be correctly converted to a number. Otherwise, if you try to convert a value to a number that is not a number, the formula will produce an error in your report. The following example is a common use of the NumericText and ToNumber functions together:<br>If NumericText ({file.FIELD}) Then<br> ToNumber ({file.FIELD})<br>Else<br> 0<br><br><br> <p>Malcolm Wynden<br><a href=mailto:wynden@island.dot.net>wynden@island.dot.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>