Expression Difficulties

[Lea]

Help...

I can not get an expression to work.

I would like to multiply some fields and then total the results. This is just one expression that I tried...

=Sum(([# of Containers 1-1:]*[Gal ea 1-1:])+([# of Containers 1-2:]*[Gal ea 1-2:]))

The error message I get is:

"The database engine does not recognise either the field '# of Containers 1-1:', or the default value in the table 'Table 1'."

Thinking there is some little mistype on my part, I copy/pasted the field name right from the properties but I still got the same error.

In excel I would write this...

=((G2*I2)+(J2*L2))

I am getting frustrated. I have to use access but my heart belongs to excel for writing formulas. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[SteveH2508]

Where are you putting this expression?

Do all of your fields names have colons after them and why?

Another 'painsaver' if you can implement it - it is not good practice to use spaces or punctuation marks in field names. It makes expressions much more difficult to write (as I suspect might be the case here!)

[Lea]

Hello SteveH2508,

Thanks for replying.

I put the expression in the Default Value of the Field Properties for a field titled TotalGalForLot1.

I changed the field names and used the expression below. I am still getting the same error message.

=Sum(([NumberOfContainers11]*[GalEa11])+([NumberOfContainers12]*[GalEa12]))

Lea

[weekend00]

you can not reference to any other fields for a default value of a field. Generally, people don't save a calculation in a table. they use query to get the calculation result when they need.

[Lea]

weekend00,

I will have to hit the help section and make a query to calculate. At least I can stop banging my head on what I was trying. Thank you for the help. I appreciate it.

Lea

[weekend00]

u r welcome. hope you get it soon.

[SteveH2508]

Another point - you should generally not store calculated fieds in tables - it breaks the rules of normalisation. You should calculate the value when you need it at run-time using a query or expression in a form/report.

[ssanfu]

You should also not use spaces or special characters in object names. (see http://mvps.org/access/tencommandments.htm)

And seeing "[# of Containers 1-1:]" and "[# of Containers 1-2:]" indicates to me that you do not have a normalized table structure. You should stop and review your structure.......

[Lea]

ssanfu,
Thank you for the tip.
Lea