Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications > Configuring Business Components >

About Calculated Fields

Calculated fields have a Calculated property of TRUE and a non-null value for the Calculated Value property. Calculated fields obtain their values from other fields in the same business component, or from the master business component in an active link in which the current business component is the detail.

The Calculated Value property contains an expression built from field names, standard functions, and string, numeric, and logical operators. For example, the Full Name field in the Contact business component has the following Calculated Value property setting:

IIf (Language () = "JPN", [Last Name] + ' ' + [First Name],
[First Name] + ' ' + [Last Name])

The meaning of this expression is as follows: if the active client language setting is Japanese, construct the Full Name from the Last Name, a blank space, and then the First Name. Otherwise, construct the Full Name from the First Name, a blank space, and then the Last Name.

When configuring calculated fields, consider the following:

• Calculated fields are not automatically refreshed when a related field value changes; they are refreshed only after committing the record. To have them refresh immediately after the fields have been changed the Immediate Post Changes property of the field needs to be set to TRUE.
• A calculated field cannot reference itself in the Calculated Value property. For example, you cannot use [Last Name] in a calculation expression for the Last Name field.
• Queries on calculated fields are not supported if the Cache Data property of the business component is set to TRUE.

For information on the construction of calculated field expressions for the Calculated Value property, see Siebel Developer's Reference.