### Linking to/from a formula field

There are situations in which you may need to link to or from a formula (calculated) field. For example, an employee ID could be an 11 character value that consists of a two-character department code followed by the employee's nine-character Social Security Number (for example, HR555347487).

The formula language makes it easy to extract the Social Security Number from this field:

`{employee.EMPLOYEE ID} [-9 to -1]`

- or -

`{employee.EMPLOYEE ID} [3 to 12]`

For the value HR555347487, either formula would return the value 555347487.

While the return value is a valid Social Security Number, the fact that it comes from a formula prevents you from using the field to link to a Social Security Number field in another table. You can report on and coordinate the values in the two tables, however, by using a subreport.

###### To link to/from a formula field

1. Create the primary report using a table that includes the Social Security Number field.
2. Create (or import) a subreport using the formula that extracts the Social Security Number from the Employee ID field (for this example, {@EXTRACT}).

   See Inserting subreports.

3. Place the subreport where you want it to appear in the primary report.
4. Link the subreport to the primary report by linking the Social Security Number field in the primary report ({file.SSN}) to the formula that extracts the number in the subreport ({@EXTRACT}). See Linking a subreport to the main report without modifying the selection formula.

Seagate Software, Inc. http://www.seagatesoftware.com Please send comments to: techpubs@seagatesoftware.com