From: Harry Truax <htruax@...>
Date: 2004-08-14T03:46:10+09:00
Subject: Question: A method for summing several variables

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Hi everyone,
I am new to Ruby and have a basic question.=20

My company uses Ruby in implementing calculations for various forms, =
like a federal 1040 form for example. Each calculatable field on the =
form is represented as 'box1_1' - this means the first box on page 1 of =
the form, 'box1_2' is the second box (or field) on page 1, etc..=20

We do several calculations such as adding together several boxes as in =
this example:=20

box1_37 =3D $CUR (box1_2.to_f + box1_4.to_f + box1_6.to_f +..etc)=20

Where $CUR =3D '%0.2f'

This can be tedious, as we have some calculations that add up as many as =
one hundred boxes. We set $SAFE to 3 in our application - it needs to be =
this value.=20

We initially set all boxes to '' as in this example:=20

box1_1 =3D '' box1_2 =3D '' . . box12_1 =3D '' box12_2 =3D '' etc. . .=20

How can I add up a range of boxes without having to specifiy each box by =
name? Maybe a nice short method I could call, giving it the starting box =
and the step value (sometimes the box numbers differ by a value other =
than 1, like my example above where they differ by 2) and the number of =
boxes to add.=20

Below is a method I tried, but 'box' was not being properly handled - =
box could be say, 'box1_10', but I want the value that 'box1_10' points =
to, not the .to_f value of the string 'box1_10'.=20

def add_boxes(box, step, count)
  #Init local variables.
  sum =3D 0
  box_num =3D box[box.rindex('_') + 1,(box.length - 1) - =
box.rindex('_')].to_i
  box_prefix =3D box[0, box.rindex('_') + 1]
=20
  0.upto(count) {
    sum +=3D box.to_f
    box_num +=3D step
    box =3D box_prefix + box_num.to_s
    }
end =20

Thanks a lot for your help, I have been out of the programming scene for =
a few years and any help is greatly appreciated.=20

Regards,=20

Harry Truax=20

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