How To Use Min And Max In Loops

This topic explains the use of MIN and MAX in loops.

Requirements

- Understanding of the use of Loops and WHERE clauses
- Experience designing Reports in Collect!

Overview

Min and Max are mainly used to control output to a predefined space, such as a form. These commands are used in loop structures to determine how many times Collect! will go through a loop looking for information that you prescribe.

Examples

For instance, let's suppose you want to print Active Promise contacts in your report. You will want to search through records until you find one. Then, you will print this information. This instance would use the expression max = 1 to accomplish this.

@de.con WHERE (@co.ty = Promise) max = 1

In another instance, you may want to print to a certain area in a form. Whether there are five lines of information or only one pulled from the database, you may want the display to be consistent. You can use min = 5 to print five lines even if four of them are blank.

@de.tr WHERE (@tr.ty = 151) min = 5

This is often used with forms to create a consistent appearance.

Variables With Min And Max

MIN and MAX are case insensitive.

As well, you can reference variables with MIN and MAX instead of using a definite number.

For example:

@varLimit = 5
@de.tr WHERE (@tr.ty = 151) min = @varLimit