The FormCalc main window:

FormCalc Nuts & Bolts

FormCalc operates on just a few simple concepts:

		A Layout describes details about a particular QuickBooks form--or more commonly, about a particular QuickBooks form-and-template combination--and a set of calculations you want FormCalc to do on that form. FormCalc supports up to ten Layouts, numbered 0...9. In the illustration above, Layout 0 tab is showing. It is named "Invoice - Product template" to serve as a reminder that this Layout is for use on the Invoice form with the Product template applied to it.
		An Action describes the details of one particular calculation, such as which column is to be totaled or counted, or which two columns are to be multiplied together to compute values in a third column. Actions then, are the building blocks that make up a Layout. Layout 0 in the illustration above has two Actions. The "Extd Wt." Action calculates the value of column 5, on each row of the detail area, by multiplying values columns 1 and 4. The "TotalWt" Action totals column 5 and displays the results in that same column.
		Trigger Items are QuickBooks Items you've identified for FormCalc's purposes. They "trigger" the display of FormCalc results at a particular location on the QuickBooks form; specifically, trigger Items are associated with Actions and cause those Actions to display results where you want them on the form. This illustration shows the Trigger Items tab with two QuickBooks Items entered on it, SubtotWt and TotalWt:

Can you find these same two Item names in the illustration at the top of the page? They're associated with the Action which also goes by the name of "TotalWt".

So what does this mean? Suppose you've filled out a QuickBooks Invoice form and have included the TotalWt QuickBooks Item as the last line on the form. Then you invoke FormCalc to process the form. When FormCalc reaches the line where the TotalWt Item is, it will trigger the corresponding Action to display its results on that line. (Look at the illustration at the top of the page and you will see that the results will be a total for column 5.)

Let's have another look at the QuickBooks invoice shown earlier, where results provided by FormCalc are highlighted in red:

As you can see, FormCalc has provided a total for column 5--the Extd Weight column--on the line where the TotalWt Item was selected.

Yes, it's as simple as that. If you want to see step-by-step details of how to set up Layouts, Actions, and trigger Items, please see the FormCalc tutorial.

OK, But How Does FormCalc Really Work?

Ahh, so you want to know how FormCalc reads data from, and writes data back into, a QuickBooks form?

FormCalc works by sending keystrokes to QuickBooks, reading and writing data using the Windows clipboard and other "magic" provided by the Microsoft Windows API. FormCalc does not use on the QuickBooks SDK (Software Development Kit) to access QuickBooks, and that allows it to work with most versions of QuickBooks, including older releases and non-U.S. versions.

As for invoking FormCalc while you're working in QuickBooks, you do that by pressing a "hotkey" of your choosing, usually the F10 key. When you press the hotkey FormCalc pops up a window over the current QuickBooks form:

In this window you choose the Layout you want to use, by clicking on a Layout name or pressing the appropriate number key (0...9). Then FormCalc goes to work, applying that Layout's calculations to the form and writing the results back into the form.