A customer gave me a challenge related to a [size] field. It was a string that stored values in fraction format like “2 1/8”. He wanted to do calculations with the sizes so he needed them converted to numeric values with the fraction converted to a decimal value. It is the opposite of another formula that I wrote to convert decimals into fractions.

The formula works.  It assumes that the there is a space between the (optional) integer and the fraction.  It also assumes that there are only numbers, spaces and a slash in the field, up to the end of the fraction. What comes after the fraction doesn’t matter.  The only change you need to make is to put replace the field name on the first line with your database or formula field:

Local stringVar z := trim({ItemMaster.Width});
Local NumberVar x := Instr(z, '/');
Local NumberVar y := Instr(z, ' ');
Local NumberVar NumStart := x - 2;
Local NumberVar NumEnd := x - 1;
Local NumberVar DenStart := x +1;
Local NumberVar DenEnd := x +2;
If DenEnd > Length(z) then DenEnd := Length(Z) ;
If NumStart < 1 then NumStart := 1;
Local Numbervar Num := if '/' in z then Val(z [NumStart to NumEnd]);
Local Numbervar Den := if '/' in z then Val(z [DenStart to DenEnd]);
Local Numbervar FractionVal := if Den = 0 then 0 else Num/Den;
Local NumberVar IntVal :=
if not ('/' in z) then val(z) else
if ' ' in z then val(z [1 to y]) else val(z);
IntVal + FractionVal

Let me know if you find any issues.