This tip covered the expression models: ANSWERED(VAR) and ANSWERED(DIALOG). Most often these are used in templates, but they are also used in computations to test whether a variable or a dialog has been answered. Hotdocs scripts will be interrupted if the value of any required variable is not known. For this reason, the use of the"answered" function gives a value where no value is known.
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What are the elements?
- ANSWERED: The function
- VAR: Any variable. All variables will have an “answered” or “unanswered” status. Note, that you can force an answered status on a variable under two conditions: (1) if the variable has a “default” and the dialog on which the variable appears has been asked, or (2) the variable is a True/False variable on a dialog with an Ask All setting and that dialog has been asked.
- DIALOG: Any dialog. This tests whether the dialog has been “asked” in an interview.
Usage of ANSWERED expression:
- Usage is disparaged by the software developers as “unnecessary”. A properly designed template should have sufficient nesting of logic such that you need not test whether a particular variable has been answered. This is particularly true when you use variable in IF EXPRESSIONS.
- It is also disparaged because the way HotDocs does (or rather does NOT) clear data. If a variable is “hidden” based on a dialog scripting rule, the hidden variable still retains its value. For this reason, you should not depend on the answered status of a variable to determine whether a phrase should be included if there are parent conditions not expressed in the template.
- Usage is recommended if you want something special to happen, other than the ordinary, if a variable has not been answered. While you can use “tokens” in the advanced properties of a variable, you may want to put the rules into a computation.
Extended Thoughts:
CLIENT Address 1 TE
IF ANSWERED(CLIENT Address 2 TE)
RESULT + “
“ + CLIENT Address 2 TE
END IF