DSUM criteria problem

[mgirvin]

Dear Amazing World MrExcel Team,

I have a DSUM formula that seems to work with the field item "NorthEast", but it seems to add incorrectly when I use "North".


Here is the situation that adds correctly:

=DSUM(A1:E5000,”Sales”,G8:K9)

Where G8:K9 looks like this:

Region SalesRep Customer
NorthEast Luke The Economist


Here is the situation that adds incorrectly

=DSUM(A1:E5000,”Sales”,G8:K9)

Where G8:K9 looks like this:

Region SalesRep Customer
North Luke The Economist


Any ideas about what is going on?

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

Try to change G8 to:

="=North"

 

[mgirvin]

Dear Aladin,

This is the second time you have given me great Excel help, Aladin! Thank you for the ="=North" trick!

But why? Do you know how this helps DSUM work?

In addition, I had an array formula and a Boolean formula that were using the same criteria (North), but now that the DSUM formula works, the array and Boolean formulas do not work.

Is the ="=North" trick a well know trick that many people use with DSUM or other Database functions?

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

Dear Aladin,

This is the second time you have given me great Excel help, Aladin! Thank you for the ="=North" trick!

You are welcome.

But why? Do you know how this helps DSUM work?

D-functions evaluate text-criteria like Advanced Filter does, all this I suppose by desgn:

North alone means "Starts with" and ="=North" means "Equal to".

In addition, I had an array formula and a Boolean formula that were using the same criteria (North), but now that the DSUM formula works, the array and Boolean formulas do not work.

Yep. You might want to try one of the options that follow:

aaDSumCritProblem mgirvin.xls
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J
1						North	a		"
2	X	W	Y			X	W	dsum	Sum+If	Sum+If
3	North	a	5			=North	=a	5	5	5
4	NorthEast	a	7
5
6
Sheet1

F1 and G1 houses actual text criteria.

F2:G2 houses formulas to prepare criteria such that DSUM can take them as "Equal To"...

F2, copied across to G2:

="="&F1

H3:

=DSUM($A$2:$C$4,"Y",$F$2:$G$3)

I3:

{=SUM(IF($A$3:$A$4=F1,IF($B$3:$B$4=G1,$C$3:$C$4)))}

refers to the criteria in F1:G1.

J3:

{=SUM(IF($A$3:$A$4=SUBSTITUTE(F3,"=",""),IF($B$3:$B$4=SUBSTITUTE(G1,"=",""),$C$3:$C$4)))}

refers to F2:G2 as DSUM does, evidently incurring a small cost.

Is the ="=North" trick a well know trick that many people use with DSUM or other Database functions?

Yes, they have to.