Drop down menus to create multiple variables.

Question

Hi Everyone,
I'm very new to scripting so I apologize ahead of time for my "newbieness".
I would like to have a dropdown box that, depending on the item chosen, can set several variables. Then I would like to use those variables for other calculations throughout the form.
BTW...this is for a character sheet I'm creating....I know...nerdy...but hey I OK with it :-)
For example:
The character sheet has 6 variables that are affect the rest of the sheet...."vSTR", "vINT", "vCHR", "vWIS", "vDEX", "vCON".
Let's say I have a drop down box with choices "Elf", "Dwarf" and "Human"...
...if "Elf" is chosen it will set the "vDEX" to 2 and the "vCON" to -1....the other variables would not be used....or set to 0.
...if "Dwarf" is chosen it will set the "vCON" to 2 and the "vCHR" to -2...the other variables would not be used....or set to 0.
...if "Human" is chosen all of the variables would not be used....or set to 0.
So:
1. I'm not sure how to create the drop down box.
2. How do I accomplish the above example.
3. I know how to do a simple calculation but how do you script a more complex calculation with parenthesis ....ex... A*((B+C)/(D-E))?
Thanks in advance for helping. Once I see it I can usually go from there...getting started is where I get stuck. I really admire coders :-)
Jack

Answer 1

This is quick and from memory, i can't test it right now, but it should give you an idea. Put this in a document level script:
function SetNotesField() {
     // Set up a variable to hold the entire NOTES field value
     var Notes
     // Add the value for each dropdown box here (replace 'GetValueFor_SE_FieldHere' with the value you will use for that dropdown)
     if (this.getField('SE').value == 'true') {
          Notes = Notes + 'GetValueFor_SE_FieldHere' + '\r'  // add a carriage return if needed
     if (this.getField('SQ').value == 'true') {
          Notes = Notes + 'GetValueFor_SQ_FieldHere' + '\r'  // add a carriage return if needed
    //...Duplicate the above for any other fields you need
     // Set the value of the notes field to the concatenated value for all dropdowns.
     this.getField('NOTES').value = Notes
For each dropdown field, add the following to the 'OnBlur' event:
SetNotesField()