Computed Text vs Hide/When forumla

I have a form that contains English and Spanish text and a radio button that flags the language. If they choose English the text on the form is in English…you get the idea.

My question is mainly a “which is a better way to do this?”. Should I use computed text and say

@IF(Language = “English”; “Name”; “Nombre”)

OR

have both the english and spanish text on the form and add hide/when formulas to determine which one appears.

The computed text is obviously easier but as far as performance I’m not sure which is better.

Subject: Computed Text vs Hide/When forumla

I would recommend computed text. Easier to implement and easier to manage updates. Especially if mutiple developers will be making modifications or if the app will be passed on to others going forward. I don’t think performance issues will be discernalble between the two in this regard.

Subject: RE: Computed Text vs Hide/When forumla

Thanks. As I was writing the post I started thinking that the computed text would be a cleaner design. Going through all the text and adding the hide fomulas started to be a pain before I realized I should be using computed text.

Subject: RE: Computed Text vs Hide/When forumla

Hide-whens can have quite an impact on form performance, so I’m pretty sure that if there’s a difference, it will rather be computed text outperforming hide-whens.

Two other ways to obtain the same thing:

  • computed subforms

  • computed tables (possibly containing regular subforms)

Personally, I like the second one a lot. As for performance, I’m not sure if this is as fast as computed text. I always found it to be fast enough. What I like about it is the cleaner separation between different language versions.

Subject: RE: Computed Text vs Hide/When forumla

I agree that a computed subform would be a better solution but I need the user to be able to toggle between the languages. We have scenarios where one use reading the form needs the information in Spanish and another person may need to read it in English. So instead of filling the form with both I would like them to be able to toggle between them as needed.

Thanks!!