---
title: "Ask Our Ace: SCALC in Webforms - How to get the sum of a row that is a list of items"
description: "Ask Our Ace: SCALC in Webforms - How to get the sum of a row that is a list of items"
---

[Finit Blog](https://blog.finit.com)

# [Ask Our Ace: SCALC in Webforms - How to get the sum of a row that is a list of items](https://blog.finit.com/2018/03/ask-our-ace-scalc-in-webforms-how-to-get-the-sum-of-a-row-that-is-a-list-of-items)

 Written by [jbulman](https://blog.finit.com/author/jbulman) | Mar 21, 2018 12:27:14 PM

**HFM User:**

I’m trying to create a web form that has a member list and a subtotal.  In Financial Reporting, I can use a formula such as **Sum(\[2\])** which adds the contents of row 2, even if row 2 is a list.  Is this possible in forms?  I’ve tried many variations on SCALC, but the form still does not sum a row that is a list of items.

**Chris Barbieri:**

I have also encountered this issue, so I posed the question to my team here at Finit.  As is typical of Finit, I think about six people replied to me shortly after I asked for help.  The issue is simply syntax:  in at least one document I read, I *thought* the syntax was:

Scalc(**R**(2))

Really, it was:

Scalc(**Row**(2))

Part of my confusion was that when HFM failed to recognize the **R**, it returned only the value from the current entity in the POV.  I couldn’t understand why the form was returning this number.  In retrospect, I would expect HFM to return an error upon opening the form, but it does not.  After getting help from my team and then re-reading the latest documentation, I confirmed the “**Row**” syntax.  Then, everything worked as expected.  Below is the syntax in question:

R1=E#Cur,CustomHeaderStyle:font-weight:Bold

R2=E{Active Descendants of POV(@POV)}

R3=Scalc(Row(2)),CustomHeaderStyle:font-weight:Bold,CustomHeader:Sum LCORP\_US

Note that while the **R** syntax works in *most* cases, I recommend always using **Row** because it works in all cases, *including* the Scalc on a row or column with a list.

Do you have an issue or topic that you’d like Chris to discuss in his next blog post?  Please e-mail us at [insights@finit.com](mailto:insights@finit.com?subject=Ask%20Our%20Ace%20&body=Ask%20Our%20Ace%20Question%3A%0ACompany%3A%0ATitle%3A%0ACompany%20Email%20Address%3A) and we will “Ask our ACE”!

[View full post](https://blog.finit.com/2018/03/ask-our-ace-scalc-in-webforms-how-to-get-the-sum-of-a-row-that-is-a-list-of-items)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "jbulman"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2020-04-17T13:18:43.327Z",
  "datePublished" : "2018-03-21T12:27:14Z",
  "headline" : "Ask Our Ace: SCALC in Webforms - How to get the sum of a row that is a list of items",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 60,
    "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
    "width" : 60
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://blog.finit.com/2018/03/ask-our-ace-scalc-in-webforms-how-to-get-the-sum-of-a-row-that-is-a-list-of-items",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "Finit Blog"
  }
}
```