Sum of Data elements with decimal numbers in Program Indicators calculation

Support - Assistance technique
1

Greetings, team!
In the program indicator, I am getting an error when summing data element values with decimal numbers.

My program indicator for calculating the sum of data element values was: sum(#{CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT}).

Unfortunately, if the data element has decimal numbers, I am getting an error that: “cannot cast String to Double”.
dhis2 version: 2.36
Your assistance is highly appreciated.

regards,
Mohammed

2

Hi @abdimohammed,

Could it not be #{CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT} + decimal number ?

3

Hi @Gassim,
I appreciate your quick reply.
I have a case where this DE, #CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT, holds decimal numbers, eg 89.92. I’d like to set up a program indication to sum this DE (in the expression tab) after applying a filter.
Example: sum of all #{CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT} where #{CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT} > 70.
But the expression is invalid and am getting this error “Could not cast String ‘’ to Double”

NB: The expression is valid If the Data element values is a whole number,

regards,
Mohammed

4

I think all you need to do here:
expression: #{CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT}
filter: #{CdMlpOn2RMA.QxQurwAB8jT}
And in the Program indicator details:
aggregation type: Sum

5

Thank you so much. @Gassim
I realized that the problem is that my data element is a string (instead of a number) containing decimal numbers.
Do you know if there is a way to convert the existing data from string to numbers?

6

You’re welcome @abdimohammed!

That’s possible! You might want to try partial updates. Please see docs for full explanation: https://docs.dhis2.org/en/develop/using-the-api/dhis-core-version-master/metadata.html#webapi_partial_updates

Thanks!