How to update running totals for my program

Question

Ok so everything in my program is working correctly so far. The only problem i have is trying to update my totals for the program. I need to show total sales, total pay, and total commission for the program by using the file and then summary key. How the program works is that you get a base pay of $250 and you get a commission rate of .15 if you reach 1000 sales. I have done running totals before but not for one with multiple functions, please help!

Option Strict On

Public Class CommissionForm

  Public GrandTotalSalesAmountDecimal As Decimal
  Public GrandTotalCommissionAmountDecimal As Decimal
  Public GrandTotalPayAmountDecimal As Decimal

  Const QuotaInteger As Integer = 1000
  Const BASEPAYInteger As Integer = 250
  Const COMMISSIONRATEDecimal As Decimal = 0.15D


  Private Sub GetInput(ByRef NameString As String, ByRef SalesAmountDecimal As Decimal)
    'Input validation
    With Me
      If .EmployeeNameTextBox.Text <> "" Then
        NameString = .EmployeeNameTextBox.Text
        Try
          SalesAmountDecimal = Decimal.Parse(.WeeklyAMountTextbox.Text)

        Catch quantitiesException As FormatException
          MessageBox.Show("Enter Numeric Data for amount of sales.", "Data Entry Error")

        End Try
      Else
        MessageBox.Show("Please Enter employee name.")

      End If
    End With

  End Sub
  Private Function SalesPay(ByVal SalesAmountDecimal As Decimal) As Decimal
    'Calculates the sales commission
    If SalesAmountDecimal >= QuotaInteger Then
      Return (COMMISSIONRATEDecimal * SalesAmountDecimal) + BASEPAYInteger

    Else
      Return BASEPAYInteger
      
    End If
  End Function

  Private Sub PayToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles PayToolStripMenuItem.Click
    'Displays the information
    Try
      Dim nameString As String
      Dim salesamountdecimal As Decimal
      Dim commissionamountDecimal As Decimal
      Dim totalPayString As Decimal
      Dim totalCommissionAmountString As String


      GetInput(nameString, salesamountdecimal)
      If nameString <> "" And salesamountdecimal <> 0 Then
        totalPayString = SalesPay(salesamountdecimal)
        commissionamountDecimal = COMMISSIONRATEDecimal * salesamountdecimal



        MessageBox.Show("Total amount of sales are" & totalPayString & "Total Commission earned is" & totalCommissionAmountString)
      End If

    Catch
      MessageBox.Show("Please enter a number.")

    End Try



  End Sub

  Private Sub ExitToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ExitToolStripMenuItem.Click
    'exits the program
    Me.Close()
  End Sub

Answer 1

To maintain the running total, you can use the following right before or after the MessageBox that displays pay and commission for each sales person.

GrandTotalSalesAmountDecimal += salesamountdecimal
GrandTotalCommissionAmountDecimal += commissionamountDecimal 
GrandTotalPayAmountDecimal += totalPayString 

However, there are a couple of things you might want to check.

1. In your SalesPay method, if sales are above quota, the commission is calculated as total sales * commission rate. Is that what is supposed to happen? I think it would be more likely that the commission is calculated only on the sales that exceed the quota.
2. Before displaying the MessageBox, you call SalesPay to calculate total pay and then recalculate the commission as sales * commissionrate.  Even if I am wrong in point 1 above, you are still not accounting for the possibility that commission is zero because sales did not exceed the quota. I suggest replacing SalesPay with a method that returns commission. Then you will have sales, commission and pay ready to use in the messagebox and to calculate the running totals.

Answer 2

the employee gets a commisssion when they are AT or ABOVE the quota, sorry for the confusion. They in turn get the commission rate + base pay of 250. 

 

I am having trouble figuring out which variables to use as the totals..i feel like i am missing one because i think your right i am not accounting for the zero commissions...i think i need to re write some of my calculations but i dont know where to start really. It works on it's own now but i think i am missing a calculation for all of the running totals. 

Answer 3

thank you for your continued help btw.

Answer 4

also if they do not reach the quota they still get the basepay of 250

Answer 5

To keep track of the different numbers that are associated with one employees sales results, I suggest creating a SalesResults class that contains the data for one employee and calculates commission and total pay when required. Your code (including the running totals) would become something like this:

Public Class CommissionForm
  Private GrandTotalSalesAmount As Decimal
  Private GrandTotalCommissionAmount As Decimal
  Private GrandTotalPayAmount As Decimal

  Private Function GetSales() As SalesResult
    Dim salesAmount As Decimal

    If Me.EmployeeNameTextBox.Text = "" Then
      MessageBox.Show("Please Enter employee name.")
      Exit Function
    End If

    If Not Decimal.TryParse(Me.WeeklyAMountTextbox.Text, salesAmount) Then
      MessageBox.Show("Enter Numeric Data for amount of sales.", "Data Entry Error")
      Exit Function
    End If

    Return New SalesResult(Me.EmployeeNameTextBox.Text, salesAmount)
  End Function

  Private Sub PayToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles PayToolStripMenuItem.Click
    Dim sales As SalesResult = GetSales()

    GrandTotalSalesAmount += sales.Sales
    GrandTotalCommissionAmount += sales.Commission
    GrandTotalPayAmount += sales.Pay

    MessageBox.Show("Amount of sales are" & sales.Sales.ToString() & _
            "Commission earned is" & sales.Commission.ToString() & _
            "Pay including commission is " & sales.Pay.ToString(), _
            "Sales for " & sales.Name)

    MessageBox.Show("Amount of sales are" & GrandTotalSalesAmount.ToString() & _
            "Commission earned is" & GrandTotalCommissionAmount.ToString() & _
            "Pay including commission is " & GrandTotalPayAmount.ToString(), _
            "Running Totals")
  End Sub
End Class

Public Class SalesResult
  Private Const quota As Integer = 1000
  Private Const basePay As Integer = 250
  Private Const commissionRate As Decimal = 0.15D

  Private myName As String, mySales As Decimal

  Sub New(inputName As String, inputSales As Decimal)
    myName = inputName
    mySales = inputSales
  End Sub

  ReadOnly Property Name As String
    Get
      Return myName
    End Get
  End Property

  ReadOnly Property Sales As Decimal
    Get
      Return mySales
    End Get
  End Property

  ReadOnly Property Commission As Decimal
    Get
      If Sales < quota Then Return 0
      Return Sales * commissionRate 'I suggest that (Sales - quota) * commissionRate would be more usual in the real world
    End Get
  End Property

  ReadOnly Property Pay As Decimal
    Get
      Return basePay + Commission
    End Get
  End Property
End Class

Answer 6

Hi Hallor,

 

Thanks for posting in the MSDN Forum.

 

Any update? I have marked Blackwood's reply as answer, if you think it provides no help, please unmark it, and  feel free to let me know your any concerns.

 

Thank you for your understanding and support.

 

Best Regards,

---

Mike Feng [MSFT]
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