What is a Reference?

A Reference is a live link from one numeric field to another value in the budget, a Variable, a Cost Item, or a Section. Type @ in any numeric field to set one. Once set, the field stops holding a typed number and instead follows its target, updating automatically whenever the target changes.

What it's for

Budgets are full of numbers that should move together: an Amount that should always equal another line's Total, a rate that should always match a Variable, a summary line that should always equal a Section's subtotal. A Reference keeps that link live instead of relying on someone to notice and retype it.

How it works

Click into any numeric field, an Amount, Days, Fee, or an AddOn's rate field, and type @. A menu opens with tabs that change depending on where the field sits:

• On a Cost Item field, the tabs are Variables, Cost Items and Sections.

• On an AddOn's own field, the tabs are Variables and Cost Items.

• A Variable's own value field takes a plain typed number.

Picking a Cost Item lets you reference its Amount, Days, Fee, its Total (before AddOns), or its Total Cost Item (including AddOns), plus the output of any AddOn already on it. Picking a Section gives you that Section's total, including everything rolled up from its AddOns.

Once set, the field shows a pill with the resolved value instead of an input box, for example 1.250,00 €. Hovering it shows the chain of fields it depends on. Click the pill to reopen the menu and change the target, or click its X to clear the reference and set the field back to a plain 0.

A field can hold one typed number or one Reference, never a mix of the two, so a Reference always stands in for the whole field rather than adding to what is already there.

References are what make Variables useful beyond a single field, and what let a summary Cost Item or document table mirror a Section's live total without manual upkeep. If following a chain of References would loop back on itself, Splinde treats the fields involved as zero so the rest of the budget keeps calculating.

Good to know

A field whose target has been removed reads as zero until you point it at a new target. After replacing a line or Section, open the pill on each field that used it and pick the new one from the same menu.

Related

• Can I point one line at another?

• A rental has a day rate plus a flat delivery fee. How do I budget it?

• What is a Variable?