# Data-expressions

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A data-expression is an advanced functionality. Its purpose is to **avoid having to recreate certain calculations across different clauses.**

## Example use case <a href="#example-use-case" id="example-use-case"></a>

Assume that a contract has a datafield *#ordered-items^price*, and another datafield *#ordered-items^amount*. It is not necessary — even to be avoided — to then also have a datafield to store the total price to be paid by the customer, because this price can be easily calculated on the basis of the two other fields. For example, assuming a VAT rate of 21%, the formula would be:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```
(#ordered-items^price * #ordered-items^amount) * 1.21.
```

{% endcode %}

It is, however, cumbersome to insert this calculation every time the total price needs to show up in a clause. Moreover, writing this calculation over and over again is error-prone, and difficult to manage if the calculation should be changed (e.g., if due to changes in negotiations some additional markup costs needs to be incorporated in the total price; if the VAT rate would change, etc).

Data-expressions allow you to centrally store calculations, and use them as if they were a simple datafield. In our example, the *#ordered-items* concept could thus be assigned a datafield *total-price* that would contain the calculation above. Each time the calculation is required, you can simply refer to *#ordered-items^total-price*.

## Structure of data-expressions <a href="#structure-of-dataexpressions" id="structure-of-dataexpressions"></a>

A data-expression can be either a single expression, or a set of conditioned expressions.

### Single expression <a href="#single-expression" id="single-expression"></a>

A data-expression with a single expression consists of any valid expression