FAQ: Why does the “Attempted to divide by zero” error still happen?

  • Article

Symptom

I have 2 decimal data fields (Field1 and Field2) in a dataset, and use the expression with IIf function below to calculate the quotient. If the Field1 is not zero, the divide expression within the true part will be executed. Otherwise, just 0 will be returned.

=IIf(Fields!Field1.Value<>0, Fields!Field2.Value/Fields!Field1.Value, 0)

However, why I am still getting "#Error" when Field1 is zero?

The error message is as follows:

[rsRuntimeErrorInExpression] The Value expression for the textrun 'Textbox6.Paragraphs[0].TextRuns[0].TextRuns[0]' contains an error:

Attempted to divide by zero

 

Resolution

 The cause of this error is that the IIf function always evaluates both the true part and the false part, even though it returns only one of them. This means both the true part and the false part need to be evaluated.

 

In order to resolve this issue, you need to use a nested IIf function to avoid the zero-divisor in any rate.

 

=IIf(Fields!Field1.Value=0, 0, Fields!Field 2.Value/IIf(Fields! Field 1.Value=0, 1, Fields! Field 1.Value))

 

After that, you will get the correct result whether Field1 is 0 or not.

 

Workaround

You can also use custom code to prevent errors caused by dividing by zero. 

Select click Report Properties on the Report menu. Click the Code tab and enter the following code in the Custom Code box:

Function Divide(Numerator as Decimal, Denominator as Decimal)

If Denominator = 0 Then

Return 0

Else

Return Numerator/Denominator

End If

End Function

 

After that, set the expression to be:

=Code.Divide(Fields!Field2.Value, Fields!Field1.value)

 

More Information

IIf Function:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/27ydhh0d(v=VS.90).aspx

 

Applies to

Reporting Services 2005

Reporting Services 2008

Reporting Services 2008 R2

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 10, 2013
    Much needed article to avoid confusion with "IIF" , Thanks !!!

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2015
    Hello Sir I am using below function in my dashboard. In the Gauge panel facing this issue below is the expression . Please let me know the work around (IIf(RUNNINGVALUE(Fields!KPITitle.Value,CountDistinct,Nothing) MOD 2, "#D0D8E8","#E9EDF4"))

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2015
    It would be better if this behaved as expected.