---
title: Background Calculations
product: Form Library
description: Learn how to create a custom variable to perform real-time background calculations in your survey. You can display the calculated value in other questions or save it alongside the respondent's answers. View our demo for JavaScript to see it in action.
framework: Angular
source: https://surveyjs.io/form-library/examples/custom-variables-for-background-form-calculations/angular
index: https://surveyjs.io/form-library/examples/overview.md
---

# Background Calculations (Angular)

Custom variables serve as intermediate or auxiliary variables that perform various calculations in the background within the survey's JSON schema as respondents answer questions. These calculations are based on [expressions](/form-library/documentation/design-survey/conditional-logic#expressions) and support [built-in](/form-library/documentation/design-survey/conditional-logic#built-in-functions) and [custom functions](/form-library/documentation/design-survey/conditional-logic#custom-functions). In this demo, background calculations are used to combine a full name from the provided first and last names and to calculate a respondent's age based on their birthdate.

To create a custom variable for background calculations, populate the `SurveyModel`'s [`calculatedValues`](https://surveyjs.io/form-library/documentation/api-reference/survey-data-model#calculatedValues) array with objects of the following structure:

```js
{
  name: string; // A name that identifies the calculated value.
  expression: string // An expression that returns the calculated value.
  includeIntoResult: boolean; // Specifies whether to include the calculated value in survey results.
}
```

Calculated values can be used in display texts and expressions. In this demo, for instance, calculated values are displayed within an HTML element of a survey.

## Files

### `src/app/components/json.ts`

```ts
export const json = {
    "elements": [
      {
        "type": "html",
        "name": "question1",
        "visibleIf": "{first-name} notempty and {last-name} notempty and {birthdate} notempty",
        "html": "<p style=\"text-align:center\"><b style=\"font-size:24px\">Hello, {full-name}!<br>Your age is {age} years.</b></p>"
      },
      {
        "type": "text",
        "name": "first-name",
        "title": "First name:",
        "defaultValue": "John"
      },
      {
        "type": "text",
        "name": "last-name",
        "title": "Last name:",
        "defaultValue": "Smith"
      },
      {
        "type": "text",
        "name": "birthdate",
        "title": "Birthdate:",
        "inputType": "date",
        "defaultValue": "1987-05-21"
      }
  ],
  "calculatedValues": [
    {
      "name": "full-name",
      "expression": "{first-name} + ' ' + {last-name}"
    },
    {
      "name": "age",
      "expression": "age({birthdate})"
    }
  ],
  "questionTitleLocation": "left"
};
```

### `src/app/components/survey.component.css`

```css
/* You can add your custom CSS here. */
```

### `src/app/components/survey.component.html`

```html
<survey [model]="model" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; height:100%"></survey>
```

### `src/app/components/survey.component.ts`

```ts
import { Component, OnInit } from "@angular/core";
import { Model } from "survey-core";
import { json } from "./json";
import "./survey.component.css";
import "survey-core/survey-core.min.css";

@Component({
    // tslint:disable-next-line:component-selector
    selector: "component-survey",
    templateUrl: "./survey.component.html",
    styleUrls: ["./survey.component.css"]
})
export class SurveyComponent implements OnInit {
    model: Model;
    ngOnInit() {
        const survey = new Model(json);
        survey.onComplete.add((sender, options) => {
            console.log(JSON.stringify(sender.data, null, 3));
        });
        this.model = survey;
    }
}
```

### `src/app/components/theme.ts`

```ts
export const themeJson = {};
```

### `src/app/app.component.css`

```css

```

### `src/app/app.component.html`

```html
<component-survey></component-survey>
```

### `src/app/app.component.ts`

```ts
import { Component } from "@angular/core";

@Component({
    selector: "app-root",
    templateUrl: "./app.component.html",
    styleUrls: ["./app.component.css"]
})
export class AppComponent {
    title = "CodeSandbox";
}
```

### `src/app/app.module.ts`

```ts
import { BrowserModule } from "@angular/platform-browser";
import { NgModule } from "@angular/core";

import { AppComponent } from "./app.component";
import { SurveyModule } from "survey-angular-ui";
import { SurveyComponent } from "./components/survey.component";

@NgModule({
    declarations: [AppComponent, SurveyComponent],
    imports: [BrowserModule, SurveyModule],
    providers: [],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }
```

### `src/environments/environment.prod.ts`

```ts
export const environment = {
    production: true
};
```

### `src/environments/environment.ts`

```ts
// The file contents for the current environment will overwrite these during build.
// The build system defaults to the dev environment which uses `environment.ts`, but if you do
// `ng build --env=prod` then `environment.prod.ts` will be used instead.
// The list of which env maps to which file can be found in `.angular-cli.json`.

export const environment = {
    production: false
};
```

### `src/index.html`

```html
<app-root></app-root>
```

### `src/main.ts`

```ts
import { enableProdMode } from "@angular/core";
import { platformBrowserDynamic } from "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic";

import { AppModule } from "./app/app.module";
import { environment } from "./environments/environment";

if (environment.production) {
    enableProdMode();
}

platformBrowserDynamic()
    .bootstrapModule(AppModule)
    .catch(err => console.log(err));
```

### `src/polyfills.ts`

```ts
/**
 * This file includes polyfills needed by Angular and is loaded before the app.
 * You can add your own extra polyfills to this file.
 *
 * This file is divided into 2 sections:
 *   1. Browser polyfills. These are applied before loading ZoneJS and are sorted by browsers.
 *   2. Application imports. Files imported after ZoneJS that should be loaded before your main
 *      file.
 *
 * The current setup is for so-called "evergreen" browsers; the last versions of browsers that
 * automatically update themselves. This includes Safari >= 10, Chrome >= 55 (including Opera),
 * Edge >= 13 on the desktop, and iOS 10 and Chrome on mobile.
 *
 * Learn more in https://angular.io/docs/ts/latest/guide/browser-support.html
 */

/***************************************************************************************************
 * BROWSER POLYFILLS
 */

/** IE9, IE10 and IE11 requires all of the following polyfills. **/
// import 'core-js/es6/symbol';
// import 'core-js/es6/object';
// import 'core-js/es6/function';
// import 'core-js/es6/parse-int';
// import 'core-js/es6/parse-float';
// import 'core-js/es6/number';
// import 'core-js/es6/math';
// import 'core-js/es6/string';
// import 'core-js/es6/date';
// import 'core-js/es6/array';
// import 'core-js/es6/regexp';
// import 'core-js/es6/map';
// import 'core-js/es6/weak-map';
// import 'core-js/es6/set';

/** IE10 and IE11 requires the following for NgClass support on SVG elements */
// import 'classlist.js';  // Run `npm install classlist.js`.

/** IE10 and IE11 requires the following for the Reflect API. */
// import 'core-js/es6/reflect';

/** Evergreen browsers require these. **/
// Used for reflect-metadata in JIT. If you use AOT (and only Angular decorators), you can remove.
import "core-js/proposals/reflect-metadata";

/**
 * Required to support Web Animations `@angular/platform-browser/animations`.
 * Needed for: All but Chrome, Firefox and Opera. http://caniuse.com/#feat=web-animation
 **/
// import 'web-animations-js';  // Run `npm install web-animations-js`.

/***************************************************************************************************
 * Zone JS is required by default for Angular itself.
 */
import "zone.js/dist/zone"; // Included with Angular CLI.

/***************************************************************************************************
 * APPLICATION IMPORTS
 */
```

### `src/styles.css`

```css
/* You can add your custom CSS here. */
```

### `src/typings.d.ts`

```ts
/* SystemJS module definition */
declare var module: NodeModule;
interface NodeModule {
    id: string;
}
```

### `.angular-cli.json`

```json
{
  "apps": [
    {
      "root": "src",
      "outDir": "dist",
      "assets": [ "assets", "favicon.ico" ],
      "index": "index.html",
      "main": "main.ts",
      "polyfills": "polyfills.ts",
      "prefix": "app",
      "styles": [ "styles.css" ],
      "scripts": [ ],
      "environmentSource": "environments/environment.ts",
      "environments": {
        "dev": "environments/environment.ts",
        "prod": "environments/environment.prod.ts"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

### `_tsconfig.json`

```json
{
  "compileOnSave": false,
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "outDir": "./dist/out-tsc",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "declaration": false,
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
    "downlevelIteration": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "importHelpers": true,
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "target": "es2015",
    "module": "es2020",
    "lib": [
      "es2018",
      "dom"
    ]
  }
}
```

### `package.json`

```json
{
  "name": "surveyjs-angular",
  "scripts": {
    "ng": "ng",
    "start": "ng serve",
    "build": "ng build --prod",
    "test": "ng test",
    "lint": "ng lint",
    "e2e": "ng e2e"
  },
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@angular/animations": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/cdk": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/common": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/compiler": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/core": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/forms": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/platform-browser": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "14.1.1",
    "@angular/router": "14.1.1",
    "core-js": "3.6.4",
    "rxjs": "6.5.4",
    "survey-core": "latest",
    "survey-angular-ui": "latest",
    "tslib": "1.13.0",
    "zone.js": "0.11.7"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@angular/cli": "1.6.6",
    "@angular/compiler-cli": "^5.2.0",
    "@angular/language-service": "^5.2.0",
    "@types/core-js": "0.9.46",
    "@types/jasmine": "~2.8.3",
    "@types/jasminewd2": "~2.0.2",
    "@types/node": "~6.0.60",
    "codelyzer": "^4.0.1",
    "jasmine-core": "~2.8.0",
    "jasmine-spec-reporter": "~4.2.1",
    "karma": "~2.0.0",
    "karma-chrome-launcher": "~2.2.0",
    "karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "^1.2.1",
    "karma-jasmine": "~1.1.0",
    "karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "^0.2.2",
    "protractor": "~5.1.2",
    "ts-node": "~4.1.0",
    "tslint": "~5.9.1",
    "typescript": "3.9.7"
  },
  "keywords": [ "angular", "surveyjs" ],
  "description": "SurveyJS-Angular example project"
}
```

## Other Frameworks

- [React](https://surveyjs.io/form-library/examples/custom-variables-for-background-form-calculations/reactjs.md)
- [Vue 3](https://surveyjs.io/form-library/examples/custom-variables-for-background-form-calculations/vue3js.md)
- [jQuery](https://surveyjs.io/form-library/examples/custom-variables-for-background-form-calculations/jquery.md)
- [Vanilla JS](https://surveyjs.io/form-library/examples/custom-variables-for-background-form-calculations/vanillajs.md)
