Coding 3 Exercise Instructions

The Exercise

In this exercise you will build a Section 52 Calculator App. The app will be based on the flowchart and screens that appear as the resources for this exercise.

Unlike the last two weeks you will not be provided with step-by-step instructions. The principles for this Section 52 app are more or less identical to the Section 58 app. The difference in the Section 52 app is the calculations are a bit more complex.

Consequently, we anticipate you'll use the same approach to develop this Section 52 app ie:

1. Make the first mandatory question block
2. Make an empty mandatory code block
3. Make the rest of the question blocks
   • follow the instruction in each screen. There are instructions on setting out the questions and the datatypes
   • update the code block to call them as you go
4. Make End Screen 1 and add it to your code block
5. Add if statements so the user is exited to Exit Screen 1 and Exit Screen 2
6. Add an if statement for the 'Year of injury' decision. Make both the true branch and false branch to go End Screen 1

note

Before you jump into things, you'll see that this app contains more screens, more decisions (and more maths!) than the previous app. You might want to consider using include blocks to split your code into multiple files to make it more manageable.

Adding the calculations

If you wish you can attempt to add the calculations yourself. However, we anticipate you might struggle as we haven't taught you how to implement lookup tables in Docassemble. Nonetheless, you're welcome to try!

For those of you less adventurous, we have created a file called s52calculator_maths.yml for you. It contains all the mathematical calculations. All the maths are based only on two variables: `

• MJFyearofinjury which contains only the year (ie: 2002, 2024 etc) the user was injured; and
• MJFscalevalue - which contains the s 52(2)(a) scale value.

You can insert our example code and change all references to these two variables to whatever variable names you have chosen. The calculations should then work.

Displaying the calculations

End Screen 1 contains placeholders called [insert unadjusted damages] and [insert adjusted damages]. This is where you're meant to insert your unadjusted and adjusted damages.

To do this you should use use mako and the currency() function. Check out the Vital Statistics example in this textbook. You may also want to review the C1.06 video.

Solution Code

This code adopts the code structuring discussed above. Namely, the solution code is split into multiple files. We do this because a single file with hundreds of lines of code can become unwieldy to manage. Also, the use of multiple files allows us to organise our code logically.

In this example we've decided to put the main code logic and the exit and end screens in main.yml. We have then created a separate file for the questions (s52calculator_questions.yml) and another file for the math calculations (s52calculator_maths.yml)

main.yml

# Model code for Section 52 non-economic loss calculator
---
# Include the other files that make up this app
include:
  - s52calculator_questions.yml
  - s52calculator_maths.yml
---
mandatory: True
question: Welcome
subquestion: |
  This application will help you to calculate damages for non-economic loss
  according to section 52 of the *Civil Liability Act 1936* (SA)
buttons:
  - Continue: continue
  - Exit: exit
---
# Drives the app
mandatory: True
code: |
  # We have to meet extent of impairment OR expenses threshold
  if MJFimpairment or MJFexpenses:
    if MJFmva:
      # Exit if injurries arise from MVA
      MJFexit02
    else:
      # We can just display the end screen here.
      # Docassemble will take care of the rest
      MJFend01
  else:
    MJFexit01
---
#
# Exit and end screens are in this file. 
# All the other questions screens are in s52calculator_questions.yml
#
---
# Exit screen 1
event: MJFexit01
question: Ineligible
subquestion: |
  You cannot claim damages for non-economic loss as your medical
  expenses do not exceed the prescribed minimum.
buttons:
  - Exit: exit
  - Restart: restart
---
# Exit Screen 2
event: MJFexit02
question: Motor Vehicle Accident
subquestion: |
  Sorry, this calculator only calculates damages for non-economic loss for people
  who have suffered an injury **not** arising from a motor vehicle accident.

  You may still be able to claim damages for non-economic loss. Please seek legal advice.
buttons:
  - Exit: exit
  - Restart: restart
---
# End screen
event: MJFend01
question: Damages Calculation
subquestion: |
  Your unadjusted damages has been calculated to be **${currency(MJFunadjusted_damages)}**.

  After adjustment for CPI your damages for non-economic loss have been
  calculated to be **${currency(MJFadjusted_damages)}**.
---

s52calculator_questions.yml

# I've separated all the question screens into this
# file to make the code more readable
---
# Screen 2
question: Extent of impairment
subquestion: |
  Did the injury you sustained cause you to be impaired from leading your normal
  life for seven (7) days or more?
fields:
  - no label: MJFimpairment
    datatype: yesnoradio
---
# Screen 3
question: Medical Expenses
subquestion: |
  Do the medical expenses you incurred exceed the prescribed minimum set out
  in section 52(1)(b)?
fields:
  - no label: MJFexpenses
    datatype: yesnoradio
---
# Screen 4
question: Motor Vehicle Accident
subquestion: |
  Were your injuries caused by a motor vehicle accident?
fields:
  - no label: MJFmva
    datatype: yesnoradio
---
# Screen 5
question: Year of Injury
subquestion: |
  In what year did your injury occur?

  **Note:** this calculator works only for injuries sustained
  between 2002 and 2025.
fields:
  - Year of injury: MJFyearofinjury
    datatype: integer
    min: 2002
    max: 2025
---
# Screen 6
question: Scale value
subquestion: |
  Please enter the scale value.

  The scale value must be between 0 and 60 and can be a whole number only
fields:
  - Scale value: MJFscalevalue
    datatype: integer
    min: 0
    max: 60
---

s52calculator_maths.yml

# This contains the code blocks that perform the calculations
---
# This is the CPI table. It comes from ABS data. Refer to LLAW3337 teaching
# materials for more information
code: |
  MJFcpi_table = {
    2002 : 76.4,
    2003 : 79.2,
    2004 : 81.2,
    2005 : 83.6,
    2006 : 86.8,
    2007 : 88.0,
    2008 : 92.5,
    2009 : 93.7,
    2010 : 96.2,
    2011 : 100.0,
    2012 : 101.7,
    2013 : 103.7,
    2014 : 105.9,
    2015 : 107.1,
    2016 : 108.4,
    2017 : 110.4,
    2018 : 112.4,
    2019 : 114.5,
    2020 : 115.7,
    2021 : 118.6,
    2022 : 128.6,
    2023 : 136.2,
    2024 : 140.6,
  }
---
# Scale multiplier table. We base this on
# The index is based on the scale minimum value.
# The tuple contains the base first and then the multiplier
code: |
  MJFmultiplier_table = {
    0 : (0,1150),
    10 : (11500,2300),
    20 : (34500,3450),
    30 : (69000,4600),
    40 : (115000,5750),
    50 : (127500,6900)
  }
---
# This is the multiplier for injuries sustained in 2002
code: |
  MJF2002multiplier = 1710
---
# Calculates the scale minimum value 
# We do this by rounding down to the nearest 10
code: |
  MJFscale_min = round(MJFscalevalue // 10) * 10
---
# Now we can calculate the remainder as it's the scale value - the min value
code: |
  MJFscale_remainder = MJFscalevalue - MJFscale_min
---
# Calculate the previous year
code: |
  MJFpreviousyear = MJFyearofinjury - 1
---
# Calculate post-2002 damages
# This is the base value plus the remainder multiplied by the multiplier
# Our cacluations don't work if the value is 60, so we need to calculate this
# explicitly here
code: |
  if MJFscalevalue == 60:
    # Special calculations for 60
    base_value, multiplier = MJFmultiplier_table[50]
    MJFpost2002damages = base_value + (multiplier * 10)
  else:
    # Otherwise we use regular calcs
    base_value, multiplier = MJFmultiplier_table[MJFscale_min]
    MJFpost2002damages = base_value + ( MJFscale_remainder * multiplier)
---
# Now we calculate the unadjusted amount. We account here
# for 2002 and post-2002 rules
code: |
  if MJFyearofinjury == 2002:
    MJFunadjusted_damages = MJFscalevalue * MJF2002multiplier;
  else:
    MJFunadjusted_damages = MJFpost2002damages
---
# We need to adjust for CPI
# For 2002 and 2003 we don't need to adjust at all.
# For the others we calculate
code: |
  if MJFyearofinjury <= 2003:
    MJFadjusted_damages = MJFunadjusted_damages
  else:
    cpi_adjustment = MJFcpi_table[MJFpreviousyear] / MJFcpi_table[2002]
    MJFadjusted_damages = MJFunadjusted_damages * cpi_adjustment
---