Is there a bug in the way custom buttons handle checkboxes on related objects?

Question

I'm creating a custom execute JavaScript button for the Opportunity detail page and trying to use an IF statement to conditionally load a resource with REQUIRESCRIPT. The goal is to base the condition on the value of a checkbox (Active__c) on the related Account record. Here's the button formula:

{!
 IF(Account.Active__c,
  REQUIRESCRIPT("data:application/javascript;base64,YWxlcnQoJ2hlbGxvJyk="),
  ''
 )
}
alert('{!Account.Active__c}') 

The formula never evaluates to true regardless of the Active__c field being true or false so the REQUIRESCRIPT never loads. If I base the condition on a checkbox on the Opportunity record, it works fine. The click-activated alert displays the correct values for Active__c so the formula is getting something for that field, but it doesn't seem to be able to reference it correctly in the IF statement. Oddly, if I create some other type of condition like Account.Text_Field__c = 'text', it works correctly. The issue seems to be limited to booleans. Is this just a limitation of custom buttons, or am I doing something wrong here?

In this mockup, the JavaScript encoded in the REQUIRESCRIPT is just an alert popup that says 'Hello' when the script loads.

Answer 1

I think the problem is that REQURIESCRIPT is handled by the server and is one of those few occasions where you can't use a merge field for the parameter. When you tested with a text field did you use == or = as in your example? In the case of the latter it would have done an assignment and fulfilled the condition regardless of the value in the field used.

I'd include the script at the top regardless, but put the code inside the script into a function. Then you can simply call that function or not based on the field's value.

{!REQUIRESCRIPT("data:application/javascript;base64,YWxlcnQoJ2hlbGxvJyk=")}

if({!Account.Active__c})
{
  myFuncInTheRequiredScript();
}

If you absolutely want to use the style you have, and there is a bug with booleans (seems doubtful, but you never know) then a cast might do the trick: {!IF((Account.Active__c & '') == 'true',...

Answer 2

Please try this code:

if({!Account.Active__c}){
    alert('It's alive!'); 
}