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The following are the types of active form controls that you can use to apply filters to an active dashboard.

• List box
• Drop-down list
• Text input field
• Check box
• Radio button

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The following general guidelines apply to active form controls.

• You can add active form controls to any PAGELAYOUT when the active dashboard contains multiple tabs.
• An active form control can have a relationship with another active form control within the same PAGELAYOUT, but not across different PAGELAYOUTs.
• An active form control can apply a filter to a component within the same PAGELAYOUT, but not across different PAGELAYOUTs.
• When the Coordinate option is set (MERGE=AUTO), the Global Filter drop-down list is the top-most parent of all the other active form controls on the active dashboard.
• If active form controls have a chained or nested relationship, all the target reports and charts of the chained filter must contain all the fields, either shown or hidden, used in the active form controls of the chain.
• If active form controls have a chained or nested relationship, each control in the same chain must have the same set of target reports and charts.

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A source report (ARDATA_REPORT='name_of_source_report') contains the data that populates an active form control with selection values from which you choose at run time. A target report or target chart (ARFILTER_TARGET='target_report_name1,target_report_name2,...') is the report or chart component that is filtered by the control.

The following features apply to the source report and target report.

• The source report and target report for an active form control can be the same report or chart component, or a different report or chart component. For example, the source report for an active form control can be the report1 component, and the target report for that active form control can also be the same report1 component. Alternatively, the source report for an active form control can be the report1 component, and the target report for that active form control can be the report2 component, and/or the report3 component, and so on.
• The data source for the source report and target report can be different, as long as a common field exists in both reports, on which to apply the filter.

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A report column (ARDATA_COLUMN='column_name') in a source report populates the data selection values in a list, drop-down list, check box, or radio button. For a text input field, the report column is the column to which the filter condition is applied.

The following features apply to the report column.

• The ARDATA_COLUMN field can be a NOPRINT field, or a field with the attribute HIDE=ON in the WebFOCUS StyleSheet.
• The ARDATA_COLUMN field, either shown or hidden, must exist in both the source report and target report.

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If you do not set chained or nested relationships among active form controls, the controls will be independent of each other. At run time, only one filter condition will be in effect. The filter condition from the control that is selected will overwrite the filter condition from another, unselected control, providing an OR condition between the two controls.

For example, if the first control is for the YEAR column, and the second control is for the REGION column, when you select the value 2001 from the YEAR control, the target reports and charts will be filtered based on the condition YEAR = 2001. When you select the value Northeast from the REGION control, the target reports and charts will be filtered based on the condition REGION = Northeast for any YEAR value, as those controls are not related to each other. In the target reports and charts, you can display the result of either YEAR = value or REGION = value, but not both.

Using another example, you can change the data displayed in the following active report by using independent active form controls that provide data for REGION = West or CATEGORY= Gifts. In the following image, CATEGORY = Gifts in the right-most active form control overwrites REGION = West in the left-most active form control.

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You can set a second active form control to be the child of a prior active form control, to create a nested filter relationship. In the second active form control, specify the name of the prior active form control as the parent. By specifying a filter component name in the ARFILTER_PARENT property (ARFILTER_PARENT='name_of_parent_object'), you can chain the active form controls to provide a nested filter with a parent/child relationship between the controls.

At run time, when you select a value from the first control, the values in the second control are filtered, based on the value selected in the first control.

In the following example, all three drop-down lists are chained, with the precedent filter component name set as the parent. When you select a value from the first drop-down list, which is populated with values for REGION, the values in the other active form controls will change, based on the value selected in the first drop-down list.

For example, when you select the value West from the first drop-down list, the report is filtered by REGION = West. The second drop-down list, which is populated with values for STATE, dynamically changes to display only the STATE values, CA and WA, for the West REGION. You can now select a STATE value, such as CA, and the report is filtered to display data for STATE = CA within REGION = West.

You can also nest the third drop-down list, which is populated with values for PRODUCT, to display the data for PRODUCT = Gifts in STATE = CA within REGION = West in the report, as shown in the following image.

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The following image shows a partial active dashboard with a single tabular active report and a drop-down list (COMBOBOX). The drop-down list is positioned to the right of the active report. The drop-down list allows you to filter data in the tabular report on the value of the STATE column in the procedure. The data selection value All is provided in the drop-down list. When selected, All displays all the data in the report.

The WebFOCUS code for the drop-down list is as follows.

OBJECT=COMBOBOX, NAME='combobox1',
POSITION=(6.010 2.167), DIMENSION=(1.667 0.208),
ARDATA_REPORT='report1', ARDATA_COLUMN='STATE',
ARFILTER_TARGET='report1', ARFILTER_CONDITION='EQ',
ARFILTER_SHOWALL=ON,  $