Managing Active Technologies Form Controls

In this section:

 

Active Technologies form controls enable you to create complex filter relationships among the report and chart components on an active dashboard. This topic describes the capabilities that are available to you when you incorporate active form controls into the design of your active dashboards.

Active Technologies form controls are available for an active dashboard in HTML and for an active dashboard for Adobe Flash Player and for PDF.

For details on the WebFOCUS code that supports the implementation of active form controls, see Configuring Active Technologies Form Controls With WebFOCUS Syntax. For the procedures used in Document Composer to add active form controls to an active dashboard, see Creating Active Technologies Dashboards in Document Composer. For the procedures used in InfoAssist to add active form controls to a compound document, see Adding Active Technologies Form Controls to a Compound Document.


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Types of Active Technologies Form Controls

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


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Adding Active Technologies Form Controls and Establishing Relationships

The following general guidelines apply to active form controls.


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Specifying the Source Report and Target Report

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.


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Specifying the Report Column

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.


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Using Independent Active Technologies Form Controls

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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Nesting Active Technologies Form Controls

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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Chaining Two Groups of Filter Conditions

When there are two groups of filter conditions and the filtered result must meet any combination of those conditions, you can chain all the controls so that they act together. For example, consider two chained groups.

The two groups are shown in the following diagram.

In this example, depending on which control you use, you can have any combination of the filtered result in the report. For instance, you can have:


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Chaining Three Groups of Filter Conditions

When there are three groups of filter conditions, you can chain all of them as you would do with two groups, to meet any combination of conditions. Alternatively, the chain can have two nodes to provide two different combinations of filter conditions, based on the data in the source report and target report.

For example, consider three chained groups.

The three groups are shown in the following diagram.

In this example, depending on which control you use, you can have a combination of filtered conditions, based on one of the following.


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Displaying the All Selection Value

The following features apply to the All selection value.


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Selecting Multiple Values

You can optionally allow the selection of multiple values at run time if the active form control is a list box or check box (ARFILTER_MULTIPLE=ON). The default is single-value selection, prohibiting multiple-value selection at run time.

When multiple-value selection is set to ON, you can select more than one value in a list box by holding down the Shift key or Ctrl key. You can select multiple check boxes for the check box control at run time.


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Typing a Value in a Text Input Field

The text input field (OBJECT=TEXTINPUT) for an active dashboard is case-sensitive. The value that is typed in the text input field at run time must match the exact case of the value that is stored in the database.

For example, typing TV City (the value stored in the database) is valid and will return data for an active report or chart, whereas typing TV CITY is invalid and will not return data.


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Adding Active Technologies Form Controls to a Compound Document

In this section:

How to:

You can insert active form controls into a compound document to act as filters on the reports of the document. You can also cascade (chain) controls to populate based on the selections of the previous controls. The output format of the compound document must be active report, active Flash, or active PDF in order to insert active form controls.



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Procedure: How to Add an Active Technologies Form Control to a Compound Document
  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view, select an active output type (active report, active Flash, active PDF) from the Output Types group of the Format tab.
  2. Select the Insert tab from the Control Panel.
  3. Select a form control to insert from the Active Dashboard Prompts group, as shown in the following image.

    Active Dashboard Prompts group

    An active form control appears in the top-left corner of the canvas.

    You can now add the field that the form control filters on. For more information, see Associating a Field With a Control.

    Note: Once an active form control is added to the canvas, the compound document is locked in an active output format. You cannot change out of active report, active Flash, or active PDF format if there are controls present on the canvas. To switch to a non-active output format, all controls must be removed.



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Associating a Field With a Control

You can bind a field to an inserted active form control from the Query pane, by dragging the desired column directly from the report on the canvas, or through the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box. Setting the target reports, cascading controls, and changing the filter conditions can only be done through the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box. For more information, see Using the Active Dashboard Properties Dialog Box.



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Procedure: How to Associate a Field With a Control From the Query Pane
  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view and at least one report on the canvas, add an active form control, as described in How to Add an Active Technologies Form Control to a Compound Document.
  2. Click the report.

    The fields of the report will be populated in the Query pane.

    Note: If the report is included as an existing report, you are not able to bind its fields to a control.

  3. Select a data source field from the Query pane and drag it onto the Layout Canvas. Make sure that you drop the data source field onto the active form control that you want the field to be bound to.

    The control updates with the options from the field, as shown in the following image.

    Radio button prompt



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Procedure: How to Associate a Field With a Control From a Report on the Canvas
  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view and at least one report on the canvas, add an active form control, as described in How to Add an Active Technologies Form Control to a Compound Document.
  2. Right-click the report you wish to add a filter column from and select Edit Report.

    Note: If the report is included as an existing report, you are not able to bind its fields to a control.

  3. You can now select fields within the report. Click and drag the desired field from the report and drop it onto the active form control you want the field to be bound to, as shown in the following image.

    Dragging value onto radio button prompt



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Procedure: How to Associate a Field With a Control From the Active Dashboard Properties Dialog Box
  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view and at least one report on the canvas, add an active form control, as described in How to Add an Active Technologies Form Control to a Compound Document.
  2. Right-click the active control you wish to add a filter column to and select Properties, as shown in the following image.

    Radio button context menu

  3. The Active Dashboard Properties dialog box appears. Select the report that contains the field you wish to filter on from the Report drop-down menu, as shown in the following image.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box

  4. Select the field you wish to filter on from the Field drop-down menu, as shown in the following image.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box

  5. Select OK. The active form control is updated with the selected options.


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Using the Active Dashboard Properties Dialog Box

You can use the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box to bind a field to an active form control, change the filter condition of an active form control, set the target for the form control filters, and set up cascading form controls.



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Procedure: How to Set Target Reports

You can add or remove target reports from an active form control through the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box. When you bind a field to an active form control, the default target report is the report you dragged the field from. More target reports can be added from the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box.

Reports that can be target reports must meet one of the following requirements:

  • The report contains a field with the same name as the source field (actual field name or AS name).
  • The Master File of the report has a field with the same name as the source field.

If a report is eligible to be a target report because of an AS name and that AS name is changed, the report is automatically removed.

  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view, bind an active form control to a field, as described in Associating a Field With a Control.
  2. Right-click the active form control you wish to add a filter column to and select Properties, as shown in the following image.

    Radio button context menu

  3. From the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box, select the reports from the Candidate Reports list box that you wish to add as target reports, as shown in the following image.

    Note: You can multi-select candidate reports by pressing the Ctrl key and selecting multiple reports.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box

  4. Click the Add to List arrow to move the selected reports to the Targets list box, as shown in the following image.

    Note: You can remove reports from the Targets list box by selecting reports there and clicking the Remove from List arrow.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box

  5. Select OK.


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Procedure: How to Change the Filter Condition
  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view, bind an active form control to a field, as described in Associating a Field With a Control.
  2. Right-click the active form control you wish to change the filter condition for and select Properties, as shown in the following image.

    Radio button context menu

  3. From the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box, select the desired filter condition, as shown in the following image.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box



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Procedure: How to Cascade Controls

When you have more than one control on the canvas you can cascade controls to populate based on the selections of the previous controls. Cascading controls have a parent-child relationship, in which the parent filters the available options of the child. An active form control can be the parent of more than one other control but cannot be a child of more than one control.

  1. With InfoAssist open in the Document view, bind at least two active form controls to fields, as described in Associating a Field With a Control.
  2. Right-click an active form control and select Properties, as shown in the following image.

    Radio button context menu

  3. Select Cascades from the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box, as shown in following image.

    Radio buttons on the canvas

    By default, a cascade named Cascade1 will appear in the Cascades section of the Active Dashboard Properties dialog box.

    You can click the Create a new cascade Create a new cascade button button to create a new cascade.

    You can click the Delete selected cascade Delete selected cascade button button to delete the selected cascade.

  4. Select the cascade you wish to add controls to.
  5. Select the control you wish to add from the Available Prompts list box.
  6. Click the Add to List arrow to move the selected control to the Selected Prompts list box, as shown in the following image.

    Note: You can remove controls from the Selected Prompts list box by selecting controls there and clicking the Remove from List arrow.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box

  7. Add any additional controls you wish to be part of the cascade by repeating steps 5 and 6.

    By default, the hierarchy of the controls is determined by the order they are added to the Selected Prompts list. The cascade of the controls is from the top, down. The controls that come first in the Selected Prompts list are the parents of the lower controls.

  8. You can change the hierarchy of the controls by selecting a control in the Selected Prompt list box and clicking the Move Up and Move Down arrows, as shown in the following image.

    Active Dashboard Properties dialog box


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