Creating Parameters for Use in the Auto Prompting Facility

How to:

When a parameter selection criteria is added in Power Painter, the auto prompting facility appears at run time. You can create either a dynamic prompt (displays a current list of values from a data source), static prompt (displays a fixed list of values), or a simple prompt (displays a text box where the user enters a specific value) in the auto prompting facility.

For more information about creating and applying auto prompting templates, see the Changing WebFOCUS Client Settings in the WebFOCUS Administration Console section of the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.
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Procedure: How to Create Parameters and Run in the Auto Prompting Facility
  1. From the Selection Criteria palette, create a WHERE statement.
  2. Click the Select Value button.

    The Select Value dialog box opens.

  3. In the Select Value dialog box, select Parameter, as shown in the following image.

    If you want to create a Simple prompt to appear in the Auto Prompting facility, enter a name in the Parameter field that will be used as the parameter prompt. A Simple parameter prompt provides a text box in the Auto Prompting facility for the user to type a parameter value. The following image shows an example of a value in Parameter field.

  4. Click the Edit Parameter Properties button.

    The Variable Editor dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.

    If you are creating a Simple parameter prompt, or you have opened a report that was created in Report Assistant and contains a simple prompt, then the Simple Selection option is available, as shown in the following image.

  5. In the Variable section of the dialog box, verify the Parameter and Description fields, which are automatically populated based on the field you selected to create the WHERE statement.

    Edit these populated values, as needed.

  6. Choose from the following Selection options:
    • Dynamic. This is the default option. The Data Source and Field values are selected automatically based on the field used to create the WHERE statement and can be changed as needed.

      Note: When working with a Reporting Object, you can only select fields from data sources that the Reporting Object is defined to access.

    • Static. Select the Constant or Value option. For Constant, enter one or more values. For the Value option, all of the values for the selected field appear in the Value list box. Move the values you want to the Multiple Values Entered list box using the plus button.
    • Simple. This selection option only appears if you are creating a simple parameter prompt, as described in Step 3, or you have opened a report that was created in Report Assistant in order to create a compound report and it contains a Simple prompt. Since the user will enter a value in the Auto Prompting facility for this prompt, there are no values to define here.

    Note: For either the Dynamic or Static option, you can select the Select multiple values at runtime check box to provide more than one value to the report from the auto prompt page. In addition, the user will be able to select all values from the values list.

  7. Click OK to exit the Variable Editor.

    The parameter is added to the Select Value dialog box.

  8. Click OK to close the Select Value dialog box.
  9. Click Run from the File menu in Power Painter.

    The Auto Prompting facility appears. The following image is an example of the Auto Prompting facility with either Dynamic or Static selection prompts.

    Auto Prompting

    The following image shows the Auto Prompting facility with a Simple selection prompt for COUNTRY.

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