A prompt is a special type of query filter. It is a dynamic filter that displays a question every time you refresh the data in a document. You answer prompts by either typing or selecting the value(s) you want to view before you refresh the data. Web Intelligence retrieves only the values you specified from the database and returns those values to the reports within the document. Prompts allow multiple users viewing a single document to specify a different sub-set of the database information and display it in the same report tables and charts. Prompts also reduce the time it takes for the data to be retrieved from the database.
A prompt contains the following elements:
· a filtered object
· an operator
· a message
For example, to prompt users to select a specific year, you define a prompt on the [Year] dimension:
Year Equal To ("Which year?)
In this prompt, the filtered object is [Year], the operator is Equal To, and the prompt message is "Which year?".
You can define prompts on any dimension, measure, or detail object. For example, you can filter the [Year] dimension to return values for a specific year, filter the [Sales Revenue] measure to return values for a range of revenue figures, or filter the [Year/week] detail to return values for a specific week in a year.
You can create multiple prompts, related by the AND or OR operators, in the same query. You can also nest prompts. When the user runs a query, Web Intelligence displays the prompts.
Prompts appear in the SQL generated by a Web Intelligence query as either the value supplied in response to the prompt (when the SQL is read-only), or as Web Intelligence prompt syntax (when the SQL is editable). For example, a prompt on [Country] can appear in the generated SQL as
Resort_Country.country = @prompt('Enter Country:','A',
'Resort\Country', Mono,Free,Persistent,,User:0)
or as
Resort_country.country In ('UK')
Prompts can be optional. The user is not obliged to specfy a value for an optional prompt. If no value is specified, Web Intelligence ignores the prompt.