How to Define a Required Prompt at the Universe Level

[Former Member]

Apologies if this has already been covered somewhere... I searched and can't find the topic covered yet.

I've been under the impression for a long time that one could configure a Universe such that it would require a prompt on a dimension whenever that Universe was run, regardless of the tool or report.  For example, you could configure an eFashion Universe such that any report or analysis built against it (Webi, Crustal, Design Studio, Lumira, PowerQuery... whatever) would trigger a prompt, perhaps on Year or State.  The idea is that at the Universe you could prevent developers and self-service users from building "Select All" reports.

However, even with the use of LOV flags in the Data Foundation and Business Layer (e.g. "Force users to filter values before use"), I can't figure out how to make it work.

So, I have two questions...

1. Is it possible to include required prompts/filters in the Universe definition?
2. If so, how?

Thanks,

Josh

[former_member4998 · Accepted solution]

Hi...

1. Is it possible to include required prompts/filters in the Universe definition?

• Yes..it’s possible to include prompts at universe level,

• If all the reports are using same prompts, you can create at universe level and use same prompt in all the reports. You can define mandatory or optional prompt.

Following is the syntax for the function.

@Prompt('message','type',[lov],Mono|Multi,free|constrained|primary_key,persistent|not_persistent,[default_values])

The following are simple examples of @Prompt syntax.

Minimal use of the @Prompt function:

@Prompt('Displayed text ','A',,,)

Using the @Prompt with a LOV without default values:

@Prompt('Displayed text ','A',{'Paris','London','Madrid'},,)

Using the @Prompt with a LOV and one default value:

@Prompt('Displayed text ','A',{'Paris','London','Madrid'},,,,{'Paris'})

2 : If so, how?

• In the condition's SELECT or WHERE field, right-click at the place in the expression where you wantto add a prompt and

          select @Prompt editor from the shortcut menu.

• In the Message box, type the message that you want the user to see.
• Select Keep last value selected if you want the prompt to propose the values used for the previousreport.When the report is run for the first time, the default values (if any) are proposed.
• Select Allow multiple selection if the user can enter or select more than one value.
• Set the Selection mode. For Free selection, the user can enter any allowed value. For Constrainedselection, the user must select a value from a list of values. For Primary key, the user selects theobject name, but the object's primary key is used by the query. You can only use the Primary keysetting if Index Awareness is set.
• Note:
  • When the Constrained option is selected and a List of Values is not specified, the corresponding Tab color turns to red, OK button is disabled, and on moving the cursor over the highlighted tab, the contextual tooltip displays a message indicating how to rectify the problem.

• Set the Value type for the selection mode: Alphanumeric, Number, or Date.
• If you have selected Primary key for the selection mode, set the Key type: Alphanumeric, Number,or Date.
• If you are using multiple selection, define the list of values. Do one of the following: you can type orimport a list of values, or you can select a universe object.
• Click the Default Values tab and define any default values. When you allow multiple selection, youcan set more than one default value.
• Click OK.
• The "@Prompt" editor closes and the prompt expression is visible in the condition's statement in the "Edit Properties" pane.
• Validate the prompt and click Parse.When the syntax is

http://business-objects-xi.blogspot.in/2009/06/prompt.html

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks, Srini.  YEs, that's one way to deal with it... and I found others as well.  It was very finicky to get it just right but I managed to get what I needed.

Josh