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Using Prompts to Simplify Filtering in an Oracle BI Request

A filter limits the results that appear when a request is run. Oracle BI Answers shows only those results that match the criteria.

To simplify filtering, Oracle BI Answers provides two types of prompts, dashboard prompts and criteria prompts:

  • A dashboard prompt is a special kind of filter that filters requests embedded in a dashboard. A dashboard prompt filters embedded requests that contain the same columns as the filter. It can filter all embedded requests in a dashboard, or embedded requests on the same dashboard page.

    Multiple columns in a dashboard prompt can be used to constrain users' choices for subsequent selections. For example, if one column filters on a region, and the next column filters on districts, the district column can be constrained to show only districts in the region the user selects. A dashboard prompt can also be populated dynamically so that it can be programmatically customized for each user.

  • A criteria prompt guides users in making selections for individual requests. There are two kinds of criteria prompts, column filter prompts and image prompts:
    • A column filter prompt provides general filtering of a column within a request. A column filter prompt can present all choices for a column, or, like a dashboard prompt, it can present constrained choices for a column. For example, if a request contains a Region=East filter, constraining choices for the City column restricts the selections to cities in the East region only. This eliminates the selection of a mutually exclusive filter that could result in no data.
    • An image prompt provides an image that users click to select criteria for a request. For example, in a sales organization, users can click their territories from an image of a map to see sales information, or click a product image to see sales information about that product. Users who know how to use the HTML <map> tag can create an image map definition.

This section explains how to work with prompts. It contains the following topics:

For information about setting up a dashboard prompt, see Creating a Dashboard Prompt for Filtering Oracle BI Requests.

Adding a Column Filter Prompt to an Oracle BI Request

A column filter prompt allows users to select values to filter a column in a request. You can define the range of possible filter values and how the user selects the filter values for the request.

Column filter prompts appear on the Prompts tab. When you have multiple column filter prompts constructed for a request, they are executed in the order they are listed, from top to bottom.

To add or modify a column filter prompt in Oracle BI Answers

  1. At the Criteria tab in Oracle BI Answers, modify a request to which you want to add a column filter prompt, and then click the Prompts tab.
  2. From the Create Prompt drop-down list, select Column Filter Prompt.

    The Column Filter Prompt Properties dialog box appears.

  3. Type a caption for the column filter prompt in the Caption box.

    The caption will appear to the user. You can include HTML markup tags in the caption, such as <b>, <font>, and <table>.

  4. Type a description in the Description box.

    Descriptions are displayed when Oracle BI administrators use the Catalog Manager.

  5. From the Filter on Column drop-down list, select the column in the request that you want to filter, and then, from the Operator drop-down list, select the operator to use.

    If you want the user to select the operator, select the operator *Prompt User.

  6. Specify how the user should choose values by clicking the appropriate option.

    Users can select values from a drop-down list, or browse through choices and type them into a text box.

  7. To allow the user to choose only one value for the column filter prompt, click the check box labeled Single Value Only.
  8. Select the values that should be shown to the user by clicking the appropriate option:
    • To show no values, click None.

      The user will need to type the value.

    • To show all possible values, click All Values.
    • To show a subset of values, click Limited Values.

      Limiting values is useful when prompting for multiple columns, or when the results already contain a filter. It prevents a user from choosing values that would result in no data. For example, suppose a request contains a country column and a city column, and already contains the filter Country=France. By selecting limited values for the city column filter, the choices are constrained to cities in France only, which prevents the possibility of choosing mutually exclusive filters, such as Country=Italy and City=Paris.

    • To limit the values to the results of an SQL statement, click the option SQL Results and type the SQL statement into the text box.
  9. Make selections for the options in the Other Options area:
    • To explicitly limit the number of choices a user sees per page, type the number in the Choices per page box.
    • To allow the user to constrain the filter choices, click the check box next to the following option:

      Allow user to constrain choices

      Constrained choices help the user locate the values to use as a filter. For example, if a filter contains all the cities in France, a user can constrain the filter choices to those cities starting with P.

    • To allow a user to skip this column filter, click the check box next to the following option:

      Allow user to skip prompt

      This causes a Skip Prompt option to appear. The user can then click this option to bypass making a selection for this filter.

  10. When you are finished, click OK.

    The column filter prompt is shown on the Prompts tab.

To modify the properties of a column filter prompt in Oracle BI Answers

  1. Click the Properties link to open the Column Filter Prompt Properties dialog box.
  2. Make your changes, and then click OK.

To move a column filter prompt up or down in the execution order in Oracle BI Answers

  • Click the Move Up and Move Down links.

    These links appear only when more than one prompt is shown on the Prompts tab.

To delete a column filter prompt in Oracle BI Answers

  • Click the Delete link.

Adding an Image Prompt to an Oracle BI Request

An image prompt provides an image that users click to select their request criteria. For example, from an image that shows products, users can click a product. The selected product is then used to filter the underlying request. To create an image prompt, you need to know how to use the HTML <map> tag to create an image map definition.

Image prompts appear on the Prompts tab in Oracle BI Answers. When you have multiple image prompts constructed for a request, they are executed in the order they are listed, from top to bottom.

To add or modify an image prompt in Oracle BI Answers

  1. In Oracle BI Answers, display a request to which you want to add an image prompt, and then click the Prompts tab.
  2. From the Create Filter drop-down list, select Image Prompt.

    The Image Map Prompt Properties dialog box appears.

  3. Type a caption for the image prompt in the Caption box.

    The caption will appear to the user. You can include HTML markup tags in the caption, such as <b>, <font>, and <table>.

  4. Type a description in the Description box.

    Descriptions are displayed when Oracle BI administrators use the Catalog Manager.

  5. Type the location and name of the image in the Image URL box.

    If the image prompt is for your use only, you can specify a location that only you can access, such as c:\mycomputer\temp\map.gif. For an image prompt that will be available to other users, specify the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name, such as \\ALLUSERS\graphics\map.gif.

  6. Type the appropriate HTML <map> tags and data in the HTML box.
  7. To extract the image map information from the HTML, click the link Extract Image Map from HTML.

    The Image Map Prompt Properties dialog box expands to show the area titles, shapes, and coordinates entered in the HTML box.

    • For each area, in the Column box, type the name of the column to pass when a user clicks it, and the value to use.

      NOTE:  The column needs to be a fully qualified column name, in the format Table.Column Name.

    • Place double quotes around any column names containing spaces. These are examples:
      • "Country name"
      • "Units shipped"
  8. When you are finished, click OK.

    The image prompt is shown on the Prompts tab.

  9. To preview the image prompt, click the preview button (if available).

    NOTE:  If the preview button is not available, your Oracle BI Presentation Services administrator has suppressed its display.

  10. When you click an area of the image, the underlying filter constructed for that area displays. You can click the Refresh link to see the results. You can change the filter criteria and then click the Refresh link again to see the change reflected in the results.

To modify the properties of an image prompt in Oracle BI Answers

  1. Click the Properties link to open the Image Map Prompt Properties dialog box.
  2. Make your changes, and then click OK.

To move an image prompt up or down in the execution order in Oracle BI Answers

  • Click the Move Up and Move Down links.

    These links appear only when more than one prompt is shown on the Prompts tab.

To delete an image prompt in Oracle BI Answers

  • Click the Delete link.
Related Topic

Using Column Filters in an Oracle BI Request

  
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