Once a report is created, filters enable you to customize the display of data in your report. This gives you the advantage of viewing only the data that you want to see and
use.
Refer to the Creating Basic Reports article prior to going through the steps of this article.
Filters
- Right-click on a field from the left Data navigation pane.
- Click Filter from the menu that displays.
- Notice a Create a filtering condition dialog box displays with the basic framework for a WHERE statement. The arithmetic operator is set to Equal to, by default.
- Modify this operator by double clicking Equal to.
- Then click the "Equal to" dropdown arrow to display the available options.
- Click to select an option from the list, as desired.
- To modify the type of filter in use, double-click the <Value> field.
- Then click the "Value" dropdown arrow to display a list of additional options.
From the Value dialog box, click the Type dropdown arrow to modify this selection as desired. Available options are listed and briefly defined below.
- Constant. Allows the entry of a literal value. This value can be a positive number, a negative number, or any character string.
- Parameter. Allows you to specify a parameter by entering a name and description in the provided text input areas, as well as selecting the type of parameter (Simple, Static, or Dynamic).
Field. Allows the specification of a field name to compare against. Will be documented in future documentation, more to come.
Constant Filter Type
- The Constant selection from the Type dropdown, allows you to either:
- Type the value(s) in the Value field.
- Highlight the line item in the left Value pane.
- Then click the double chevron to add it to the list of available options.
- Repeat these steps for each value that should be added.
OR, - Retrieve all the available values from the database, by clicking the Get Values dropdown.
- Select an option from the dropdown.
- Then click the respective double chevron.
- Repeat these steps for each option that should be added from the Get Values dropdown.
- Once the values appear on the right, within the Multiple Values: pane, select a value and click the up/down arrows to reorder, or click the red X to delete a value from the right.
- Click OK to confirm and return to the WHERE statement view.
Parameter Filter Type
- Once Parameter is selected from the Type dropdown, available options include:
- Simple. This is used for prompts using Text Input. This is the default value.
- Static. This is used for prompts using Selection. This option allows you to select from a user-defined list of values at run time.
Dynamic. This is used for prompts using Data Values. This option allows you to select from a list of all values at run time.
You can also select Optional to indicate that the selected value (Simple, Static, or Dynamic) is optional when running the report.
Simple Parameter Filter
- For our example, we will use EMPLID.
- Select the Simple radio button.
- Enter text in the Description field exactly as you would like it to be seen by the person running the report.
- Click OK to confirm and return to the WHERE statement view.
Static Parameter Filter
- For our example, we will use ACAD_PROG_PRIMARY.
- Select the Static radio button.
- Enter text in the Description field exactly as you would like it to be seen by the person running the report.
Enter the appropriate text in the Value field, and then click the double arrow to add to the Multiple Values: list on the right.
The Multiple Values list, to the right, represents the list of values the user will see in the dropdown for this parameter when running the report.
- Click OK to confirm and return to the WHERE statement view.
Dynamic Parameter Filter
- For our example, we will use Term Codes.
- Select the Dynamic radio button.
- Enter text in the Description field exactly as you would like it to be seen by the person running the report.
- To allow selection of multiple terms at the time of running the report, check off multiple values at runtime.
- Select Desending, as the sort prompt order option. Sorting in Descending Order is recommended for this example, as this allows the most recent term to appear at the top of the list.
- In the Search Fields section, select the field that is being filtered - this should match the text that displays in the Name field above.
- Click OK to confirm and return to the WHERE statement view.
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