A prompt is a question presented to the user who runs the report. Any report can contain prompts. Depending on the answers the user provides, the report brings back and displays different data from your data source.
Answering a prompted report differently each time it is executed is one way to ensure that a report is executed against your data source and displays the most recent data, rather than pulling results from the cached data. This is because different prompt answers usually require different data than what is stored in the report’s cache. For a detailed introduction to report caching, see the MicroStrategy Basic Reporting Guide.
How you answer a prompt differs depending on the type of prompt you are presented with. Prompts can be divided into the following groups, based on what is required to answer them:
Prompts
that request you to select items from
a list, to define the data you want to see on the report. For those
with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these types of prompts include
attribute element list prompts and object prompts.
To answer prompts by selecting from a list, see
Answering
a prompt by selecting answers from a list.
Prompts
that request you to type in specific
values or text to search for, such as a specific date, a number,
or a word. For those with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these types
of prompts are called value prompts, and include date prompts, numeric
prompts, text prompts, long prompts, and Big Decimal prompts.
To answer prompts by typing text or values, see
Answering
a prompt by typing a specific value.
Prompts that request you to form a more complex statement of the data you want to see displayed on the report. When you define a statement, you are creating a filter for the report. This group of prompts can be divided into two subsets:
Prompts
for which you create a filter based on
an attribute, or business concept. For those with a wider knowledge
of prompt design, these types of prompts include hierarchy qualification
prompts and attribute qualification prompts.
To answer prompts by creating a filter based on an attribute, see
Answering a prompt by
defining a filter based on an attribute.
Prompts for which you create
a filter based on a metric, or calculation
of business data. For those with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these
types of prompts are metric qualification prompts.
To answer prompts by creating a filter based on a metric, see
Answering a prompt by defining
a filter based on a metric calculation.
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