MicroStrategy ONE
Specifying how prompts are answered in the target
Prerequisite
This topic assumes you are familiar with the parts of a link, such as the target and source. For background information, see Components of a link.
For each prompt in the target (the report or document being executed from the link), you must select a prompt answer method, which is how to answer the prompt. You also specify how to answer any other prompts that are not listed. These can be prompts that are created as the result of an answer to one of the original prompts in the target, such as a prompt-in-prompt answer. They can also be prompts added to the target later, after the link is created. These prompts are listed as the Any other prompt option in the list of prompts in the interface.
The prompt answer methods are briefly described in the table below. An expanded description of each method, with an example, follows the table.
For a list of prompt types, see Prompts. For a more extensive description of each prompt type from an analyst's perspective, with images of each prompt as it appears to users, see the Answering Prompts and Refreshing Data chapter of the Basic Reporting Help.
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Answer with the same prompt. The same prompt answers that were used to execute the source are used in the target.
For example, thePrompted Regional Revenuereport links regions to another report calledRevenue by Category. Both reports contain the same prompt, which prompts the user to select the regions to display on the report. A user executes thePrompted Regional Revenuereport and selects Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Southeast when prompted. He right-clicks Mid-Atlantic and selects the link to theRevenue by Categoryreport. TheRevenue by Categoryreport displays data for all three regions, although only one region was selected in the link. For an expanded description of this example, with sample reports, see the Linking Reports and Documents chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.
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Prompt user. When the target is executed, the user is prompted to provide answers manually.
For example, the Regional Revenue report links regions to another report called Revenue by Category, which is prompted for regions. A user right-clicks Mid-Atlantic on the Regional Revenue report, and selects the link to the Revenue by Category report. The regional prompt is displayed, although a region was selected on the source report. The Prompt user prompt method does not pass information to the target report, so the user must answer the prompts manually.
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Default answer. The prompt is answered by the default prompt answer for the prompt in the target. If the target prompt does not have a default answer, the Empty answer method is used. That is, the prompt is not answered, unless it is required, in which case the user is prompted.
For example, continue with the same Regional Revenue and Revenue by Category reports described above. This time, however, the Default answer prompt method is used in the link, and the regional prompt has a default answer of Central. When a user right-clicks Mid-Atlantic on the Regional Revenue report, the Revenue by Category report displays data for Central.
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Dynamically. The object selected in the source is passed to the prompt in the target. If this object does not answer the target prompt, the Empty answer method is used. That is, the prompt is not answered, unless it is required, in which case the user is prompted.
If you create the link in MicroStrategy Web, you can select Dynamically for value prompts.
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This method is available for attribute element prompts only, in MicroStrategy Developer.
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For example, continue with the same Regional Revenue and Revenue by Category reports described above. This time, the link on Region in the source uses the Dynamic method. If a user clicks the Central region to run the link, Central is passed to the target to answer the prompt. The Revenue by Category report displays data for the Central region only. If the user clicks Mid-Atlantic instead, Mid-Atlantic is passed to the target and the Revenue by Category report displays data for the Mid-Atlantic region only. Samples for this example of the Dynamic prompt answer method are included in the Linking Reports and Documents chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.
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Empty answer. The prompt in the target is ignored, which means that the prompt is not answered. No prompt answer is provided from the source and the user is not prompted to provide answers.
: If the prompt is required, the Prompt user method is used. That is, after the user clicks the link, the prompt is executed and must be answered before the target can execute.
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The Empty prompt answer method, when used in conjunction with the Dynamic prompt answer method (described above), allows a source report to answer one prompt in a target report with the user selection, while ignoring any other prompts.
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For example, a source report contains Region in the rows and Category in the columns. Both attributes link to the same target report, which prompts for Region and Category. If a user clicks Central in the source, the target report is executed, with data for all categories for the Central region. If a user clicks Books in the source, the target is executed, with data for all regions for the Books category. The prompt for the selected attribute is answered using the dynamic prompt answer method, while the prompt for the other attribute is ignored using the Empty answer prompt method. No prompt answer is provided to the target and the user is not prompted, either. For a more detailed explanation of the Empty answer prompt answer method, including samples, see the Linking Reports and Documents chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.
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Static element list. This method answers the target prompt with a list of elements. This allows you to pass fixed conditions to the target.
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Once you select this method when you are creating the link, the Element List area becomes available, allowing you to select the elements that will be passed as answers to the element list prompt in the target.
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This method is available for attribute element prompts only.
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Use the Static element list method when you link from a conditional metric. Conditional metrics are filtered by attribute elements, and this prompt method allows you to pass those elements to the target. For more details on this method, including an example, see the Linking Reports and Documents chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.
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This method also allows you to pass characteristics and key figures from MDX cubes to the target; for more information on using links with MDX cubes, see Passing MDX cube data with a static element list.
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Several prompt answer methods (Current unit and All valid units) are available for hierarchy prompts only. These are described in Specifying how hierarchy prompts are answered in the target.
You can also select a prompt answer method for prompts that are not in the target when you are creating the link, such as prompts added to the target after the link is created. These prompts are included in the Any other prompt option in the list of prompts in the interface. For more information, and a list of the prompt answer methods that are available for this option, see Specifying prompt answers for any other prompts not listed.
Related Topics
For examples of these prompt answer methods, see the Linking Reports and Documents chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.