MicroStrategy ONE

Using prompts in documents

If the dataset in a document has a prompt in it, such as Region or Year, you are prompted for an answer when you view the PDF document for the first time. The prompts, which contain the default answers, are displayed as in any standard MicroStrategy report. After the prompts are answered, the document executes and displays the information according to the answers. Prompts in a document provide rich interactivity, allowing each user to display the data relevant to him.

Even if the same prompt object is used in multiple datasets on a document, you are prompted only once. For example, if you use the prompt named Select Region in both Dataset1 and Dataset2, you can see the prompt only once. However, if the prompt Select Region is used in Dataset1 and "Copy of Select Region" (an identical copy, except for the name) is used in Dataset2, you see two prompts.

Prompts in documents act as filters and limit the data that is displayed. These value prompts affect the number of rows of data that are displayed but they do not determine which objects are returned from the data warehouse. This is because the prompt answers are not available in the Design View—that is, the creator of the document does not know the objects that the user will select.

You must perform the following general steps to add a prompt to a document:

  1. Create and save the prompt. For steps, see the Basic Reporting Guide.

  2. Add the prompt to a report. For steps, see the Basic Reporting Guide.

  3. Add the prompted report to the document as a dataset. For steps, see Adding, changing, or removing a dataset.

You cannot use a prompt directly on a document or put a prompt into a Grid/Graph on a document—only attributes, consolidations, custom groups, and metrics can be used as data fields from the dataset. Object prompts on templates, which allow a user to select which objects to include in a dataset, are not supported, unless you add the Grid/Graph as a shortcut.

Even when a shortcut is used, the object prompt does not appear in the Dataset Objects panel; you cannot add it to the document as a separate object. When the document is executed, the object prompt is displayed and its answers are shown in the document results. This occurs just as if you had executed the dataset as a stand-alone report.

For instructions to add a Grid/Graph as a shortcut, see Adding a Grid/Graph as a shortcut.