Linking a Parameter Sheet to a Report

This example continues from Filtering Parameter Options. To link the 'StateAndCity' parameter sheet to a new report, follow the steps below:

1. Click the 'New' button in the Style Studio toolbar. This opens the 'New Asset' dialog box.

2. In the left panel, select the 'Report' node. In the right 'Types' panel, select 'Blank Tabular Report' and click 'OK'.

3. Expand the Style Studio Toolbox panel.

4. Click the 'Table' button in the Toolbox panel to open the 'Data Binding' dialog box for a new table.

5. Under the Data tab, bind the table to 'Order Model' from the 'Orders' data source.

6. In the Columns tab, click the right-arrow to select the following columns from the 'Available Columns' pane:

'Product.Name'
'Product.Quantity Purchased'
'Customer.Company'
'Customer.City'
'Customer.State'

7. In the Condition tab, specify the following compound condition.

[Customer.State][is][equal to][$(st)]

  [and]

[Customer.City][is][equal to][$(ct)]

To enter the parameter names 'st' and 'ct' in the statements, select the 'Parameter' option on the right side of the condition, and enter these names into the corresponding text field. Enable 'Use Selection List' for each parameter. (See Filtering Data in Data Binding Wizard for more details on specifying conditions.)

 

8. Click 'Finish' to exit the 'Data Binding' dialog box.

9. Save this report as “parameterReport.srt”.

In the next steps, you will link this 'parameterReport.srt' report to the 'StateAndCity' parameter sheet developed earlier (see Creating a Parameter Sheet Layout). When you do this, the default parameter prompting mechanism is automatically replaced by the staged parameter prompting mechanism you designed.

10. Click the 'Open' button in the Style Studio toolbar. Locate and open the parameterReport.srt report.

11. Select 'Report' > 'Parameter' from the main menu. This opens the 'Parameter Definition' dialog box.

Note that the Parameters tab of the 'Parameter Definition' dialog box already lists the 'st' and 'ct' parameters defined earlier (in the data binding condition).

12. Click the Prompting tab, and select 'Use Parameter Sheets'.

13. Click the 'Edit' button. This opens the 'Parameter Flow' dialog box.

 

14. In the 'Parameter Flow' dialog box, drag the 'StateAndCity' Parameter Sheet into the right panel.

15. Click on the 'Start point' box, and drag the mouse over the 'StateAndCity' box. This creates a link between the two boxes.

16. Click on the 'StateAndCity' box, and drag the mouse over the 'End point' box. This creates a link between the two boxes which is labeled “condition1”.

 

For more information about the features of the 'Parameter Flow' dialog box, see Cas­cading Parameter Sheets.

17. Click 'OK' in the 'Parameter Flow' dialog box, and then click 'OK' to exit the 'Parameter Definition' dialog box.

18. Select 'File' > 'Configure' in the Style Studio menu. Click the General tab in the 'Style Studio Configuration' dialog box, and enable 'Preview Server Features'. Click 'OK' to close the dialog box.

19. Preview the report.

The Parameter Sheet is now loaded in place of the default parameter prompting mechanism. The parameters are staged as desired: The user must specify the state before the city, and can only select cities that are within the selected state.

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