User Prompt Filters

Overview

The default filter value is USER PROMPT. If this setting is not changed the user that runs the report will be prompted to fill in the filter data at the time of running the report. This is useful when the type of interest that a user may have in the report data varies based upon a context. The figure below shows the effect of selecting User Prompt.

1. The user selects USER PROMPT for the filter data type on the filters edit page of the report builder.
2. When the report is run the user is prompted to insert a division. No data is displayed until the user has inserted a division and clicks the GO button.
3. Once the user has clicked the result set is returned and the filter is used to ensure that only the relevant data is returned.
4. The user running the report chooses how to filter the report, based upon the prompt provided.

See User Prompt Reports for further information.

Prompt Values

By clicking the prompt values button you can see all the values available in your filter. Yellowfin will take into account any additional filters you may have to limit the amount of data returned.

Prompt Types - drop down, in list, date and search

With Yellowfin you can set up a number of different prompt types. These can include standard text entry fields, drop down selections, in list grouped selections, and date fields as seen in the example below.

1. The text field allows the user to type in the desired value to filter by.
2. The filter icon allows the user to view all the available filter values and select one to use. If the filter were an aggregate there would be no prompt to allow the user to search the database.
3. The date filters allow the user to manually type dates into the fields, or use the calendar to search for, and select a date. There is an option in the filter Entry Style menu to Allow Prompt which will enable the user to select from a list of dates (as in point 2.).
4. When setting a date to the 'between' operand, and then formatting it to be a dropdown using pre-defined date ranges, you get the following options:
   
5. When setting a date to the 'equal to' operand, and formatting it to use pre-defined filter ranges, you get these options:
   Note: If you wish to base these dates on the last update date of your view or excel spreadsheet then go to the Filters Action menu and set the Filter Date Reference to View Update Date.
   
6. The Gender dropdown uses cached values from the database to generate a list the user can select one value from.
7. The Last Name list uses cached values from the database to generate a list that the user can select multiple values from.

Cascading User Prompts

If multiple user prompt filters exist on a report then Yellowfin will treat these as cascading filters. What this means is that as a user starts to fill in possible values when they click the prompt icon to search for possible values the values displayed will be further filtered based on the previous selections of the user. Therefore, when writing a report with multiple filters place them in an order that will make sense for a user if cascading prompts are likely to be used.
For example if you have both a region and a country filter on the same report then the region filter should be placed before the country filter so that any countries displayed are only those that equal the pre-selected region.

Dependant User Prompts

If multiple filters are used on a report filter dependencies can be set up so that the child filter will not be displayed until the parent filter has a value. This can be useful for sets of cached filters. When the user selects a value for the parent filter, the dependant filter will be displayed and it will have its values filtered by the previous selection, making the filters cascading and dependant.
For example, if you have an In List filter on Camp Region and a dependant Camp Name filter, before you select a value for Region it would look like:

Once the user picks 'Australia' in the main filter, it will look like this:

See [Cached Dependent Filters] for more information.

Advanced Filter Types

There are a number of special filter types that you need to be aware of when using the data filter option. They have a number of various rules associated with them. These are:

1. In List Filters for Reference Codes Filtering
2. Date Filters
3. Between Type Filters

In List Filter Type

If the operant type 'In List' or 'Not In List' is chosen then you will be able to select from multiple options. The 'in list' is only available for specific types of variables such as codes.

1. Set the values for the user, click on the filter prompt icon on the filter page of the report builder. Select all the variables that you wish to add to your list then click Submit to save your changes and close the popup window.
   
2. To select multiple options from the list box hold down the control key and click on the values you wish with your mouse. As shown above.

Between Filter Types

If the operant type is set to 'Between' or 'Not Between' then the filter values popup will display two value text boxes. You must insert a value into both of these. In addition you must ensure that the lower end value is inserted in the top box and the higher value in the lower box for the filter to work effectively.

1. Insert a value in both the top and bottom text boxes.
2. Click Submit to save your changes and close the popup window
   

Date Filter Types

When editing a Date filter type you will have three selection options. These are to either insert a fixed date or a variable date.

1. The fixed date option is defined by inserting a single date.
2. The variable date is set by selecting the current date option with either the + or - option. This will filter the data based on the system date when ever a report is run. For example if the filter set is Current date - 10 and the report run on February 11 then the filter date will be Feb 1. However, if the report is run Feb 21 then the filter date in the report will change automatically to Feb 11.
3. The Pre-defined date period provides the user with a list of date range choices.