Operation Manual

Parameter Fields and Prompts
Understanding dynamic prompts
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440 Crystal Reports User’s Guide
• A list of values can form a cascading prompt; that is, you can create a
prompt whose final value is determined through a sequence of choices.
For example, users might first be prompted to pick a country before the
choices for region appear. The users might then need to pick a region
before the choices for city appear, and so on.
Understanding dynamic prompts
Both dynamic prompts and cascading lists of values are available in Crystal
Reports. These features let you populate the lists of values associated with a
prompt from a data source outside of your report. (Static lists of values that
are stored in your report are also available in Crystal Reports.)
This dynamic capability is available to all Crystal Reports users—whether or
not they have the added capabilities of BusinessObjects Enterprise. When
Crystal report files are stored in BusinessObjects Enterprise, additional
dynamic prompting features are available. The following table shows which
features are available with each product.
Note: In the table, and elsewhere in this section, the term managed report is
used to describe reports that are stored in a BusinessObjects Enterprise
environment, while unmanaged report is used to describe reports that are
stored outside such an environment.
Feature Available when Crystal
reports are stored outside of
BusinessObjects Enterprise?
Available when Crystal
reports are published to
BusinessObjects Enterprise?
Create dynamic prompts
and cascading lists of
values.
Yes Yes
Reuse list of value
definitions within a single
report at design time.
Yes Yes
Reuse list of value
definitions within multiple
reports at design time.
No Yes
Schedule lists of values. No Yes