Operation Manual

Parameter Fields and Prompts

Creating a parameter with a static prompt

446 Crystal Reports User’s Guide

Lists of values and prompt groups contrasted

Lists of values are the data part of a prompt; the values from your data that

your users will see and select from.

Prompt groups, on the other hand, are the presentation part of a prompt.

Crystal Reports treats prompt groups are separate objects so that you can

share the same list of values with different presentations. For example, you

can have a Shipping City prompt, and a Customer City prompt. Perhaps you

allow for multiple customer cities, but only a single shipping city in your report.

You can design this report so that it uses a single city list of values, but with

two different prompt groups (or presentations styles).

For more information about using prompt groups, see “Sharing common lists

of values within a report” on page 453.

Creating a parameter with a static prompt

A static prompt is one that always contains the same values. For example, if

your parameter prompts for a country value, you could create a static prompt

because the country list represents a set of values that does not change often.

Use the following steps to create a parameter with a static prompt that lets

users see a list of customers that they can select a specific country from.

This procedure is made up of two sets of steps. The first is creating the

parameter, and the second is using the Select Expert to incorporate the

parameter.

To create a parameter with a static prompt

1. Open the sample report called Group.rpt.

Sample reports are located in the Crystal Reports directory under

\Samples\En\Reports.

2. On the View menu, click Field Explorer.

Tip: Another way to do this is to click the Field Explorer button on the

Standard Toolbar.

The Field Explorer dialog box appears.

3. Select Parameter Fields and click New.

The Create New Parameter dialog box appears.

4. Enter a name for the parameter in the Name field (up to 255

alphanumeric characters).

This example uses Country.