With variables, you can use the $set syntax to assign the value of a variable, and then use that variable throughout the report. Sometimes, however, you may not know the value you want until you run the report. Enter report parameters.
Report parameters are like variables that you assign as the report is generated. When a report is defined with parameters, you will be prompted for those values when you generate the report.
To use report paramaters, you include a special section in the report template that identifies the parameters you want to pass to the report. That special section – the $info section – can appear anywhere in the report, but we recommend you put it at the very end of your report to improve the readability of your template. Here’s an example:
...
$info
$param $$assigned
$param $$ucstatus
$description “Show use cases assigned to a specific engineer”$endinfo
In this example, I’ve defined two parameters that I want to be prompted for when I run my report: $$assigned (who the use case is assigned to) and $$ucstatus (the use case status). In the report template, I use those values as part of the filtering criteria in the repeatUseCases loop:
$repeatUseCasesSortID where AssignedTo == $$assigned and UseCaseStatus == $$ucstatus
...
$endrepeatUseCases
When I generate the report, the template gets scanned and determines that parameters need to get assigned before the report can be generated. The dialog display prompts for those values:
When the report is generated, those values will be used by the filtering of the $repeatUseCases part of my report.
There’s a lot more to report parameters than what we can fit here – check out the Custom Reporting User's Guide.
Comments