Parameters dialog

Use this dialog to select a worksheet item on which to create a parameter for the selected worksheet to prompt end users for a parameter value. For example, if you create a link to a worksheet with an active City parameter, you might want to activate a Region parameter instead. In this scenario, when an end user selects the link, they are prompted for a Region, not a City.

You can also change the default parameter value that is used to refine the worksheet displayed when a link is used to connect two worksheets. For example, if you want a link to display a worksheet called Sales that contains a parameter on the Month item, you might want to change the default month from January to February.

Note: If you enter all possible values in the Parameters field, the end user is not prompted to specify a parameter value when they use the link. For example, if you create a link that displays a worksheet with a month parameter, if you specify all twelve months in the Parameters field, Discoverer does not prompt the end user for a month, but displays data for all months.

You can also create a dynamic link, which displays different data for each worksheet cell depending on the value of the cell. For example, you might want to click a link on a worksheet item called Year to display a sales information for that particular year. The value of the worksheet cell is passed to the target worksheet using a worksheet parameter. For more information, see "How to create drill links to Discoverer worksheets".

For more information, see:

"About user defined drill links"

"About drilling in Discoverer worksheets"

"What are parameters?"

Parameters

Use this field to change the default parameter value that you pass to the target worksheet by doing one of the following:

• enter a parameter value surrounded by double quotes (for example, "January")

  If you enter a value in this field or leave this field blank, you create a static link that always displays the same data in the target worksheet. For example, if you enter 'January' as a value for a Month parameter, the worksheet displays data for January.

• click to down arrow next to the field and select a worksheet item from the drop down list (see <Down arrow button> field description)

  If you insert the name of a worksheet item into this field, you create a dynamic link that displays different data for each worksheet cell depending on the value of the cell. For example, you might want to click a link on a worksheet item called Year to display a sales information for that particular year.

<Down arrow button>

This button displays a list of select a worksheet items whose value you can to pass to the target worksheet.

For example, if you create a link on a worksheet item called Year to a target worksheet has an active parameter on year, select Year from the drop down list. Discoverer passes the value of each cell (for example, 2005, 2006) to the target worksheet as a parameter value and filters the worksheet data using the parameter value. In other words, if you select the link on the 2005 worksheet value, Discoverer displays a worksheet filtered on 2005 data. If you select the link on the 2006 worksheet value, Discoverer display a worksheet filtered on 2006 data.

Description

This read-only field displays a description of the current parameter that can contain additional information such as hints on using the parameter.