Prompt Syntax

With a prompt you can pass a value to a parameter field of your report. This can be done by adding it to the URL or by setting the prompt value directly to the Engine object when you're using the API of i-net Clear Reports. For each type of a parameter field there can be a certain syntax you should use.

	column type	description	example
	boolean	possible values are true or false.	“true”
	binary	binary prompts can currently not be set via URL (for details about setting a binary prompt with the API please click here)
	currency	simply pass a string containing the number you want to pass	“27.23”
	date	a date is passed using the date(<year>, <month>, <date>) function	“Date(2005, 10, 12)”
	datetime	a datetime is passed using the datetime(<year>, <month>, <date>, <hour>, <minute>, <second>) function	“DateTime(2005, 10, 12, 14, 35, 0)”
	number	simply pass a string containing the number you want to pass	“1.234”
	string	simply pass the string you want	“hello world”
	time	a time is passed using the time(<hour>, <minute>, <second>) function	“Time(14, 35, 0)”

When you want to set the prompts via URL then you should also note that it is recommended to URL encode your prompt values. In the table below you will find some exampled for encoding of characters.

An example for an encoded value for the prompt value “Date(2005,10,12)” could then be “Date%282005%2C10%2C12%29”.

When setting the prompt values via the API using Engine.setPrompt(String, int), Engine.setPrompt(String, String) or Engine.setPrompts(Vector) you should not URL encode the prompt values.

In contrast to setting a prompt value via URL setting them via the API allows you to set binary prompts also. Therefore you can not use the methods of the class Engine. You need to set the value to the underlaying parameter field directly. So you will have to get the parameter field from the Engine and then set the value to this field.

Example:

Engine e;
byte[] data;
…
//we assume that the prompt field with index zero is the binary one
PromptField myField=e.getFields().getPromptField(0);
 
//please note that the value for a binary field has to be a byte[] always
myField.setPromptValue(data);