Now, when you refresh your data, the program will prompt you for the parameter values and base record selection on the values you provide. See How to create a record or group selection formula, Page 265.

How to use a parameter field in a formula

In the Insert Fields dialog box, click the Formula Tab to activate it.

Click the New button and type a name for the formula in the

Formula Name dialog box when it appears.

! Click OK when finished. The Formula Editor appears.

"Create your formula using the parameter field as you would any constant value. For example, instead of creating a formula that hard-codes the region name:

{customer.REGION} = “CA”

Use a parameter field in place of “CA”:

{customer.REGION} = {?ParameterFieldName}

When you click Accept, the program returns you to the Insert Fields dialog box with the name of the formula you just created highlighted in the Formula list box.

#Click the Insert button and place the formula where you want it to appear in your report.

$ Click Close to exit the Insert Fields dialog box.

%To see how this field works, click the PRINT PREVIEW button on the standard toolbar to run the report.

A dialog box will appear prompting you for values. See How to respond to parameter field prompts, Page 399.

NOTE: The program automatically puts a question mark before the field name to identify it as a parameter field. See Formulas 101,

Page 321.

How to respond to parameter field prompts

If you want to use a different value than the default displayed, type a new value in the text box, and click OK.

If you want to use the default value, simply click OK.

The program will now run the report using the new value you specify.

How to use wildcards with parameter fields

You can use wildcards in your parameter field values to increase their flexibility. When prompted for a value, simply respond with a value using a wildcard.

NOTE: You can only use a wildcard in a parameter field value if the wildcard would have been appropriate in the nonparameterized value (for example, in formulas using the Like

operator or the LooksLike function). Search for Functions and Operators and Variables in Seagate Crystal Reports online Help.

Putting your parameter field in a selection formula using the Like operator, for example, and then responding to the prompt using a wildcard, you can create record selection requests like this:

{customer.REGION} like “A?”

«The program uses all the records that have a value in the Region field beginning with A, regardless of what the second character is. This kind of request would return records from Alaska (AK), Alabama (AL), Arizona (AZ), and so forth.»

{customer.REGION} like “?A”

«The program uses all the records with Region values ending in A, regardless of what the first character is. In this case, the request would return records from California (CA), Pennsylvania (PA), Washington (WA), and so forth.»

You can also use the * wildcard to create record selection requests like this:

{customer.POSTAL CODE} like “8*”

Here the program uses all the records with Postal Code values beginning with 8. Because you are using a wildcard to designate any and all missing characters, the request would return both five digit and nine-digit (ZIP plus 4) postal codes.

You can restrict your report to a smaller postal code range by increasing the number of constant characters before the wildcard. For example:

{customer.POSTAL CODE} like “84*”

In this case the program uses all the records with Postal Code values beginning with 84.

Related Topics

Record and Group Selection, Page 249

How to conditionally format using parameter fields

You can create conditional formatting formulas using parameter fields that you can customize whenever you refresh the data in the report. A typical use for such a formula would be for colorflagging data if it meets certain conditions. For example:

●sales representatives who have sales more than 10% over quota,

●customers who have not ordered in the last quarter, and

●inventory items that have not had any movement in the last month.

If the conditions under which you flag these items never changes, you do not need to use parameter fields. You can just use formulas

(for text flags) or conditional formatting (for color or border flags). But if you want to change the conditions from report to report, you can use parameter fields in formulas and conditional formatting formulas to do it.

Create the parameter field in the data type you need for the formula.

Create the formula and use the parameter field in place of the fixed value you would normally use.

!For example, to print the names in red of all the customers who had sales last year over a certain value (that you want to be prompted for), select the Last Year’s Sales field and click the OBJECT PROPERTIES button on the supplementary toolbar. The Format Editor appears.

"Click the Conditional formula button next to the Color property on the Font Tab, and format the field using a conditional formatting formula like this:

If {customer.LAST YEAR’S SALES} > {?ParameterFieldName} Then

Red Else

Black

Now when you refresh the data, the program will prompt you for the value that triggers the color flag (know as the threshold value). It then runs the report and flags all the customers that had sales last year over the threshold figure. You can change the figure if you wish every time you run the report and the program will flag a different set of Customer Names each time.

Related Topics

How to create if-then-else formulas, Page 346

Conditional attribute properties, Page 236

Conditional formatting, Page 235

How to format objects conditionally, Page 224