Analysis:

During one of my Webi report development, I need a universe level Prompt which allow user to select the values from LOV or enter their own input into that prompt. In the Development phase as a developer I used to purge all of the data from reports before I release the reports to UAT (User Acceptance Testing). Purging the prompt values for every time was very hectic and started research on the Prompt options. Found that Extended @Prompt for Webi reports

Extended @Prompt Syntax

@Prompt(‘1) Enter Country Name’,’A’,’Country Dimension\Country Name’,multi,free,[Not_Persistent],[<{default_value(s)or leave_blank}>],[User:#])

Highlighted 3 additional/optional parameters are will cut off the purging the prompt values.

• Prompt Persistence: Default value is “Persistent”; however, the value “Not_Persistent” is the reason most Business Objects WebI report writers want to use this syntax.  Using “Not_Persistent” removes the last prompt used with the report; it purges the value.  This can be very important in many settings because it can be the difference between an end-user accidentally running the report for some unwanted parameter value.

• Default Value(s): If left blank no default value used.  If a value or values is desired then the set should be surrounded by { } characters and separated by commas (much like hard-coded LOV values earlier in the @Prompt parameters).  This feature might seem to counter the “Not_Persistent” setting; however, it may be possible that you always want your Web Intelligence report prompt to include the default “ALL” value even while you are testing or running it for other values.  Therefore, some might find that using this option with the “Not_Persistent” option provides value and extended functionality to their WebI reports.

• User:#: This particular value has been ignored by many, but it also provides some interesting value.  It allows the universe business objects developer to define the relative order of the prompt.  Yes, no more not-so-tricky “1.”, “1)”, or “1-” prefixes.  In fact, I believe this option provides better value because it defines order of universe-level prompts and it two prompts have the same “User:#” value then they are sorted alphabetically.

Some samples of extended @Prompt Syntax:

• @Prompt(‘1) Enter Country Name’,’A’,’Country Dimension\Country Name’,multi,free,Not_Persistent,{‘USA’,’UK’,’CANADA’,’INDIA’},User:0)

• @Prompt(‘1) Enter Country Name’,’A’,’Country Dimension\Country Name’,multi,free,Not_Persistent,{‘ALL’},User:9)

• @Prompt(‘1) Enter Country Name’,’A’,’Country Dimension\Country Name’,multi,free,Not_Persistent,,User:1)

Note: This Extended @Prompt Optional parameters wont work in Deski Reports.