Overview

When you schedule a report, you must specify a value for each prompt in the report. In order to change the prompt values for a scheduled report, you must edit the job by using the Schedule Report wizard. This sample explains how you can use a prompt file to modify the prompts without using the wizard. A prompt file can be used in these two ways.

• If you are using Platform Suite for SAS, you can modify the scheduling command to point to the prompt file. (The In-process Scheduler for SAS Web Report Studio does not recognize a prompt file.)
• You can specify the prompt file on a command line when scheduling reports in batch.

Note: This sample also can be used for distributions.

Extract the prompt file

1. In SAS Web Report Studio, use the Schedule Report wizard to schedule a report.
2. Open SAS^® Management Console and navigate within the Schedule Manager plug-in to find the job you just created. Right-click on the job and select Properties. Click the Scheduling Details tab.
The Command box contains the command that is executed to run the job in batch.



3. Copy the command and paste it into a text editor. Here is an example of a copied string.

C:\SAS\EBIserver\Lev1\ReportBatch\rptbatch.bat --spring-xml-file file:C:\SAS\EBIserver\Lev1\Applications\SASBIReportServices4.3\spring.xml --repository Foundation --source "A5IFORTX.BQ00001A" --burst --channel-age 90 --metadata-key "BurstDefinition+omi://Foundation/reposname=Foundation/Transformation;id=A5IFORTX.B10000C4"

4. The string cannot be use "as is" to create the prompt file. Instead, you must modify it by adding commands such as --extract and --source. The following example shows a modified copy of the string shown in step 3.

C:\SAS\EBIserver\Lev1\ReportBatch\rptbatch.bat --extract --spring-xml-file file:C:\SAS\EBIserver\Lev1\Applications\SASBIReportServices4.3\spring.xml --repository Foundation --source "SBIP://METASERVER/Shared Data/Reports/prdsale_Olap_Date_prompt_Report.srx" --username sasdemo --password {sas002}6FE4B62647E0E59721B8CAD44A81057C --prompts-file c:\prompt\DatePromptfile2.xml

This string includes the following new commands:

• --extract extracts the prompt file.
• --source is the name of the scheduled report, and is case sensitive.
• --username and --password are the credentials under which to run the command.
• --prompts-file specifies the location and name of the extracted prompt file.
5. Submit the modified command at a command prompt.
6. Navigate to the location of the prompt file. In the example in step 4, the location is c:\prompt\DatePromptfile2.xml.

Troubleshooting Typically, if the prompt file is not created then there was a problem with your modified command line. In particular, do not insert more than one space between arguments.

7. After you have successfully extracted the prompt file, open it in a text editor and look for the prompt value or values to make sure that it has been captured successfully. The following example is an OLAP prompt used in the sample report.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <ReportParameters version="1.2" xmlns:style="http://www.sas.com/sasreportmodel/styles" xmlns:esri="http://www.sas.com/sasreportmodel/esri"> <ReportParameter visible="false" ID=".R_ELMT_1222201021383550266..DatePrompt"> <OLAPMemberName obj="p1" uniqueMemberName="[date dim].[All datedim].[03/01/1997]" version="1.0"> <Label><Text obj="p2" xml:lang="en-US">03/01/1997</Text></Label></OLAPMemberName> </ReportParameter> </ReportParameters>

Using the prompt file

You derive the final command string by taking the original command string from step 3 and appending the prompt file definition as shown below.

C:\SAS\EBIserver\Lev1\ReportBatch\rptbatch.bat --spring-xml-file file:C:\SAS\EBIserver\Lev1\Applications\SASBIReportServices4.3\spring.xml
--repository Foundation --source "A5IFORTX.BQ00001A" --burst --channel-age 90 
--metadata-key "BurstDefinition+omi://Foundation/reposname=Foundation/Transformation;id=A5IFORTX.B10000C4" 
--prompts-file c:\prompt\DatePromptfile2.xml

If you are using the Platform Suite for SAS, then you must select the Advanced button on the Scheduling Details tab in order to add the prompt file path.

CAUTION: If you subsequently edit the schedule using the wizard in SAS Web Report Studio, your modified command will be overwritten.

You also can submit the string on a command line.

(Advanced Task) Dynamically update the prompt file with today's date

You can dynamically update the prompt file. In this sample, the prompt has a date value in the form mm/dd/yyyy. You can dynamically update this date prompt to always use today's date. The following sample code below assumes that your prompt file is named mypromptfile.xml. The code does the following.

• captures today's date and puts it in a SAS macro
• reads in the prompt file and does a date pattern search-and-replace using the RXPARSE and RXCHANGE functions
• writes the output to a temporary table, and then writes the temporary table back over the original file

/* Note:  Before attempting to run this code.  Make a backup of your prompt file */

/* get the value of today's date and put it into a SAS Macro variable called today */

data _NULL_;
   today = put(today(),mmddyy10.);
   call symput("today",today);
   run;

%let promptfile =C:\prompt\mypromptfile.xml; /* prompt file */
  
%let dest=C:\prompt\mypromptfile2.xml;
filename Dest "&dest";


data _NULL_;
  infile "&promptfile" recfm=v firstobs=1 Truncover;
  input string $400.;
  file Dest ;
  
/* search for a pattern that matches the form mm/dd/yyyy 
  and then replace it with today's date */

rx=rxparse("$d$d '/' $d$d '/' $d$d$d$d TO '&today'");
CALL RXCHANGE(rx, 9999, string);
put string;
output;
  run;
filename Dest clear;

/* Write the destination file back to the original prompt file */
filename Dest "&promptfile";

data _NULL_;
  infile "&dest" recfm=v firstobs=1 Truncover;
  input text $400.;
  file Dest ;
  put text;
  output;
  run;

Additional Documentation

For more information about scheduling servers, see Configuring a Scheduling Server

For more information on the command-line arguments, see Processing Reports Outside of SAS Web Report Studio .

For more information about SAS Web Report Studio, see the SAS Web Report Studio documentation page.

For more information about SAS Management Console, see the SAS Management Console documentation page.

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These sample files and code examples are provided by SAS Institute Inc. "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Recipients acknowledge and agree that SAS Institute shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of their use of this material. In addition, SAS Institute will provide no support for the materials contained herein.

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These sample files and code examples are provided by SAS Institute Inc. "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Recipients acknowledge and agree that SAS Institute shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of their use of this material. In addition, SAS Institute will provide no support for the materials contained herein.

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