Program Prompts {BATCH-2}

Programs running in Batch Mode may require some interaction with the user. These are usually report programs, but may also be Bulk Processing programs.

ITS provides the facilities necessary to: prompt the user for the parameter values required by a program, to run the program and to give the user the facility to decide how and when the program must be executed. The user can also decide what stylesheet is to be applied to the output. This is controlled by instructions in the menus and a form (g05app). This is commonly referred to as Batch Processing by ITS and the prompts are referred to as Batch Prompts.

This option provides the facility to record the prompts needed by a program and what validation must be done to the answers supplied by the user.

The prompts (and therefore the parameter values) must be in the sequence expected by the program Batch Prompts, which are maintained by ITS for all the standard options.

Panel Box 1: Maintain Batch Prompts

This panel box is used to record batch program objects.

Field

Type & Length

Description

Program

A10

The Program name, without any extension or directory name

Ext

Program extension if any

Extension	Program Type
pc	C programs
sql	SQL scripts and reports
rdf	Oracle Reports
dis	Discovery reports

Queue

All programs must be linked to an existing queue. The queue code is entered here. Queue Codes are used in the scheduling of batch jobs: they also define output directories.

Insert Request Number

A 'Y' will insert the batch request number as the first answer in the batch, if required by the program.
When a C program contains g02ccc.inc and g09ccc.inc, it will require a 'Y' value.

Save Output

A15

If the output is to be saved under the production library (which is the case for some HEMIS reports, for example) the output file name may be supplied here.

Institution

Enter institution code if local software else 999

Example:

Panel Box 2: Prompt Information

This box identifies the prompts used in a batch program as well as the data types and values for the answers to the prompts

Field

Type
&
Length

Description

Prompt Number

Prompts will be displayed in the sequence of the prompt numbers. The convention is to assign the sequence number in steps of 10 to allow for the possibility of entering a new prompt between 2 existing prompts.
The List of Values on this field is not used as a lookup, but rather to give an overview of all the prompts entered for this program

Prompt Text

A512

The text that will display

Type of Prompt

Value	Description
D	Display - If Display is used the prompt will be displayed with no answer requested.
A	Answerable - A value is required.
H	Hidden -The prompt will not be displayed but will be used to make decisions based on the value of the prompt and is executed immediately.
R	Referenced - A Referenced prompt must be answered but is not sent to the report as output.
P	Protected - A Protected prompt is a prompt that must have an answer, but may not be displayed, e.g. Passwords.

Data Type

Value

Description

Alpha-numeric specifies that the answer to the prompt must be an alpha-numeric character.

Numeric specifies a numeric value.

Date specifies a date - the format will depend on the length.

Length	Date Format
4	YYYY - Year
11	DD-MON-YYYY - Date
16	DD-MON-YYYY HHMM- Date and Time (24 hour clock) HH in the range 1-23, MM in the range 0-59

Use the value of the Default Answer (see field below).

The value of the parameter specified in {USERS-1b3} in the Parameter 1 field will be used.

Length

The maximum length of the answer to the prompt to be entered here. This is a mandatory field and should correspond to the length of the column in the database (should table validation be done).

To Upper

The response is converted to uppercase. This is a non-mandatory field.

Report Variable

A30

This field is required for .rdf and XML reports. The value of the variable must correspond to the name of the variable as used in the program. This is a non-mandatory field.

Default Answer

A60

The values entered here will be taken as the default value for the answer to the prompt. The value entered here may be a valid SQL statement with parameter substitution.
A <LIST> function may be used to select an existing prompt name. This is a non-mandatory field

Default Override

A60

If the answer is equal to this field, no validity checking will be done. For example, suppose a report asks for a start and end department code, entering a "0" for start department will cause the validation to fail. Specifying a "0" here will ignore validation on this prompt. The word NULL may be entered here if pressing the <RETURN> key alone would be a sufficient answer (e.g. the prompt may be "Department Code or <RETURN> for All"). This is a non-mandatory field.

Type of Validation to be done

Value	Description
N	No validation.
T	The answer will be tested against: the LOV derived from Table Reference, Column and Description Column: or the Additional SQL: or a combination of both where the additional SQL is a WHERE clause.
R	Range check for numeric fields. Check Low Range and High Range below.
C	Character check - Character Range will contain the list of characters.

(N)one indicates no validation;
(T)able indicates a referential table validation;
(R)ange indicates a numeric range validation;
(C)haracter indicates that the answer will be validated against the list of characters, including (Y) or a (N), specified in the next field. This is a non-mandatory field.

Character Range

A26

The character range against which the validation will be done if a (C)haracter was specified in the Type of Validation. This is a non-mandatory field.

Low Range

N10.2

The lowest allowable value, if range validation is specified. This is a non-mandatory field.

High Range

N10.2

The highest allowable value for range validation. This is a non-mandatory field.

Table Reference

A20

If the answer to a prompt needs to be validated against the database, the table name of the table referenced must be entered here in the format: SCHEMA NAME.TABLE NAME. This is a non-mandatory field.

Column

A20

The column name in the reference table for validity checking or / and list of values (LOV). This field is required for table validation where now additional SQL is now defined.

Description Column

A60

This is the column name from the referential table that will be displayed when a valid value is entered. This is a non-mandatory field. It is used as a description column.

SQL Code

A code that identifies additional SQL held in a table. There is a LOV available that will list the Additional SQL. There is also a drill down facility to {BATCH-15} Maintain/Create Additional SQL. The Additional SQL may contain a WHERE clause, in which case it will be the WHERE clause of the SELECT built from the values in Table Reference, Column and Description Column. Should this clause begin with a "SELECT" it will replace the Table Reference parameters.

LOV SQL

LOV

SQL list of values

Example:

Panel Box 3: Skip to Prompt Information

The Skip To provides for certain logic when processing prompts. The value supplied by the user when prompted may lead to different prompts. This Block allows for checking of the answer entered and skipping to the required prompt number.

Entering data in this block is optional. More than one record may be entered for a Prompt Number to test different values.

Field	Type & Length	Description
Program Name	A10	A valid program name - this will default to the corresponding value on the previous block.
Ext	A3	Program extension - this will default to the corresponding value on the previous block.
Prompt Number	N4	The prompt number at which the skip will take place and where the test will be made. The test is made on the value / answer supplied for this prompt, unless Refer Prompt No was entered in which case the answer for that prompt number is used.
Prompt Answer	A60	The value of the answer to the Prompt Number or Refer Prompt No is checked against the value entered in this field. If the answer is equal to this value then the prompt referred to in Skip to Prompt Number will be processed. The word NULL may also be entered here if pressing the <RETURN> key alone would be a sufficient answer (e.g. the prompt may be "Department Code or <RETURN> for All"). The word END can be used. This will cause a skip to be executed, regardless of the value of the prompt.
Refer Prompt No	N4	If the value to be tested is not the value of the current prompt (Prompt Number) the check will fail and no skip on this record will occur. Any further records for this prompt will, however, be executed.
Skip to Prompt Number	N4	This is the number of the next prompt that will be processed, if the test is TRUE.

History of Changes

Date	System Version	By Whom	Job	Description
04-Dec-2006	v01.0.0.0	Amanda Nell	t134784	New manual format.
26-Sep-2007	v01.0.0.0	Jan de Nysschen	t134784	Edit manual
12-Nov-2007	v01.0.0.0	Vaughn Dumas	t134784	System Owner Proof Read
12-Sep-2008	v01.0.0.0	Charlene van der Schyff	t152060	Edit language obtained from proof read language Juliet Gillies.
16-Aug-2018	v04.1.0.0	Tshidiso Dennis Koetle	t230535	Update user manual