Mike Kienenberger wrote:
Don't take this the wrong way, but you're tell me how you want to
solve the problem instead of telling me what the problem is. Let's
ignore the dynamic part -- it adds a little more complexity, but I
don't think it really will impact how the problem will be solved.
It looks like you're doing a report with dynamic search criteria.
So it's something like this in general
Property Operator Value (x N)
Mike,
It's sometimes easy to get caught in the technical details when
explaining your problem, i'll try to do a better job in this email.
Also, some people are more interested in looking at code than taking a
holistic view on the problem.
The system i'm working on acts as an end-user front to a back-end
reporting server. Users select a report type they want to run through
the UI. Then a form including pre-defined report parameters is
presented. The user then fills in report parameter values, submits the
form which results in the front-end executing the report on the report
server and streaming the report to the user.
Administrators define report meta data in the front-end system based
on report server definitions. Report meta data can include 0 to n
report parameters which are available for the user to fill in.
Parameters can be required or optional. Parameters can have a limited
set of allowed values. In this case the system must be able to show
the set of possible values to the user in a select list. There can be
dependencies between parameter values.
An example could be a report containing country and city parameters.
When the user enters 'g*' in the country field he should be able to
make the system present him with a list of countries starting with the
letter g. Multiple values can be selected. After this selection the
user moves on the the city field which depends on country. If the user
enters 'a*' and asks the system to show a list of possible values, the
values entered in the country field should be used to scope the list
of possible cities (that start with the letter a).
Currently, i have 4 types of report parameters
- date: represented as tr:inputDate (uses text field + popup date picker)
- text with predefined value space: text field + popup select list
- simple text: text field
- select one: represented with h:selectOneMenu
Does this better explain the problem?
marko
