Object Parameters

Report parameters can be defined as object parameters as well as primitive types. They can be defined as being of any class for which there is a type definition in the reporting view.

Object parameters are intended for use primarily in profile selection but can be used in the report body and also in scripts. When they are used in the body of a report or in scripts, the value returned by the Object class jadeReportWriterDisplay method is displayed (so that the value of the parameter can be reported as a string).

Two methods are available to enable setting object parameters in the JADE Report Writer Designer application for previewing and running reports: jadeReportWriterParamObjects and jadeReportWriterDisplay. These methods are called by the JADE Report Writer Designer application when requesting parameter values. They must be reimplemented in the schema (or schemas) from which the JADE Report Writer is run, so that combo boxes on the Report Properties dialog Parameters sheet and the report extract and print dialog can be populated with object entries for parameters.

In addition, the Application class jadeReportWriterTimeDetails method records timings of each JADE Report Writer report (for example, if you want to log timing details for performance or billing purposes) and the Application class jadeReportWriterParamLiteral method returns the required literal (for example, "<All>").

For details about the jadeReportWriterParamLiteral method that enables you to print a different value when the ignore flag is set for a primitive type of object parameter, see "Using the Parameters Sheet", in Chapter 4, and for details about the Object class jadeReportWriterDisplay method and the Application class jadeReportWriterTimeDetails, jadeReportWriterParamObjects, and jadeReportWriterParamLiteral methods, see Chapter 1 of the JADE Encyclopaedia of Classes.