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The article this week addresses a common task that community users are asking about over and over - how do you specify parameters to a report, and pass a list of valid values for the user to select the parameter from? While there are several ways to do this, we are going to step through one example using the Pentaho Design Studio. The Design Studio eliminates the frustration of writing XML, and should make the parameter passing a bit easier to understand and implement.

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1. Click on the "report" entry in the Process-Actions box. You should see the editor page populated with  the report definition.
2. Locate the report query, halfway down the page. Add the following where clause in the middle of the existing query:

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   WHERE  QUADRANT_ACTUALS.REGION='{REGION}'

   
3. Notice that the {REGION} string shows up as a Report Parameter, just above the query. This is called a replaceable parameter, and in one more step we will associate the value selected from the REGION_SELECTIONS with this replaceable parameter.
4. Right click in the Process Actions box. Click on the Add... menu option, then select the Secure Filter. This will add a secure filter component to your action sequence. The secure filter component allows you to filter data by a selected value, and protect your queries by not allowing the URL back to the server to execute with any other values than those provided as options via the component.
5. Drag the secure filter component above the report entry in the Process Actions box.
6. Select the Secure Filter in the Process Actions box, so that the editor page displays the options for the Secure Filter.
7. Drag the REGION Input parameter FROM the Process Inputs box TO the Selections box of the Secure Filter page.
8. Next, select REGION in the Selections box.
9. A Title and Filter boxes appear. In the Title textbox, add the prompt for the REGION parameter (ie., What region would you like to see data for?).
10. In the Filter box, select <REGION_SELECTIONS>. You should note that some new options are now available to you, named Filter Details.
11. In Filter Details, change the Selection Style to "pulldown".
12. Type "Value" in the text box labeled "Value Column", and type "Name" in the text box labeled "Name Column". Remember these are the names we gave our columns when we were describing our table of values in the REGION_SELECTIONS input parameter.
    
13. Save your action sequence now.
    

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1. First, make sure your PCI is up and running. If you don't know how to get it started, or are unsure as to whether it's already running, see the Pentaho Getting Started Guide for how to successfully start the server.
2. Next make sure that the solution folders you are using in the PCI contains your modified JFree_Quad.xaction!! 
3. Switch to the Test tab of the Action Sequence Editor. Verify that the "Server URL" at the top of the page is indeed the URL to your PCI by clicking the "Test Server" button. You will see see the home page of the PCI if all is operating properly.
4. You should see the URL for the action sequence we want to test in the textbox labeled "Generated URL". Just after that text box is a "Run" button.
5. Click the "Run" button to test your action sequence. You should see a prompt page asking for the region. When you select submit, you will recieve your report filtered down to the region you selected.
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Should you encounter any problems or if you just want to peruse the solution, you can find the xml for this exercise here.