Set date Parameters to Default to Current Quarter

Question

I have 2 date parameters in my report. I would like these parameters to be defaulted to the 1st day of the current quarter and the last day of the current quarter. I need these to be dafaulted because the report is going to be scheduled through BusinessObjects InfoView. I need the flexabilty to allow users to run the report on any date they want, but it needs to default so the scheduling works as expected. Can this be done and if so any assistance would be grateful. Thank you.

Answer 1

Thomas,
although you can't set a prompt / parameter to default like this, you can set a record selection to do this...here's how...
1) in your StartDate and your EndDate parameters set a default value of 1888,08,08
2) create a new formula called Start with syntax like
if {?startdate} = date(1888,08,08)
then
if month(currentdate) in [1,2,3] then date(year(currentdate),01,01) else
if month(currentdate) in [4,5,6] then date(year(currentdate),04,01) else
if month(currentdate) in [7,8,9] then date(year(currentdate),07,01) else
if month(currentdate) in [10,11,12] then date(year(currentdate),10,01)
else {?startdate};
3) create a new formula called End with syntax like
if {?enddate} = date(1888,08,08)
then
if month(currentdate) in [1,2,3] then date(year(currentdate),03,31) else
if month(currentdate) in [4,5,6] then date(year(currentdate),06,30) else
if month(currentdate) in [7,8,9] then date(year(currentdate),09,30) else
if month(currentdate) in [10,11,12] then date(year(currentdate),12,31)
else {?enddate};
4) change your record selection formula to something like
{table.datefield} in {@start} to {@end}
now if the end user doesn't actually put in custom dates, the record filter will default to the current quarter. if they use custom dates, the those dates will be used.
of course you will have to edit the above syntax to your parameter names and datefield name. this method will also pass the filter to the database to increase performance.
cheers,
jamie