Parameters

Most queries prompt for one or more values before running — a date, a date range, an academic year, a teacher, and so on.

Xperios can usually work out the right kind of prompt automatically from your SQL. A column ending in TeacherID, for example, becomes a searchable Teacher picker. You can also configure each parameter by hand.

Parameter types

Text / Number / Date / Boolean — plain inputs.

Date range — two date parameters can be linked together and offered as a single named preset picker, such as "This Term" or "Last Month".

Lookup — a searchable dropdown. It can be sourced from an existing table (Teacher, Pupil, Debtor, and so on), or from an arbitrary table and column pair that you specify — for example Academic Year, listing AcademicYearNo and AcademicYearDsc.

Enum — a fixed list of named choices, either taken from a shared list or typed in specifically for that query.

Cascading lookups

One lookup can be filtered by another parameter's current value. An "Academic Year" pick can narrow a "Week Start" dropdown down to just that year's weeks.

A lookup can also be sorted newest-first and set to pre-select the top option automatically, so a sensible default — such as the current academic year — is already chosen without the user having to pick it.

"(Any)" and "(No value)"

A lookup can offer an (Any) choice, which applies no filter at all, and — separately — a (No value) choice for genuinely blank or unset data. Keeping these as two distinct options means the two cases are not confused with each other.