A prompt command generates customized dialog boxes that prompt users for answers. By completing these dialog boxes, a user can select such things as the files to upload, the data to export, or the target applications for selected data. When multiple prompt commands are entered in the same script, the system combines all of the prompts into one dialog box. This rule applies to all prompt commands asking for the selection of a file, a delimiter, or text, but not to the COPYMOVE and SELECT prompts. The COPYMOVE and SELECT prompts are presented individually, with as many dialog boxes as prompts are found in the script. All file selection prompts return the name of the selected file with the complete path. If the user leaves a selection field blank in a SELECT or COPYMOVE dialog box, the system assumes all members for that dimension; the system does not insert a range for the dimension in the returned statement.

Prompt commands are dependent on the variables defined in the process chains delivered with Planning and Consolidation. For information about the parameters you can change, see Process Chains Delivered with ApShell.

Prompt commands are stored by package. Therefore, you can create multiple packages based on the same process chain template and provide different prompts to users for each package.