Patent Document ID: 7861161
Application ID: 09883502

Base Claim:
1. A prompt object on a computer-readable medium used in creating a report to be executed in a reporting system, wherein the report may specify a prompt object as a property of the report, the prompt object comprising: a question to be asked of a user; a prompt type; and at least one validation property; wherein the prompt object is used in creating a report to be executed in a reporting system, wherein the report may specify a prompt object as a property of the report, and wherein the prompt object is an object separate from the report such that the prompt object may be used more than once in a single report or may be used in more than one report.

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Claim 5:
5. The prompt object of claim 1 further comprising a reuse value that indicates whether an answer provided from a previous instance of that prompt object, a default value or a new value is to be used for an answer to the question in the prompt object.