Creating Page Drill-Down Links in BI Portal

In this section:

Using page drill-down links, you can dynamically navigate to pages and reports within your portal. This feature is especially useful in portals with multiple pages, because it allows you to link to a specific item or point in your content. You can also pass a parameter from a link to its output, such as a chart or report.

To build page drill-down links, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Create Drill-Down Links. Create hyperlinks within a report, which you will later configure to point to a page and parameterized content.
  2. Create Parameterized Content. Create charts and reports to which the drill-down links will point.
  3. Set Up a Portal for Drill-Down Links. Create the landing page for the drill-down links.
  4. Configure Drill-Down Links. Specify the output location for the drill-down links.
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Step One: Creating Drill-Down Links

How to:

In this step, you will create a simple report with hyperlinks, which you will later configure to point at a specific output in a portal.
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Procedure: How to Create Drill-Down Links in a Report
  1. Sign-in to WebFOCUS as a designer or administrator.
  2. Right-click a folder, point to New, and then click Report.

    WebFOCUS InfoAssist opens.

  3. Select a data source file and click OK.
  4. Drag fields from the Data pane onto the canvas or into the Query pane to create a report.

    For more information on how to create a basic report, see the Getting Started With InfoAssist chapter, in the InfoAssist User’s Manual.

  5. Click the field that you want to use for the drill-down function to highlight it.
  6. In the Field tab, in the Links group, click Hyperlink.

    The Drill Down dialog box opens.

  7. Select the Refresh BI Portal radio button.
  8. From the Refresh list, click All Pages.
  9. Click the Add Parameter button.
  10. Type a name for the parameter.

    Note: Remember the name of the parameter. You will use it in the subsequent steps.

  11. In the Type list, click Field.
  12. In the Value list, click the field that you have highlighted, and then click OK.

    The following image shows the example of the Drill Down dialog box, where Country is the name of the parameter.

  13. Click OK.

    The drill-down links are added to the entries of the highlighted field.

    Note: The drill-down links remain inactive and evoke no error messages until the target value is configured.

  14. Save the report.
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Step Two: Creating Parameterized Content

How to:

In this step, you build parameterized reports and charts that will serve as outputs for your drill-down links.
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Procedure: How to Create Parameterized Content for Drill-Down Links
  1. From InfoAssist, click the application button, then click New.

    Click Build a Report.

  2. Select the same data source file that you used for the drill-down report, and then click OK.
  3. Drag fields from the Data pane onto the canvas or into the Query pane to create a report.
  4. In the Data tab, in the Filter group, click Filter.

    The Create a filtering condition dialog box opens.

  5. Double-click the Double-click or press F2 to edit! text.
  6. Set the following values:
    1. In the Field drop-down list, click the same field for which you have created drill-down links in the previous report.
    2. Keep the Equal To default value.
    3. In the Value dialog box, set Type to Parameter, keep the Simple radio button selected, and type the name of the parameter that matches the parameter in the drill-down report, and then click OK.

    The following image shows an example of the filtering condition, where Country is the name of the parameter.

  7. Click OK.
  8. Save the second report and close WebFOCUS InfoAssist.
  9. In the Resource tree, right-click the new report, point to Edit With, and then click Text Editor.
  10. Incorporate the following line of code into your report: 
    -DEFAULTH &Parameter = _FOC_NULL;

    where:

    Parameter

    is the name of the Parameter that you have previously created.

    The following image shows an example of the report syntax, where the _FOC_NULL statement is added with Country as a name of the parameter.

  11. Click Run.

    Note: Instead of an auto-prompt form, standard for parameterized content, the report displays all fields by default.

  12. Click Save and close the Text Editor.
  13. Repeat steps 1-12 to create more content.
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Step Three: Setting Up a Portal for Drill-Down Links

How to:

In this step, you will create a landing page for the drill-down links and incorporate the drill-down report that you created in Step One: Creating Drill-Down Links, to a Portal.
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Procedure: How to Set Up a Portal for Drill-Down Links
  1. In the Resource tree, right-click the Portals node, the click New Portal.
  2. Populate the fields of the New Portal dialog box.

    For more information on creating a new portal, see Launching the Portal Designer.

  3. Click OK.

    The Portal Designer opens.

  4. Click the New Page button .

    The new page opens.

    Note: In the Properties panel, note the value of the Page Name field. You will use this value in the subsequent steps.

  5. Right-click the page canvas, and then click Page Layout.

    The Choose a Layout dialog box opens.

  6. Select the layout type for your page.

    In this example, we select Two Column layout.

  7. Click the first column.
  8. In the Insert tab, in the Containers group, click Panel.

    A Panel container is inserted inside the first column.

  9. Click the content area of the container.
  10. In the Properties panel, type the new value in the Content Area field, as shown in the following image.

    Note: This value will be used in the subsequent steps.

  11. Repeat steps 7-10 for other columns.
  12. In the Insert tab, in the Content group, click WebFOCUS Resources.

    The Resource tree opens.

  13. Drag the drill-down report to the Page1 canvas.
  14. Drag the remaining content to the panels on Page 2.
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Step Four: Configuring Drill-Down Links

How to:

In this step, you edit the drill-down report to specify the output location for the drill-down links.
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Procedure: How to Configure Drill-Down Links
  1. In the Resource tree, right-click the initial report, point to Edit With, and then click Text Editor.

    The report opens in the Text Editor window.

  2. Scroll down to the syntax line, containing the text JAVASCRIPT=deillRefresh.

    The following image shows an example of the drill-down report syntax. You will need to edit the highlighted line.

  3. Edit the code as follows:
    1. Change drillRefresh to navigateToPage.
    2. Change AMPER_PORTAL to the name of the landing page for your drill-down links.
    3. After the page name, insert the names of the panels, separated by spaces. Ensure that you enclose these names in single quotation marks.

    The following image shows an example of modified drill-down syntax.

  4. Click Save and close the Text Editor.
  5. Optionally, customize your portal to achieve the desired style and layout.
  6. Click the Save button and close the Portal Designer.
  7. In the Resource tree, right-click your new portal, and then click Run.
  8. At run time, click any link on the first page of the portal.

    The second page displays, and the panel refreshes to show the correct data.

    Note: If you drill down to a page that has changed, you will not receive an error message, and must ensure that your syntax values are set correctly.

    The following images show the drill-down function at run time.

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