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ShaneGibson_OptimalBI
Fluorite | Level 6

Just confirming I haven't missed anything in VA 6.2

We have a table of records and one of the columns holds a url string (i,e http://sas.com).

We want the user to be able to click on this url in a VA report and be taken to the website.

Anybody found a way to do this?

5 REPLIES 5
RickStyll_SAS
SAS Employee

Hi Shane,

The external link capability introduced in Visual Analytics 6.2 focused on a specific use case, and this feature has been enhanced in the soon-to-released VA 6.3 version. URL linking in VA 6.3 still expects the initial portion of the URL to be static; however, you might be able to achieve your desired behavior with the enhanced external link capability.

The new behavior in VA 6.3 –

When the application referenced in the URL does not require a target variable (an HTTP query string) to be included on the URL, you can simply append the data driven portion of the URL to the initial static portion defined by the report author.  The initial static portion of the URL, defined and saved in the report, is the same for each row of the resulting table or graph data.  However, you can have most of the URL come from a column in your source table, and have a small static portion defined for the external link saved within the report.  As an author you could simply type in “https://” for the static URL in the external link dialog, and use a single parameter without the optional target to reference a data item that has the majority of the URL (and that will be appended to the initial static portion of the URL).  For example you could have a row in a list able take the user to http://www.twitter.com/Toyota when they click anywhere in the row of a list table. The caveat is that the data item representing the dynamic portion of the URL must be displayed in your report table or graph in 6.3, just as it does in 6.2.  This may be acceptable on list tables and less desirable on graphs.

The  behavior in VA 6.2 –

In VA 6.2, the external link capability was introduced to enable a report author to define a nearly complete static URL associated with a report object, and then append one or more target variables with data-driven sources (an HTTP query string) to the end of the static URL.  For example, the report author could type in “http://www.google.com/search” and optionally provide one or more target variables, such as the letter q,  and a data driven parameter as the source for each target.  Unlike VA 6.3, when using a data driven parameter in the URL for VA 6.2, the target is not optional.  When these results are viewed in the report, the software automatically inserts a question mark, the target, and a data driven value for each parameter defined by the author to the end of the URL for each row in the results.  In the example just described, clicking anywhere on a specific row in a list table, for instance, might result in https://www.google.com/search?q=Toyota being opened in a separate browser window. For more details and screen images, you can find more information here in the SAS Visual Analytics 6.2: User's GuideScroll down to the bottom or search the page for “Create a Link to an External URL.”


Shane, thanks for posting your question.  A dynamic link from a report based on a URL stored in a table could provide additional flexibility and value to SAS Visual Analytics, and we will consider adding this capability in a future release.

Regards,

Rick Styll

PeterWijers
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Hi Rick.

I would also like to expres the need of the requested functionality.

(The possibility to use a stored table field as a url)

thanks in advance.

greetings

RickStyll_SAS
SAS Employee

Peter, thanks.  Understanding that there are multiple requests for a particular enhancement helps Product Management prioritize future releases.

Rick

cmwillis02
Fluorite | Level 6

Rick,

This functionality is incredibly important.  When implementing a new reporting platform, the link between where people get the data and where and how they do their work is important.  If developers do not have ways to create interaction between their reporting and the platforms on which people work, you will always deal with adoption issues, ease of use is important to the end user.

<Example>  On our operations software, all of our URLs regardless of department use the <patientID> in them.  If you are looking at a graph and drill to a patient detail level it would be great to pass that ID into an existing URL (pharman.rxhealthcare.org/<patientID>/).

One other functionality that would be nice would be control over the data displayed in a hover. <Example:> If I have a graph of Revenue by day, I'd like users to be able to at a glance to see Margin and fills for that day when they hover.  I could accomplish that with a hierarchy and drill down, but its inefficient to go into and out of multiple drill downs.

Hope this helps

Craig

PeterWijers
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Craig, good suggestion.

With this functionality, I can call on BI stored procedures using a parameter from a VA report source.

Would be briliant.

greetings

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