Adding Links to Indicators or Other Content :: SAS(R) BI Dashboard 4.4: User's Guide, Second Edition

Overview

You can add a link from an indicator to any of the following content:

another SAS BI Dashboard indicator
a SAS BI Dashboard dashboard
an external link to a Web address or a portal page
a SAS Information Map
a SAS Stored Process
a SAS Web Report Studio report

Note: When you define an indicator with both a link and an interaction, the link takes precedence over the interaction when the link opens in the same window as the interaction. For example, if you create a dashboard that opens a report and that interacts with another indicator, when the business user clicks the indicator, the report opens in the current window. If the link opens in a new window, then the business user sees the interaction in the current window and the link in a new window. For more information, see Adding Interactions between Indicators.

Indicator Types That Support Linking

You can define a link for an indicator that opens another source of information.

Note: The following indicator types do not support links:

chart with slider prompt
dynamic prompt
dynamic text

You can define a link to another indicator.

Note: You cannot link to the following indicator types:

interactive summary and bar chart
interactive summary and scatter plot
interactive summary and targeted bar chart

Tip

When you link to an indicator, the indicator does not use any font settings. Font settings are applied to indicators only when they are contained in a dashboard.

Link Types that Support Parameters

Some link destinations support the passing of parameters. You can use these parameters to customize how a link destination opens. If you open a dashboard, for example, you can specify the initial values of the prompts in the dashboard. The following link types support passing parameters:

a SAS BI Dashboard indicator
a SAS BI Dashboard dashboard

Note: Support was added as of the second maintenance release of SAS BI Dashboard 4.31.
a SAS Stored Process
a SAS Web Report Studio report

Note: You can pass parameters only if you are linking to a prompted Web report.
an external link to a Web address

If the selected link type supports parameters, you can select the column data that contains the parameter values that you want to use from the Parameter Data list when you set up the link.

Set Up a Link in an Indicator

To set up a link in an indicator, complete the following steps in the indicator tab:

Click at the top of the Properties pane. The Set Up Link window appears.
Note: The following indicator types do not support links:
- chart with slider prompt
- dynamic prompt
- dynamic text
From the Link type list, select the type of link that you want to set up.

Note: As of SAS BI Dashboard 4.4, the Portal page option from previous versions is no longer supported for links. To add a link to a portal page, select External link as the link type, and then provide the URL of the portal page in the Link field.
From the Link target list, select to open the link target in either the current window or a new window.

In the Link field, complete the applicable step:

For an external link	Type the Web address of the link in the Link field.
For all other selections	Click Browse next to the Link field, and then select an item. The available choices vary depending on the type of link.

(Optional) For an external link, indicator, dashboard, SAS Stored Process, and SAS Web Report Studio report, complete the following steps in the Optional Parameters to Use in the Link table. For more information, see Examples of Passing Parameters.
Note:
- (Indicators and dashboards only) Any available parameters are automatically provided in the Optional Parameters to Use in the Link table. If the target object does not accept parameters, the Optional Parameters to Use in the Link table is empty.
- (SAS Web Report Studio report only) You can pass parameters only if you are linking to a prompted Web report.
1. Click . The Parameter Name field and Parameter Data list appear in the table.
  
  Note: If you select SAS Web Report Studio report for the link type, the Displayed Text field appears in the first column of the table.
2. In the Parameter Name field, enter the name of the parameter that you want to pass in the link.
  
  Note:
  
  If you select SAS Stored Process, the Parameter Name points to the parameter in the stored process. You must type & before the parameter name (for example, &model).
  
  The name must match the expected name exactly, including case.
  
  If you select SAS Web Report Studio report for the link type, enter the text that you want displayed by the report in the Displayed Text field.
3. From the Parameter Data list, select the data that you want to pass in the link.
  
  Note: The parameter data is the corresponding data column in the indicator data (for example, Car).
4. You can add more parameters to the table. To change the order of the parameters, select a parameter, and then click the arrow buttons next to the parameter table.
  
  To delete a parameter, select a row and then click next to the row.
To save the link and exit the window, click OK.
Click to save the link definition in the indicator.

Tip

To test the link, you must open the indicator, or the dashboard that contains the indicator, in the SAS BI Dashboard viewer or SAS BI Dashboard portlet.

Examples of Passing Parameters

In this first example, an external link to the Google Web page is specified. The parameters in the link generate a search on Google. In this example, the following optional link parameters are specified:

In the Parameter Name column, select_date is selected.
In the Parameter Data column, date is selected.

The following link is generated:

http://www.google.com/search?hl-en&q={select_date}

The second example describes linking to a SAS Stored Process. In this example, a KPI indicator references SASHELP.CLASS and the indicator display setting called Range Value is set to AGE. The following optional link parameters are specified:

In the Parameter Name column, select_age is selected.
In the Parameter Data column, Age is selected.

The selected stored process called Stored Process with Parameter is defined as follows:

(stpWithParamater.sas)      
       goptions gsfname=_webout gsfmode=replace;
       goptions device=png;
       data temp; set sashelp.class; 
          if age="&select_age" then output; 
       run; 
     proc gchart data=temp; vbar age / discrete; run; quit;