AX1022
Within an Axiom form, you can create hyperlinks to other files in the Axiom file system. For example, you may want users to be able to click hyperlinks to open the following kinds of documents:
- Other Axiom forms
- Plan file attachments
- Other non-form Axiom files such as regular reports
NOTE: If you link to a non-form Axiom file, that file must be opened within either the Axiom Excel Client or the Windows Client. Therefore, these types of links are only valid if you expect users to be viewing the Axiom form within the Desktop Client, or within a browser on a machine where the desktop client is installed.
There are several ways that these hyperlinks can be created in an Axiom form:
- Using content tags within a Formatted Grid component
- Using document shortcuts with various form components
- Defining a URL for any component that supports URLs
- Using the Navigate to Report command
This topic provides a summary of each option and why you might want to use one over the other.
Using content tags in Formatted Grids
You can use the special content tags for Formatted Grid components to create a hyperlink to other Axiom forms, plan file attachments, and other non-form Axiom files.
This format is best used for situations where you want to dynamically generate the list of hyperlinks using an Axiom query. For example, you can query the Axiom.PlanFileAttachments table and automatically generate a hyperlink for each attachment returned by the query.
You can also manually create a static list of hyperlinks within a formatted grid. The only advantage of this approach over the other approaches in this case is that you have more options to control the presentation of the hyperlinks (such as controlling the colors, or using a symbol for the hyperlink instead of display text). However, this approach does require a bit more setup than the other options.
For more information, see Using hyperlinks in Formatted Grids.
Using document shortcuts
You can use document shortcuts within various form components to open a designated file. This is most often used to open a file in the Reports Library (either a regular report or a form-enabled report).
The following components support document shortcuts:
- Button
- Hyperlink
- Sparkline
For Button components, use the Command setting to browse to a file. For the other two components, use the URL setting to browse to a file. If the file is forms-enabled, then you must select the View As Form shortcut parameter to open it as an Axiom form. Otherwise the file will open as an Axiom file, requiring use of the Excel Client or the Windows Client.
This approach is appropriate when you have a specific file that you want users to be able to open, and that file is the same for all users of the form.
Specifying a URL for a component
You can specify a URL for a variety of components in addition to the Hyperlink component, including Image components, and various shape components. This is most often used to link to a web page, but it can also be used to link to Axiom files, if you generate a URL using an Axiom function (such as GetDocumentHyperlink or GetFormDocumentURL). The advantage of this approach is that you can use it on many different components.
Using the Navigate to Report command
You can use the Navigate to Report command to open an Axiom form or a web report. The command can be used with Button components and any other component that supports use of commands.
The primary advantage of this command is that it supports use of bracketed cell references to dynamically determine the target document, and/or to dynamically apply different filters or variable values (to Axiom form targets only). This means that the command can be used with Data Grid components, Fixed Report components, and KPI Panel components to dynamically change the document reference per row or per KPI.
For more information on the command properties, see Navigate to Report command.
