Creating links in a document

Linking documents is a tool to provide investigative workflows. You can use links to let users navigate from data at one level to different levels of aggregation. For example, a document contains data about salaries and bonuses at the departmental level. One link on department can display a document with information about individual employees, while a second link displays information for the various business units. Another link executes a breakdown by the projects that the department is currently working on. Or you can use an object (such as an attribute element) on a document to trigger the execution of another document or a report that is substantially different from the original document. For example, a user viewing an Employee detail document can click a link to execute a Regional Sales Breakdown document, or click a link on a Profit and Loss report to view a Departmental Summary document.

A link is a connection in a document to another document, a report, or a web page. A link lets an analyst execute another document or report (the target) from a document (the source). The link can pass parameters to answer any prompts that are in the target. The link can also pass selector values from the source to the target.

Compare a link to a hyperlink, which is a connection in a document to a web page. A hyperlink is functional in PDF View in MicroStrategy Developer and in Express Mode in MicroStrategy Web. (A hyperlink is also functional in Interactive Mode and Editable Mode in Web.) For details on hyperlinks, see Defining hyperlinks in documents.

Different objects on a document can have different links. For example, the Region attribute in a regional revenue document can link to a yearly revenue document, while the Revenue metric can link to a document with revenue forecasts and other key performance indicators.

A link can also connect a text field or an image to a web page. When the document is viewed as a PDF or in MicroStrategy Web, a user can click the link to navigate to the link's target, which can open in a new window or open in the same window as the document.

Links can be created and used in the following ways:

• Link from a text field or image to a web page, report, or another document

• Link from an attribute, metric, hierarchy, or object prompt on a Grid/Graph to a report or another document

• Link from a Grid/Graph to its underlying dataset

• Link from a button to a web page, report, or another document

• For widgets, link from an attribute on the widget to a report or another document

• A link can automatically answer prompts in the target in a variety of ways, including using existing prompt answers from the source dataset, using the objects selected in the source dataset, running the prompts, sending a list of elements, and others

• A link can automatically pass the source's selector choices to the selectors in the target

The following table describes options that allow a user to interact with a document using links. The table helps you to decide what link to create to achieve your goals.

Goal	What To Create
Link to a web page for a document viewed in Express Mode (as well as Interactive Mode and Editable Mode)	A text field or image that is defined as a hyperlink. A user can click a hyperlink on an image or a text field to open a web page. Hyperlinks work in Express Mode, Interactive Mode, and Editable Mode in MicroStrategy Web. See Defining hyperlinks in documents.
Link to a web page for a document viewed in any mode except PDF View	A link in a text field, a button, or an image. A user can click a link on an image, a button, or a text field to open a web page. Links work in all modes except PDF View in MicroStrategy Developer; for viewing in PDF View, use a hyperlink instead. See Linking to a web page.
Link to a report or a document with no prompts	A link in an image, a text field, a button, or an object in a Grid/Graph. See Specifying how prompts are answered in the target.
Link to a report or document that requires prompts to be answered	A link in a text field, an image, a button, or an object on a Grid/Graph. The link contains prompt information. The target document/report contains a prompt and the link contains information to answer that prompt. Information to answer the prompt can therefore be passed from the source document to the target. See Specifying how prompts are answered in the target.
Link to a document that contains selectors	A link in a text field, an image, a button, or an object on a Grid/Graph. The link contains selector values. Both the target and source documents contain the same selector, and the link contains the values chosen in the source's selector. The source's selector values are applied to the target's selectors. See Passing selector values from the source to the target.
Link a Grid/Graph (not an object on a Grid/Graph) to its underlying dataset	A link in the Grid/Graph to its dataset. In Interactive and Editable Mode, this link is provided automatically. You can use a text field to link a Grid/Graph to its related dataset for Express and Flash Mode. The text field contains the link that executes the dataset. See Linking a Grid/Graph to its underlying report.
Drill down, up, or across attributes, custom groups, or consolidations in a Grid/Graph	Enable drilling in the Grid/Graph. (A link does not have to be created.) You can drill on a Grid/Graph in Interactive Mode and Editable Mode in MicroStrategy Web. You can drill down, up, or across attributes, custom groups, and consolidations displayed in a Grid/Graph, if drilling is enabled. See Drilling in Grid/Graphs.
Interact with panel stacks	Selector. A selector allows the user to: Change panels in a panel stack Display different elements of attributes, custom groups, or consolidations in a panel stack using dynamic text fields Selectors are functional in Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, and Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. See the Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide for steps to create panel stacks and selectors.
Display different objects on a Grid/Graph	Selector. A selector allows a user to display different metrics or different elements of attributes, custom groups, or consolidations in a Grid/Graph. Selectors are functional in Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, and Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. See the Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide for steps to create selectors.
Email, export, or subscribe to a document or report	A link with a URL made up of the object ID and specific link syntax. You type the link URL. The user can click the link to email, export, or subscribe to the target. You need to know the link syntax and find the object ID. See Defining hyperlinks in documents.

For steps to add a link to a document, see Adding a link to a document.

For information on how these options work together, see How links, drilling, and selectors work together.

For documents displayed on mobile devices, you can create links to reports and other documents. You can also create links that interact with applications installed with the mobile device, such as email or text messaging. For examples and steps, see the Mobile Design and Administration Guide.

For steps to add a link to a widget, see the Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide.