Rendering Links or Hyperlinks

Since MicroStrategy Web is a Web application, all functionality such as folder browsing, report execution, and report manipulation is performed by clicking links or hyperlinks. Each link on every MicroStrategy Web page is specified using the <a> (anchor) elements. Changing the default behavior of such a link can include setting a new value for its attribute (href, target, etc.) or modifying the event that is triggered when that link is clicked.

Consider the example of clicking the report name on any Folder Browsing page. When a report name is clicked, the report gets executed and the report data is displayed on the Report Execution page in a grid or graph format. Clicking the link (report name) sends a request to the Servlet or the ASP.NET file-Controller combination in a J2EE or a .NET environment respectively. This request is in the form of an URL that contains parameters that provide information about the intended behavior. These parameters include information such as event details, reportID, and authentication information. Refer to the MicroStrategy URL Parameters topic on the parameters that are exposed through the URL API.

It is important to note that the customization changes for the links are implemented by the Web application when the Folder Browsing page is rendered and not when the link is clicked. That is, when a Folder Browsing page is displayed, all the links are already defined. Clicking these links simple passes the parameters in a request to the Servlet or the ASP.NET file-Controller combination which interpret the request to get the desired result.

Consider the earlier example of clicking the report name on any Folder Browsing page. When the Folder Browsing page is displayed, all the report links have information about the event that needs to be processed along with other details. Thus to change the default behavior of the report link, all your customizations involving the link need to be implemented when the Folder Browsing page is displayed. This means, you need to extend the transform responsible for rendering the contents of a folder such that the correct links are generated on the Folder Browsing page with all the necessary information.

Changing the default behavior of the link can involve modifying the event information attached to it so it accomplishes your customization or it can involve modifying the <a> (anchor) tag. If you want to change the default behavior for report execution such that clicking a report link displays the report in a new browser window, you must modify the event associated with clicking the link. To redirect the user to a different URL when a report link is clicked, you must modify the href attribute for the <a> (anchor) tag.