A Hyperlink lets us access an external resource, which could mean opening a website or a report, downloading a file from the Internet, and so on. It also lets us navigate internally; that is, go to specific positions within a web page, report, and so on.
A Hyperlink has two well-differentiated parts:
In PRD, Hyperlinks work similarly. For example, we can select an object (link) and use it to create a Hyperlink whose target is another report. But it doesn't stop there. PRD lets us send values to that report's Parameters, that is, we can obtain detailed information from the link we click on, and by doing so, simulate the drill down typical of an OLAP analysis.
Up to here, this is all pretty common, but PRD goes a bit further. PRD lets us create Hyperlinks in parts of our graphics, that is, we can take a pie chart and configure a Hyperlink so that when we click on a portion of the pie, a report opens with more information about the selected item.
PRD includes the following options for creating Hyperlinks:
- Self: Lets us give values to the Parameters of the current report.
- URL: Lets us access an external resource, such as a website, image, or file.
- Pentaho Repository: Lets us link reports, xactions, and so on from the Pentaho repository. The Pentaho BA Server must be running, as it will render the reports, xactions, and so on.
- Manual Linking: Lets us configure a Hyperlink manually and navigate within the report using HTML anchors.
Note
For more information about HTML anchors, you can visit the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_anchor#Anchor.
The use of Pentaho Repository Hyperlinks is another clear demonstration of how the different tools in the Pentaho suite interact. While it does not have to be the Pentaho BA Server that centralizes and renders our reports, it is a very good option. In fact, in the following chapters we will see how to render a report without using the Pentaho BA Server.
Hyperlinks let us re-use reports, as one report can be linked to many times. For example, a report with sales details for a certain film could be linked to from many other reports that need to make a more detailed analysis about that film.
Also, this lets us create a network of interconnected reports, making possible a really spectacular and extraordinary interactive analysis. We can really navigate the information from one extreme to another and analyze specific or general data, with just a click of the mouse.