It is important to distinguish between a dashboard and a report. A dashboard should be a one-page visualization of the most important data a user needs to see. A report contains details that are usually of the lowest granularity, and thus should remain at the SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence (Webi) report level. It is a common dashboard requirement to drill down from a chart or scorecard to view individual details. Instead of showing the detailed items on the dashboard, we can pop up a Webi report using parameters passed from the dashboard. In this example, we will pop up a Webi report using one input parameter from the dashboard.
A Webi report with a prompt must be set up first. In our example, the Webi report will ask for a Region parameter.
- Drag a Combo Box selector onto the canvas and bind the label values to the list of Regions on the Excel spreadsheet as shown in the following screenshot. Set Label as the Insertion Type and bind the Destination to the cell highlighted in yellow, which will be the input parameter passed to the OpenDoc call.
- Log in to BI Launchpad (formerly Infoview) and go to the location where the Web Intelligence report is placed. Right-click and select Document Link.
- Copy the static portion of the Opendoc URL as well as the reference CUID. Every object in the SAP BusinessObjects repository has a unique CUID reference identifier.
- An OpenDocument URL is constructed in cell B14 as shown in the following screenshot. Paste the CUID from step 3 onto cell B23. Cell C23 equals the Selected Region destination cell, C2 (Sheet 1), from step 1.
- Drag a URL Button component onto the canvas from the Web Connectivity section of the Components window. In the URL Button properties, change the Label text to Open WEBI report, and bind the URL to the OpenDoc URL cell B14 from step 2.
In this example, we use what is called an OpenDocument call to open up a Webi report with our desired input parameter from the dashboard.
The OpenDocument URL is quite powerful and has many options, so it is best to read the OpenDocument manual in order to fully understand what is available. You can find the URLs to retrieve the OpenDocument manual in the following See also section.
The URL Button component is used to open up an external link from the dashboard. An example of a fully constructed URL is as follows:
http://server:8080/businessobjects/BOE/OpenDocument/opendoc/openDocument.jsp?sIDType=CUID&iDocID=ARCpEmaZO9tBqYhkX7sh6Nw&lsSRegion=EAST
The syntax for OpenDocument in SAP BusinessObjects 4.1 is different from previous versions; however, the concept is the same. In this recipe, the OpenDocument URL was generated for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1+.
You can find the OpenDocument guide for SAP BusinessObjects BI4.1 at http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/sbo41/en/sbo41_opendocument_en.pdf.
You can find the OpenDocument guide for SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 at http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31/en/xi3-1_url_reporting_opendocument_en.pdf.