Adding links to a template

If you want, you can attach links from your Longview Analysis and Reporting templates to external systems. This link might be to any external system that can accept a URL. The system on the receiving end must be able to interpret the URL and resolve the request.

You can create two kinds of links:

Once a link is defined, you can assign it to one or more templates, and then publish the templates.

This section contains information on these main topics:

• "Creating a link"
• "Constructing a link URL"
• "Constructing a link to an App"
• "Constructing a link to a report"
• "Editing a link"
• "Attaching a link to a template"
• "Detaching a link from a template "
• "Deleting a link"

Creating a link

Depending on your role, you may be able to create links in the application.

To create a link in the application, follow these steps.

1. In the Longview Analysis and Reporting dialog, click the Links tab.
   
2. Choose File > New. The Create Link dialog appears.
   
3. Complete these fields:

   Field	Description
   Name	Type a name for the link.
   Description	Type a description in the language of your current application.
   Level	Select one of the following: Cell: Used to provide a link to an external URL with detailed information on a particular data cell. This type of link can be invoked from all cells except calculated cells or blank cells. Template: Used to provide information related to the template as a whole, such as instructions, and can be a pdf file. This type of link can be invoked from all cells, or from the toolbar or menu.
   URL	Type the absolute URL of this external link. For more information, see “Constructing a link URL” and “Editing a link”  .

4. Click OK. The Create Link dialog appears. Click OK. The new link appears in the Links tab.
   

Constructing a link URL

Depending on your needs, the URL of the link can be very simple, or very complex. It is your responsibility to ensure that the URL is valid.

Caution: The application is not responsible for link validation. If you specify an invalid URL to a link, users might see unexpected results, such as a blank Internet Explorer window.

Parameters

A parameter for the symbol name for each dimension, including schedules, exists.

For example:

%%ACCOUNTS%%

%%TIMEPER%%

For schedules, a parameter is required for the schedule name and schedule dimension name.

For example:

%%Sched_Name%%

%%Sched_Dim_Name%%

These parameters resolve to the symbol names for the data intersection of the cell the link was invoked from. These parameters are resolved when specified in the URL of a cell level link only. If they are specified in a template level link, they are not resolved. For more information, see “Creating a link”.

There are also parameters which resolve to a pipe-delimited list of root symbols included in the report. For the full report context, the parameters use the following naming convention: %%ROOTSDimensionName%%

These %%ROOTS%% parameters resolve to a pipe-delimited list of root symbols included in the report for the specified dimension.  Hidden and suppressed root symbols will be included in the list if the user has symbol access to these symbols.

For example, you can create a template link to a Longview App using the following syntax:

LongviewApp=Details.lvapp& ACCTROOTS=%%ROOTSACCOUNTS%%&RootTimePeriods=%%ROOTSTIMEPERIODS%%

In this example, if the report contains the Trial_Balance  account and the Actual and Budget time periods, the link will resolve to:

LongviewApp=Details.lvapp& ACCTROOTS=Trial_Balance&RootTimePeriods=Actual|Budget

Tokens

Use Web attribute tokens in the same way that they are used in Longview Dashboard Designer.

<%[[ATTRIBUTE,AttrClass,AttrName,ObjectName]]%>

where:

• AttrClass is SYSTEM, SYMBOL, USER, or GROUP.

  Note: The GROUP attribute class can be used only with DESCRIPTION specified for the AttrName parameter, which retrieves the current user group description.

• AttrName is the attribute name.

  ObjectName is the attribute object. System attributes and the GROUP attribute class do not require an object. ObjectName is mandatory for symbol attributes and specifies the symbol name. ObjectName is optional for user attributes and specifies the user ID. If no ObjectName is specified, the current user ID is used.

  Note: For cell level links, you can also specify parameters for the ObjectNameparameter; for example, %%ENTITIES%%.

  For example:

  <%[[ATTRIBUTE, SYMBOL, ZGPNativeCurrency, %%ENTITIES%%]]%>

Specifying the launch mode

When launching URLs from Report Viewer within the Longview Client, you have the option of defining whether the URL should open internally as a tab within the Longview Client or as an external window. Use the following URL parameter to define how the URL should be launched as follows:

LongviewLaunchMode=Internal|IE|DefaultBrowser

where:

• Internal specifies that the URL should open internally as a tab within the Longview Client. This is the default if the LongviewLaunchMode parameter is not specified.
• IE specifies that the URL should open externally using IE as the browser
• DefaultBrowser specifies that the URL should open externally using the default browser.

URL syntax

The link URL might look like this:

http://www.longview.com?TIMEPERIOD=<%[[ATTRIBUTE, SYSTEM, ASCurrentPeriod]]%>http://www.longview.com?CURRENCY=<%[[ATTRIBUTE, SYMBOL, ZGPNativeCurrency, %%ENTITIES%%]]%>&LongviewLaunchMode=Internal

Constructing a link to an App

You can also construct a link to an App. The link to an app can use the Parameters and Tokens mentioned above. The syntax for the link depends on how you launch the initiating Report.

Link to an App Syntax (for Reports and Apps launched standalone from the Dashboard)

For Reports launched from the Dashboard, the link must be constructed as a URL that refers to the smart client application, the web session parameters, the name of the App to launch and any pertinent parameters and tokens.

The link to an App might look like this:

Longview.ApplicationSmartClient.application?LongviewWebSID=<%[[WEBVARIABLE,LongviewWebSID]]%>&LongviewWebBridge=<%[[WEBBRIDGE]]%>&LongviewIdentifier=<%[[WEBVARIABLE,LongviewIdentifier]]%>&LongviewLangCode=<%[[WEBVARIABLE,LongviewLangCode]]%>&LongviewApp=Review%20Intercompany%20Transactions.lvapp&ACCOUNTS=%%ACCOUNTS%%&ENTITIES=%%ENTITIES%%&DETAILS=%%DETAILS%%&SEGMENTS=%%SEGMENTS%%

Link to an App Syntax (for Reports and Apps launched within the Longview Client)

For Reports launched within the Longview Client (Performance Manager or Longview Tax), the link is simplified and only requires the name of the App to launch and any pertinent parameters and tokens.

The link to an App might look like this:

LongviewApp=Review%20Intercompany%20Transactions.lvapp&ACCOUNTS=%%ACCOUNTS%%&ENTITIES=%%ENTITIES%%&DETAILS=%%DETAILS%%&SEGMENTS=%%SEGMENTS%%

Constructing a link to a report

You can also construct a link to a report. The link to a report can use the Parameters and Tokens mentioned above. The syntax for the link depends on how you launch the initiating Report.

Link to a Report Syntax (for reports launched standalone from the Dashboard)

For reports launched from the Dashboard, the link must be constructed as a URL that refers to the Longview Report Viewer client application, the web session parameters, the name of the Report to launch, and any pertinent parameters and tokens.

The link to a report might look like this:

Longview.ReportViewer.application?LongviewWebSID=<%[[WEBVARIABLE,LongviewWebSID]]%>&LongviewWebBridge=<%[[WEBBRIDGE]]%>&LongviewIdentifier=<%[[WEBVARIABLE,LongviewIdentifier]]%>&LongviewLangCode=<%[[WEBVARIABLE,LongviewLangCode]]%>&LongviewReportName=Review%20Intercompany%20Transactions&selectedSymbols=ACCOUNTS:%%ACCOUNTS%%,ENTITIES:%%ENTITIES%%

Link to a Report Syntax (for reports launched within the Longview Client)

For reports launched within the Longview Client (Performance Manager or Longview Tax), the link is simplified and only requires the name of the report to launch, and any pertinent parameters and tokens.

The link to a report might look like this:

LongviewReportName=Review%20Intercompany%20Transactions&selectedSymbols=ACCOUNTS:%%ACCOUNTS%%,ENTITIES:%%ENTITIES%%

Editing a link

Once you have created a link, you may be able to make changes to it.

To edit a link, follow these steps.

1. In the Longview Analysis and Reporting dialog, click the Links tab.
   
2. Choose File > Open. The Modify Link dialog appears. Attaching a link to a template
3. Once you have created links, you can attach them to a template in the application.

   Role	Can perform this task?
   Report Publisher	yes
   Report Author	no
   Report User	no

4. To attach a link to a template, follow these steps.
5. Open a template.
6. To attach a link to the template, choose Links > Attach Links. The Attach Links dialog appears.
   
7. In the Attach to template column, select the links you want to attach to this template.
   • Users of this template are able to access both cell and template level links by right clicking any cell other than a calculated cell or a blank cell.
     
   • Users of this template are also able to access all template level links from the Links menu in the application, or a Links icon in a report template.
8. Click OK.
9. When you are finished with this template, publish it so that the template and its links are available to users.
   
10. Edit as necessary. For more information, see “Creating a link”.

Attaching a link to a template

Once you have created links, you can attach them to a template in the application.

To attach a link to a template, follow these steps.

1. Open a template.
2. To attach a link to the template, choose Links > Attach Links. The Attach Links dialog appears.
   
3. In the Attach to template column, select the links you want to attach to this template.
   • Users of this template are able to access both cell and template level links by right clicking any cell other than a calculated cell or a blank cell.
     
   • Users of this template are also able to access all template level links from the Links menu in the application, or a Links icon in a report template.
4. Click OK.
5. When you are finished with this template, publish it so that the template and its links are available to users.

Detaching a link from a template

If you need to detach an attached link, you can do so.

To detach a link from a template, follow these steps.

1. Open a template.
2. Choose Links > Attach Links. The Attach Links dialog appears, with the currently attached links identified with a check mark.
   
3. In the Attach to template column, remove the check marks as required.
4. Click OK.
5. When you are finished with this template, republish it so that the template is available to users, without the detached link.

Deleting a link

If you do not need a link, you may be able to delete it.

Caution: If you follow this procedure, you cannot reverse your decision. Use with caution.

To delete a link, follow these steps.

1. In the Longview Analysis and Reporting dialog, click the Links tab.
   
2. Select the link and press the Delete key. A confirmation dialog appears.
3. Click Yes. The link is deleted. In existing templates with a deleted link attached, the link becomes obsolete and does not show up in the template.