Report links in Configuration Manager 2007 are used in a source report to provide users with ready access to additional data, such as more detailed information about each of the items in the source report. For example, you might link a report that lists all site codes to another report that lists all recent error messages for a given site code. The source report passes a specific site code to the target report based on which line item in the source report the user chooses to obtain more information for. A report can be configured with only one link, and that link can connect only to a single target resource.
Link Types
Source reports can use any one of the link types described in this section.
Link to Another Report
The Link to another report link type provides a link to a predefined or custom report. Links to supplemental reports are described later in this list. If the target report requires one or more prompts to run, the source report must contain a column with the appropriate values for each prompt. The column number that will provide the value for the prompt must be specified. For example, you might link a report that lists computers that were discovered recently to a report that lists the last messages that were received for a specific computer. When the link is created, you might specify that column 2 in the source report contains computer names, which is a required prompt for the target report. When the source report is run, link icons appear to the left of each row of data. When you click the icon on a row, Report Viewer passes the value in the specified column for that row as the prompt value that is needed to display the target report. For more information about report prompts, see About Report Prompts.
Link to Computer Details
The Link to Computer Details link type provides a link to the Computer Details page, which is a specialized page of Report Viewer. When a source report links to the Computer Details page, that report must contain a computer name value in one of its columns. The column is specified when the link to Computer Details is configured. When the source report runs, link icons appear to the left of each row of data. When you click the icon on a row, the Computer Details page opens and displays computer information about the specific computer. For more information about the Computer Details page of Report Viewer, see About the Computer Details Page.
Link to Status Message Details
The Link to Status Message Details link type provides a link to the Status Message Details page, which is a specialized page of Report Viewer. This page can be accessed only from a report that contains status messages. You can use the Status Message Details page to display information about a specific status message, based on the RecordID property for the message. The source report must contain a column with RecordID values. When you create the link, the column that contains the appropriate RecordID must be specified. When the source report runs, link icons appear to the left of each row of data. When you click an icon on a row, the Status Message Details page opens and displays information about the specific status message. For more information about the Status Message Details page of Report Viewer, see About the Status Message Details Page.
Link to URL
The Link to URL link type provides a link to a supplemental report or to any file that is supported by HTTP. To create the link, you specify the URL of the target, which can be either an absolute or a relative URL. You can also configure a URL link to pass column information from the source report as a parameter to the target report. To do this, you specify column values in the URL, as in the following example:
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CustomReport.asp?MachineName=<3>&Network=<5> |
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In the URL example, <3> is replaced with the value from column 3 and <5> is replaced with the value from column 5 in the source report. You must configure the target page to accept the data that Report Viewer passes to it. Report Viewer performs no syntax checking. The URL that is specified in the report properties can be a maximum of 1,024 characters. When a report user clicks the link and the source report data is inserted into the URL, the target URL can be up to 2,048 characters.
Changing Linked Reports
When report links are configured, dependencies are created between the source report and its target. This is especially true when a link is created that specifies the source report column that contains the data needed by the target (for example, a source report that links to a target report that contains one or more prompts, links to the Computer Details page, or links to the Status Message Details page).
When these types of links are in a source report and columns are deleted or the order of the columns is modified in the source report, the link properties might need to be modified for the link to continue to function. For example, suppose that a source report has the Link to Status Message Details link and uses column 2 for the RecordID. If the SQL statement is modified in the source report so that the RecordID is now in column 3, the wrong information is used for the variable and the link no longer works. To prevent this, any time the order of columns is modified in a source report, the link properties should also be modified to reflect the changes.
Links can also break by adding, deleting, or changing a prompt in a target report. To prevent this, when prompts are modified in a target report, the link properties should also be modified in any reports that have links to the target report to reflect the changes.
Hyperlinks Based on Report Value Data
In addition to report links, which you can configure when creating a report, hyperlinks can also appear in a report when it is run. These hyperlinks appear only when report values with a specific format are displayed in the report. When retrieved data starts with http://, ftp://, file://, or \\, Report Viewer converts the entire text string into a hyperlink. This provides another way to redirect users to additional information.