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Dashboards > Adding and Displaying Content on Interactive Dashboard Pages > Adding Text Links and Image Links to Interactive Dashboard Pages

Adding Text Links and Image Links to Interactive Dashboard Pages

You can add text links and image links to a dashboard, and specify what is to happen when a user clicks the links. For example, you can direct users to another Web site or dashboard, open documents, launch applications, or perform any other action that your browser supports. You can also add an image or text only, without any links.

Before you begin. To create and edit interactive dashboards, your role must include the Manage Dashboards privilege.

To add a text link or image to an interactive dashboard page

1. Navigate to the dashboard editor.

   For information on navigating to the dashboard editor, see Navigating to the Dashboard Editor.

2. From the selection pane on the Dashboard Editor page, drag and drop a Link or Image object on to a section in the dashboard page.
3. Click the Properties button for the object.

   The Link or Image Properties dialog box appears.

4. Specify your choices:
   • For a text link, enter the text into the Caption field.
   • For an image link, enter the location and name of the image into the Image field.

     Specify the location as a URL. The following are examples:

     http://imageserver/MyImage.gif

     /DashboardFiles/image.gif

     If the image is not on the local server, the URL must include http://. If the image is for use in a shared environment, it must be located on a network drive that is accessible to all users.

     If you want a caption for the image, enter a caption for the image in the Caption field, and use the Layout drop-down list to choose where the caption is to appear relative to the image.

5. Specify what is to happen when the user clicks the text or image:
   • To specify that a request or dashboard is to appear when the user clicks the link or image, specify the destination as Request or Dashboard, and click the Browse button to select the request or dashboard.
   • To specify that another action is to occur, such as opening a Web site, document, or program, specify the destination as a URL, and enter the full path into the field that follows the Destination options. In the Target area, choose whether the destination is to appear in the user's existing browser window or in a new window.

     A link is defined as any URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that your browser can interpret. URLs can point to Web sites, documents, images, FTP sites, newsgroups, and so on. Depending on your browser, the following are examples of valid URLs:

     http://home.netscape.com/index.html

     ftp://ftp.microsoft.com

     news:news.announce.newusers

     See the following table for more information about the kinds of internal or external content to which you can link.

     NOTE: Your company administrator can create a virtual directory called \DashboardFiles on the Presentation server for shared documents, and map the virtual directory to a shared network directory of the same name. This virtual directory allows users with the appropriate permissions to publish files to this folder, and reference these files by their relative URL names rather than by their fully qualified network share names, for example, \DashboardFiles\AnnualReport.doc instead of \\SharedServer\CommonShare\DashboardFiles\AnnualReport.doc.

     TIP: When choosing whether the destination is to appear in the user's existing browser window or in a new window, note the following information. For every action except sending mail and executing a program, you can control how the link is to appear. Choose the current window when you want the action to occur in the display pane of the dashboard. The dashboard remains active, but in the background. Choose a new window when you want the action to take place in a new browser window.

     NOTE: To add text or an image only, without any links, leave the field that follows the Destination options blank.

6. Click OK.

The following table shows link options for adding a text link or image using the dashboard editor.