Introduction

With the release of OBIEE 12c, let’s take a look at Action Links and how things may be different compared to the previous release, 11g. Over this three part blog series, we’re going to cover the more popular link types, which are navigating to BI content, and navigating to a web page. However, to sweeten the deal, I’ll also include some tricks for your tool belt which well enable you to do the following:

• Navigate to a target report, while filtering it on parameters chosen in the source

• Pass filter parameters via the GoURL syntax from a source report to another, target report

• Become familiar with the GoURL structure and how to apply it to your business case

In the first installment of this three part series, we’re going look at how to navigate to other reports and dashboards in your catalog through the ‘Navigate to BI Content’ action. This will set you up for parts 2 and 3, wherein we show you some tricks using Action Links.

1. The Action Link UI

By now, there are likely lots of blogs talking about the new look and features of OBIEE 12c, so we can keep this bit short. Suffice to say it got a much needed face lift, with both changes in overall skinning and in its portfolio of icons. While this change in graphics may induce a bit of frustration on part of the developer, I believe this approach to design will end up being a good long term strategy to handle later releases of the product as trends in UX seem to have their feet firmly planted in the stripped down, the clean, and the subdued. Even with this shift, however, the basic processes and series of steps to implement most any of the features in Answers remains the same, Action Links being no different. Just follow these simple steps below to set up your Action Link! After you’ve got a hold of the basics, look to future posts in this series for some tips and tricks using Action Links.

In chosen column, go to the Column Properties menu:

Next, click on the Interaction tab:

Select ‘Action Links’ as the Primary Interaction value and click on the ‘+’ icon. This will display another dialogue box where we will set up the actual properties of the Action Link. Click on the running man icon (this little guy seems to be more intuitive than the green gear):

2. Navigate to BI Content

For the first example, we’re going to select the ‘Navigate to BI Content’ option. This simply allows us to go to another report or dashboard, as though you were clicking on a link in a web page. To implement this on your report, simply follow the steps above and then refer to the steps below.

After clicking on the running man icon, select the ‘Navigate to BI Content’ option. This will be followed by a dialogue box allowing you to select the object to which you want to navigate.

Confirm your selection and then click ‘OK’, not once, not twice, but thrice, at which point you’re taken back to the Criteria tab. From now on, this column will take you to the selected report.

And that’s it! Take a look back here for part 2 on Action Links in OBIEE 12c, which will outline a neat technique on how to implement what’s called a ‘driving document’ to filter values between disparate reports using the navigate action.

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