A Web Client profile can include links. These links can take the user to other Web Client pages or to Web pages completely outside of the Web Client application. Links can be useful on profiles in several ways:
- You can define links to other external Web sites that provide reference information. The link can pass along InterAction data to those sites to automatically look up information. For example, a link can open a stock quotes page and look up the company the user is viewing in InterAction
- Links on profiles provide an easy way to integrate InterAction with other internal systems that provide a Web application, such as time and billing systems. You can pass along key identifying data (such as a client number or the stock ticker symbol), enabling users to very easily get to important information. You can also use “inline” links to display the content from these other pages directly on the profile.
- You can define links used for simple navigation to other Web Client pages, such as the page listing the other people who know a contact. Although users can get to these pages through other means in the Web Client, it can be convenient to link right from the profile pages.
When defining a link for a Web Client profile, you must provide the following:
- Name. This is the text that appears when the profile is displayed.
- URL. This is the destination page for the link – that is, the page that will be displayed when a user follows the link.
- Target. This specifies how the destination page should be displayed. Links can take the user to other sites, or display “inline” right in the profile.
Defining a Link on a Web Client Profile
Setting the Link Destination (URL)
A link in a Web Client profile can point to any URL. When you enter the link destination, you enter it just as you would enter it in the address bar of your browser. For example, if you wanted a link that goes to Google™, you would enter the following URL:
http://www.google.com
Always include the protocol (http://) at the beginning of the link. If you don’t include the protocol, the URL you enter is appended to the Application Server URL. For example, if your Application Server is http://IAAppServer1/InterAction and you enter just www.google.com for the URL, the resulting link will look like the following:
http://IAAppServer1/InterAction/www.google.com
The link destination can be a Web Client page or a page outside of Web Client.
When linking to a Web Client page, you can use the PAGE_SERVER variable instead of entering the complete name of your Application Server. You can also pass along data such as the contact ID. For details about determining the URL for a Web Client page, see Web Client Page URLs.
Including InterAction Information in Link Names and Destinations
When linking to a page outside of the Web Client, sometimes it is useful to pass along information about the contact to the other page. For example, you might want to create a link that goes to Google and automatically searches for the contact name. You can do this by including Application Server variables in the link destination. When Web Client displays the link, these variables are replaced with their actual values.
You can use variables in both the link name and the URL destination. For details about using variables, see Using Variables for InterAction Information.
Determining the Target for a Profile Link
When defining a link on a Web Client profile, you can set the target for the link. This indicates where the link destination page will appear. There are four options:
- Page – Display the destination page in the existing browser window (i.e., replace the current content of the window with the target page).
- New Window – Open a new browser window for the destination page.
- Inline – Display the link destination directly in the profile. In this case, the user does not need to leave the Web Client profile to see the other information.
- None – No target. In this case, the link destination is displayed in the same window or frame as the link. Normally you should not choose this option, as this means that the page you are linking to will replace the entire profiles area.
When linking to pages outside of the Web Client, New Window is frequently the best choice, since the user isn’t taken completely away from the Web Client. Inline is good if the other page is designed such that it fits well within the profile framework.
Add a Link to Another Page to a Profile
- Log in to InterAction Windows Client as a user with permission to create contact types.
- The Manage contact types permission is required to create or edit Web Client profiles. This is because profiles are typically created in conjunction with contact types.
- This permission is granted using InterAction Administrator. For details, see Give Users Permission to Manage Web Client Profiles.
- Edit the profile you want to change, as described in Edit a Web Client Profile.
- Under Profile Attributes, choose New. Select Link and choose OK.
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Enter the Name for the link. This is the text that will appear on the profile for the link. If necessary, you can include Application Server variables in the link name.
For example, if the link will go to a search engine and automatically search for the contact, you might want a label such as “Search the Web for more information about [name of contact].” You can do this by including the variable $(
contactName) in the name. For a list of available variables, see Available Application Server Variables. - Enter the URL for the link. This is the Web page to which the link will take the user. The page can be a Web Client page or a page completely outside of the Web Client.
- For details about the link destination, see Setting the Link Destination (URL).
- As with the name, you can use Application Server variables in the link. For a list of available variables, see Available Application Server Variables.
- Select the Target. This determines how the Web Client displays the link destination – in a new window, inline, etc. For details, see Determining the Target for a Profile Link.
- Choose OK to save the new link. The link will be added after the selected item in the list of attributes.
- If necessary, use the Up and Down buttons to move the link up or down to the desired position in the profile display.
- When you are finished adding items to the profile, choose OK to save the profile with your changes.
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Choose Close to close the Manage Web Client Profiles dialog box.
Your changes become available in InterAction Web Client after the next InterAction Application Server cache refresh. For details about manually refreshing the Application Server cache, see Refreshing the Application Server Cache.