Launch Web Browser from User-Defined Report

Many websites allow you to input key data and then display the webpage with extra detail – for example Google Maps allows you to pass post codes to create routes, the BBC website allows you pass a post code to get the weather for a region, and so on.

This new feature allows you to configure a user-defined report to create a text file containing an http address and then to launch a web browser such as Internet Explorer with that address. You can, for example, create a route map in Google Maps for a series of visits you will be making, or to analyse for a more time effective route.

The report needs to be structured in such way as to provide the information to create an http address that the browser / website can then interpret. Using the Google Maps example this means a structure of:

$HEADER,FIRSTONLY

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=PR46JF

$RECORD

+to:{post-code-data-item}

$TOTAL

+to:PR46JF

This allows you to create a route from your starting point (PR4 6JF – you could place a report comment item here to allow run-time entry of the starting point) via post codes from the records processed back to your starting point.

Depending on the website you may need to limit the number of records to be processed. If the limit is one then you could use the List Records option within the General Report Parameters and set to allow only one record, if the maximum is higher you could use the Max Records Per Report option within the General Report Parameters.

In addition to structuring the report in such a way as to create the http address you need to set additional parameters within the Tools pull-down menu ‘Report Options’

Specify the Full Pathname of the Disk File to be Created – set the path/filename of the text file that is to be created containing the http address.If more than one user is to be using this process then you could create the file on their local drive or use the characters UUUUUU in the filename which will be replaced with the user-id at run-time.

Web Style – set to compress spaces around commas and quotes in the text file

Automatically Load Word Processor with this Report – a bit of misnomer this option activates the launch of another procedure to process the created text file. By default this would be the Datafile Word Processor but a later parameter will override this with the launch of the web browser.

Load Browser with Results– set to launch the web browser instead of the Datafile Word Processor to process the created text file.

Post Codes – if creating a route guide you may be visiting more than one location sharing the same post code; setting this option removes any duplicate $records that are processed consecutively from the created text file and removes spaces from within the text data items printed.