InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by jimspoon on 2018/08/19 22:35

Took me a while to figure this out, but I think I have it -

If you insert a Dynamic Hyperlink into the Item field, the hyperlink HREF attribute is in the form of "href=[FileFullName]". Single-clicking the link will take you to the file referenced in the FileFullName field (which is a concatenation of the FilePath and FileName fields).

If you insert a Static Hyperlink into the Item field, the hyperlink HREF attribute is in the form of "href="file:///C:/cloud/Dropbox/austin/1962.03.08 - downtown expressway will open.pdf"". Single-clicking this link will open the file referenced in the HREF attribute itself, not the file referenced in the FileFullName field, if any. Double-clicking the Item field will take you to the file referenced in the FileFullName field, if any.

If you have no hyperlink at all in the Item field, but there is a file referenced in the FileFullName field, double-clicking the Item will open that file.

What if you had a reference in both the URL and the FileFullName fields, and double-clicked the item? Haven't tried that. Maybe both get opened!

Comments

Hi Jim,

Yup, that's pretty much it... That wasn't clear from the doc page ? (Link to Files, Folders and URLs)

Do you have any improvements to propose for this page ?

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Added during the website transition:

[quote=jimspoon]

When I read it now, it seems very clear! But initially I was confused.

The light went on for me when I looked at the HTML code for a Static Hyperlink in non-wysiwyg mode. That made the difference clear to me, and the whole scheme became clear to me then. So I think it would help to put an example of that coding under the description of a Static hyperlink, just as you have an example under the Dynamic link description. As follows:

Item Hyperlinks: Should the item text include a hyperlink to the file?

No Hyperlink: Double-click on the item to open the file
Static: hyperlink to the file (hard-coded link)
- <a href=C:\My Documents\YourFile.htm>Link C:\My Documents\YourFile.htm</a>
Dynamic: link target saved in a field (see #3 immediately below). The actual item text (in edit mode) will be
- <a href=[FileFullName]>Link C:\My Documents\YourFile.htm</a> using the File link fields
- <a href=[URL]>Link C:\My Documents\YourFile.htm</a> using the URL field

I think it might be a bit more clear (to thick skulls like mine) if instead of "Static" and "Dynamic", you used the terms "Link Directly to File" and "Link Via File Link fields". A bit wordier though. I finally figured it out anyway.

[/quote]

Added during the website transition:

[quote=jimspoon]

Another thing that kind of threw me was - why for a Static link, are all the "file location stored in" options available? (none, file link fields, url, html pane). How is a link Static if it's using the file link fields? Then, once I saw that the Static link contains a direct reference to the external file, I realized that in this case the file link fields are simply a second location for storing the file location; the file link fields are not used in the Item field hyperlink.

And there is yet a third reference to the file path and name - in the Item Text field check boxes. I finally realized that this is only the text that is displayed in the hyperlink, and does not actually specify the hyperlink target file.

So there are three things being affected - (1) HREF target file reference; (2) <A> hyperlink text; (3) file link field values.

Finally I wasn't exactly sure what "File Location stored in .. HTML pane" meant, but I verified that it means that the pathname is stored in the ItemHTMLFile field.

It all makes sense to me now.

[/quote]

Hi,

Trying to grasp Dynamic vs Static Hyperlink as well.

The difference seems more of personal preference than one having vantages/disadvantages over the other, right?

I'm mentioning vantages/disadvantages because in the documentation/help, for the neighbor topic it was clear: "Link should point to: (...) Shortcut to the file (...) This second option has the advantage that the file will be found even if it is moved (...)".

Then I already prefer to use "Shortcut to the file" over "Actual file".

But regarding Dynamic vs Static Hyperlink vantages/disadvantages aren't stated explicit.

Feedbacks are very welcomed!

Thanks,

Carlos

I guess one advantage of a dynamic link is that if you wanted the link to point to a different file, you'd only need to change the info in the FilePath and FileName fields accordingly, and the link would take you to the specified file. The actual coding of the hypertext link in the Item field would not need to be changed. If it were a static hyperlink, it wouldn't work unless you edited the address in the HTML code in the Item field.