Internet Drill Around (IDA) hyperlink syntax

To perform a Lawson Internet Drill Around (IDA) call, you will use the Drill.jsp? variable to direct the command to the Lawson Application Link (LAL) servlet. All IDA hyperlinks must begin with this literal.

If you are unfamiliar with the syntax required to create an IDA Drill Around call, you can use the Lawson OLE DB Query Builder to construct valid string and then cut and paste this syntax into the Crystal Format Formula Editor. If you create a string in this way, you must remove the ida: text from the string that you insert into the Format Formula Editor screen.

The following drill string examples illustrate how to construct a valid IDA calls.

Literals, replacement variables, and number to string conversion

The following drill string illustrates how to specify literals and replacement variables in the IDA drill string. This example is written to perform a Drill Around on the Lawson General Ledger Company from the report's Company Number field.

"Drill.jsp?_TYP=DT&_PDL=LIVE&_SYS=IF&_KNB=01&01="+cstr({Command.COMPANY})

In this example, there are two components to the text string. First, you must wrap any command you want theReporting Services engine to interpret as a literal with double quotes ("). Anything not wrapped in double quotes is interpreted as a replacement variable, meaning that before the hyperlink text is executed, the reporting services engine replaces this text with the report definition value of this variable. These replacement variables are validated report metadata.

Also, the CSTR({Command.COMPANY}) text references the value of the Company Number field of the line from which the drill is initiated. The CSTR({Command.COMPANY}) converts a number value to a string value. For example, if the company number value of the line is 100, the Reporting Services engine reconstructs the text to the following:

Drill.jsp?_TYP=DT&_PDL=LIVE&_SYS=IF&_KNB=01&01=100

Note that you do not need to include the CSTR({Command.COMPANY}) wrapper on character-defined fields. Also, all literals and replacement variable strings are concatenated together with the + value.

Override Service ID (SID)

The following drill string illustrates how to include an override SID in the IDA string. The SID that you specify must be set up in Framework Services.

"Drill.jsp?_TYP=DT&_PDL=LIVE&_SYS=IF&_KNB=01&01="+cstr({Command.COMPANY}) + "&SID=MY_IOS_SERVICE"

Using a Lawson report as a data source

The following example illustrates how to create a drill string for a Crystal Report that uses a Lawson report as a data source for the Crystal report definition.

"Drill.jsp?" + {Command.COMPANY_DRILL}

Many Lawson reports already have the IDA syntax generated for report fields as separate (hidden) fields in the report. This makes constructing the hyperlink easier because it eliminates the need for you to build the IDA string.

All Lawson Report fields that contain the _DRILL suffix have the necessary syntax value to provide drill functionality. For example, if the report column name is COMPANY_DRILL, it contains the necessary drill information to perform a Lawson IDA call on the COMPANY report field.