Adding a link to an inquiry

You can add a link to an inquiry so that whenever you click the link, it displays another inquiry that contains related information. For example, on the Project Manager inquiry, you may want to add a link to expense report information.

When you add a link, all rows in the column show as a link. However, depending on the conditions you set for the link, when you click a link, it opens the linked inquiry with data that pertains only to the row you clicked. For example, if you click a link in the Anderson Construction row of a Client Invoices column, the inquiry shows only client invoices for Anderson Construction.

Note:

When you view an inquiry by clicking a link to it from another inquiry, you can then temporarily set conditions for it and add links on it, but they are not saved. You must set the conditions on the link you use to open the inquiry.

You can also access the inquiry from the > Reports > Standard Inquiries menu, as described in the following instructions, and then set conditions for it and add links on it.

To add a link to an inquiry

  1. From the > Reports > Standard Inquiries Inquiry menu, select the inquiry where you want to add a link.
  2. To add a link to an existing column, right-click the column heading and select Properties. The Column Properties window appears.
  3. Click the Link tab.
  4. Select the inquiry where you want the link to go.
  5. If you want the destination of your link to show only specific information associated with the row you click, proceed to the next step of these instructions to set conditions for the link.

Otherwise, click OK, and you are finished adding the link.

Setting conditions for the link

  1. In the field on the left that contains text asking you to select a column, click and select the column in the linked inquiry where you want to set a condition. Even if a column does not appear on the inquiry, you can still set conditions for it that affect the information that appears on the inquiry.
Note: You can select a regular column or a key field column.
  1. Two fields appear to the right where you set the conditions for the column you selected. The Condition field contains an operator and the second field contains a value or column from the inquiry where you are adding the link.

You set conditions much in the same way you write a formula. You define a relationship between the column you selected and another value or column. Begin by exploring the available options in both of these fields.  

Examples

In this example, you add a link on the Project inquiry to the Contact inquiry. You want to show the billing contact only for the project, not all billing contacts for all projects. In the last field on the right, you selected a column; therefore, when displaying the result of the link, Ajera compares the values in the columns you selected for the first and last field on this row.

In this example, you add a link on the Client inquiry to the Client Invoice inquiry. You want to show only client invoice amounts greater than 10,000. In the field on the right, you selected a value; therefore, when displaying the result of the link, Ajera compares the column contents with that value.

  1. In the Condition field, select an operator that expresses the relationship you want to establish between the column you selected and the value or column in the last field on the right.
  2. In addition to the standard mathematical operators, you may also find these operators useful:

Operator

Description

One Of

Use this operator to select more than one value. In the field at the far right, type the values separated by a semicolon ;

For example, if your column is Status and you want to show all invoices that have a status of active or preliminary, you enter the following in the field at the far right: active;preliminary

Not One Of

Use this operator to select all but a specific value or values. In the field at the far right, type the values separated by a semicolon ;

For example, if your column is Status and you want to show all invoices except those that have a status of inactive or preliminary, you enter the following in the field at the far right: inactive;preliminary

Matches Pattern

Use this operator to show only data that fits a certain pattern.

When typing a value in the field at the right:

  • Use an underscore to represent a character.
  • Use % to represent any number of characters.

For example, to show all invoice IDs that contain 200 in the same position as this ID: 07-200-090G1, you enter %200%.

Is Current User

For employee key fields, use this operator to show data pertaining only to the current user.
  1. In the last field on the right, select a column or type a value.
  2. You can set additional conditions, as needed. Notice that a selection field now appears on the next row for you to set another condition. The order of the conditions does not matter, as all conditions are always applied regardless of order.
  3. To delete a condition, click the Delete button at the far right of the condition.
  4. Click OK.