Feature Update: Drill Down to Files Stored in DB Formats from Yurbi

Well-known entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck once said, “If content is king, context is god.” Information is always more powerful when digested in the right context, especially when it comes to reporting and dashboards. Numbers and figures within reports and dashboards will never make sense out of context.

This is why we’re so excited to highlight a new feature within Yurbi: File linking. File linking within Yurbi allows Yurbi report builders to create reports with file link fields that enable users to download files stored in the report’s source of data. This new feature brings greater context to reports for viewers and Yurbi users, which makes the data within each report more powerful. Want to see how to set up file linking within Yurbi? Keep reading!

Setting Up the Yurbi App for File Linking

Yurbi has the ability to add fields to any report ad-hoc style with the Field Builder within the Report Builder, but Yurbi users must first configure their Yurbi App with the proper fields. Yurbi users must add two fields: one that has the file/document name and the other that contains the binary data of the file.

 

 

In the image above, the user added the “FileName” field containing the filename, as well as the “Title” and “Document” fields. The “Document” field is a binary field that contains the file data, but does not contain human-readable copy. This field cannot be displayed as a normal field within the Yurbi report, but the field definition is necessary so that the file link knows where to retrieve the file data from within the database. Yurbi will only convert the binary data to a usable file via the file link field.

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How to Build a Report with a File Link Field

Now that you have your Yurbi App set up to accommodate file link fields, you can insert file links into your reports. In the below example, we started by adding the product “Name” field, in addition to the document “Title” and “Document” fields. The “Document” field is necessary so that Yurbi is able to locate the file within the database, but this field will not be shown within the report.

 

Next, the Yurbi report builder should click on the “Field Builder” button and select the “Yurbi File Link” field option.

Then, the report builder will select, “Create New Field From Scratch.”

By choosing this option, the report builder will be prompted to select the field which will contain the text for the link in the data grid, which will likely be the actual filename stored within the database.

Next, the user must select the “+” next to the “FileName” field, which will populate the “Display” name field with the field’s defintion tag. The builder will also need to name the column header in the data grid.

Then, the user will select the database field that contains the file data, and add the tag into the “File Field” section by clicking on the “+.” Once the report builder clicks “Finish,” the file link field will be present within the report.

To access the file link, the builder must save the report in his or her report library, access the report in the library and then execute the report. The file will then open in the viewer’s web browser as a download.

Have additional questions about Yurbi’s file linking feature, or other new features within Yurbi? Feel free to contact us at any time!

Click here to see an online demo of Yurbi