Add bookmarks in Bold Reports® Web Report Designer

Bookmark links in Bold Reports® Web Report Designer let users navigate to different parts of an RDL report. You can add bookmarks to each textbox, image, table or chart, or to the unique group values displayed in a tablix, to direct users to specified locations in the report. The value of the bookmark property can be your own strings or an expression.

Prefer watching over reading? Watch the video on designing an interactive bookmark report:

How do I configure a bookmark?

You configure a bookmark in Web Report Designer by entering a string or expression in the Bookmark property of a report item.

  1. Select the text box, image, table, chart, or other report item to which you want to add a bookmark. The respective report item properties are listed in the Properties pane.
  2. Under the Miscellaneous category, enter a string or expression in the Bookmark text field. The value acts as the label for this bookmark. Configure Bookmark

To open the set or reset expression menu in the properties panel, see the Set Expressions and Reset Expressions sections.

Set Expression

Note: The bookmark can be any string, but it must be unique in the report. If the bookmark is not unique, a link to the bookmark finds the first matching bookmark.

You link to a bookmark in Web Report Designer by choosing the Bookmark option under the Link category of a report item.

  1. Select the text box, image, or chart series to which you want to link a bookmark. The respective item properties are listed in the Properties pane.
  2. Under the Link category, choose the Bookmark option. An option to link the bookmark is enabled. Choose Bookmark
  3. In the bookmark dropdown, type or select a bookmark, or set an expression that evaluates to a bookmark. Choose value

How do I design a bookmark report?

The following Web Report Designer example shows how to use the bookmark feature to design an interactive report.

Create data

The bookmark example uses the following dataset query for dataset creation:

SELECT [HumanResources].[vEmployee].[EmployeeID],
[HumanResources].[vEmployee].[FirstName],
[HumanResources].[vEmployee].[LastName],
[HumanResources].[vEmployee].[EmailAddress],
[HumanResources].[vEmployee].[City],
[HumanResources].[vEmployee].[CountryRegionName]
FROM [HumanResources].[vEmployee]

To create the dataset with the above query, see the Create Data section. The AdventuresWorks database is used here.

Add bookmark

The bookmark design shows how to configure and link bookmarks in report items. At runtime, clicking an item navigates to the first matching bookmark.

  1. Add a textbox to the report and enter the text as Home Page. Apply some formatting. Add textbox

  2. Open the textbox properties. Under the Miscellaneous category, enter the Bookmark property value as HomePage. Add textbox

  3. Add a matrix report item and remove the first column. Add matrix cell

  4. Assign the CountryRegionName field in the first cell. Add matrix cell

  5. Select that cell and open the properties panel. Under the Link category, choose the Bookmark option.

    Choose bookmark

  6. Set the =Fields!CountryRegionName.Value expression in the Bookmark field.

    Link bookmark in matrix cell

  7. Add a rectangle and set the Page Break as Start.

    Link bookmark in matrix cell

  8. Insert a table report item. To add a table, see the Add table section.

    Add table

  9. Assign dataset fields and apply formatting as shown in the following image.

    Table design

  10. Open the CountryRegionName group properties and set the page break as End.

    Table design

  11. Select the CountryRegionName group cell and open the properties panel. Under the Miscellaneous category, enter the Bookmark property value as =Fields!CountryRegionName.Value.

    Table design

  12. Add a column in the table report item.

    Table design

    The next steps add an image in a table cell and configure a bookmark for it. Clicking the image navigates to the first page of the report.

  13. Insert an image in the first cell of the column.

    Table design

  14. Select the image and open the properties panel. Under the Link category, choose the Bookmark option.

    Choose bookmark

  15. Choose the HomePage bookmark label in the Bookmark option.

    Table design

  16. Set the border as None for the first column cell.

    Table design

  17. To repeat header row for each group, enable Report on New Page and set Keep With Group as After for the first static field.

    Table design

Preview

The Web Report Designer preview shows the bookmark navigation at work. On report preview, the first page of the report looks like the following image.

Preview First Page

Clicking a country name displays the respective group.

Select group

Preview design

Clicking the image navigates to the main page of the report.

Preview design

Preview First Page

Download the above report design from the bookmark sample report on GitHub

Frequently asked questions

Does a bookmark need to be unique?

Yes. The bookmark can be any string, but it must be unique in the report. If it is not unique, a link to the bookmark finds the first matching bookmark.

In Web Report Designer, you can link a bookmark from a text box, image, or chart series by choosing the Bookmark option under the Link category.

See also