Specifying a Target Frame

How to:

You can use frames to subdivide application HTML pages into separate scrollable sections. Frames enable users to explore various information items on a page by scrolling through a section, instead of linking to a separate page. When defining a link from a report component to a report procedure or URL, you can specify that the results of the drill-down link be displayed in a target frame on a Web page.

There are two ways to specify a target frame. You can specify:

To use the TARGET attribute or the SET TARGETFRAME command, you must create multiple frames on the Web page.

Note: You cannot specify a target frame if you are executing a JavaScript function. However, the JavaScript function itself can specify a target frame for its results.


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Syntax: How to Specify a Target Frame

To specify a target frame in a report or procedure use:

TYPE=type, [subtype], FOCEXEC=fex[(parameters ...)], [TARGET=frame,] $

To specify a target frame for an URL use:

TYPE=type, [subtype], URL=url[(parameters ...)], [TARGET=frame,] $

where:

type
Identifies the report component that the user selects in the Web browser to execute the link. The TYPE attribute and its value must appear at the beginning of the declaration.
subtype
Are any additional attributes, such as COLUMN, LINE, or ITEM, that are needed to identify the report component that you are formatting. See Identifying a Report Component in a WebFOCUS StyleSheet for information on identifying report components.
fex
Identifies the file name of the linked procedure to run when the user selects the report component. For details about linking to another procedure, see Linking to Another Report.
url
Identifies any valid URL, or the name of a report column enclosed in parentheses whose value is a valid URL to which the link will jump. For details about linking to an URL, see Linking to a URL.
parameters
Are values being passed to the procedure or URL. You can pass one or more parameters. The entire string of values must be enclosed in parentheses, and separated from each other by a blank space. For details, see Creating Parameters.
frame
Identifies the target frame in the Web page in which the output from the drill-down link (either a FOCEXEC or URL) is displayed.

If the name of the target frame contains embedded spaces, the name will be correctly interpreted without enclosing the name in quotation marks. For example:

TYPE=DATA, COLUMN=N1,
FOCEXEC=MYREPORT, TARGET=MY FRAME, $

The name of the target frame is correctly interpreted to be MY FRAME.

You can also use the following standard HTML frame names: _BLANK, _SELF, _PARENT, _TOP.

Note: When specifying a target frame from the Report Painter, manually added commands in the StyleSheet are not recognized. For example, entering TARGET=NEW is removed when the procedure is run in the Report Painter. The Report Painter removes commands that it does not generate itself. For this example, set the target _BLANK to open a drill down report in a new window.


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Syntax: How to Specify a Default Target Frame
SET TARGETFRAME=frame

where:

frame
Identifies the target frame in the Web page in which the output from the drill-down link (either a FOCEXEC or URL) is displayed.


Example: Specifying a Target Frame

The following illustrates how to specify a default target frame:

SET TARGETFRAME=_SELF

The following illustrates how to specify a target frame in a request. The relevant StyleSheet declaration is highlighted in the request.

TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT CURR_SAL
BY DEPARTMENT
ON TABLE SET STYLE * 
TYPE=DATA, COLUMN=N1, URL=http:\\www.informationbuilders.com,
     TARGET=_SELF, $ENDSTYLE
END

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