You are viewing limited content. For full access, please sign in.

Question

Question

Linking Search Results to Intranet

WebLink
Updated March 15, 2017
asked on March 13, 2017 • Show version history

Hi Everyone,

I'm working on linking Laserfiche Weblink documents (i.e., forms, templates, etc.) to my organization's intranet.

This intention is to link to a search result which should only come up with one result. What we will likely be doing is creating a "forms" template in Laserfiche with tags that describe the form (i.e., "Vacation Request form" or "Powerpoint Template 2").

My issue is this: currently my weblink does not give me an unique URL for a search query. For instance, when I browse the webaccess repository, depending on what folder I'm in, the URL updates. This doesn't happen in weblink. How do I get this without manually figuring out what the URL is as described here in the weblink manual:

My second question is how to configure our system so that if there is only one result, that it automatically opens, as described here: https://answers.laserfiche.com/questions/60719/Web-Access-URL-search-with-the-document-page-view-result#94976

Thank you for your help!

0 0

Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on March 13, 2017 • Show version history

Ah, I see. A simple script, use of excel, or even just find+replace should let you batch-convert Web Access URLS to WebLink URLs. I'm not aware of a way to change the URL behavior in WebLink.

I was able to convert a list of URLs in notepad++ in seconds just by searching for

https://WebAccessMachineName/laserfiche/Browse.aspx?repo=MyRepoName#?search=

and using "Replace" to substitute the WL base URL:

http://WebLinkMachineNAme/WebLink/Search.aspx?dbid=0&searchcommand=

 

If you're using Excel, you can use the the option under Data -> Text to column to split out the encoded search syntax from the WA URL (try splitting on equals =) and combine it with a cell that holds your base URL using something like =$A$1&C2 where your base url is in the A1 cell and your split data gives you the search syntax in the C column.

Scripting is useful if you'll need to do this over and over, and would probably be able to handle encoding so you could work from the un-encoded syntax rather than modifying WA URLS.

0 0

Replies

replied on March 13, 2017

Hi Robyn,

 

It sounds like the only way you could do this would be to use the SDK to develop some kind of search similar to how the connector functions, rather than using the Entry ID of the document to link the 2 systems together?...

0 0
View 7 previous replies
replied on March 13, 2017

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your reply. I think we figured out a method that wouldn't require the SDK (please see my updated post). 

We realized that if we can create a search URL for the document based on metadata, we can update the document by merely matching the metadata of the old form (and then just delete the old form so that it doesn't come up with the search URL). 

Now I just need to know how to create a weblink search url and how to configure it so that if there is only one result of the search, it will automatically open.

0 0
replied on March 13, 2017

The help files tell you how to construct a search URL for WebLink if you have the search syntax, so you start from a base syntax for your repository and just substitute in whatever unique property it is (field value, document-specific tag).

It sounds like you are might already be aware of that, though, so I'm not sure what else you're asking.

Regarding the auto-open: WebLink has this functionality on by default for search performed via URL.

For example, http://webdemo.laserfiche.com/WebLink/Search.aspx?dbid=0&searchcommand=laserfiche

1 0
replied on March 13, 2017

Thanks, Brianna, for the good news about weblink and the default auto-open.

Regarding the weblink search URL:

In webaccess, when I conduct a search, my browser URL automatically updates to reflect the search I just did. I could copy/paste that URL in another tab or browser and that same search results will pop up.

In weblink, the url never changes if I search (it does change when I browse). How can I get my URL to reflect the search I conducted? This way I can just copy/paste this URL to where I need it so that others can use this URL to see the results of the search. I don't want to have to construct the URL manually for every single search: that would take hours.

0 0
SELECTED ANSWER
replied on March 13, 2017 • Show version history

Ah, I see. A simple script, use of excel, or even just find+replace should let you batch-convert Web Access URLS to WebLink URLs. I'm not aware of a way to change the URL behavior in WebLink.

I was able to convert a list of URLs in notepad++ in seconds just by searching for

https://WebAccessMachineName/laserfiche/Browse.aspx?repo=MyRepoName#?search=

and using "Replace" to substitute the WL base URL:

http://WebLinkMachineNAme/WebLink/Search.aspx?dbid=0&searchcommand=

 

If you're using Excel, you can use the the option under Data -> Text to column to split out the encoded search syntax from the WA URL (try splitting on equals =) and combine it with a cell that holds your base URL using something like =$A$1&C2 where your base url is in the A1 cell and your split data gives you the search syntax in the C column.

Scripting is useful if you'll need to do this over and over, and would probably be able to handle encoding so you could work from the un-encoded syntax rather than modifying WA URLS.

0 0
replied on March 13, 2017

Thanks, Brianna. Of course changing URL behaviour for Weblink would be ideal (then users could share one-off search results), but this solution works perfectly for me!

Thank you for taking the time, much appreciated.

0 0
replied on March 13, 2017

Glad that will work for you! I've brought your request (that the URL reflect the search) to the attention of the WebLink team so that they can investigate potential uses and issues and evaluate the difficulty.

1 0
replied on March 14, 2017 • Show version history

That would be great! 

 

For your reference, I asked a similar question before (except it was limited to browsing):

https://answers.laserfiche.com/questions/96787/Linking-to-Weblink-via-path

This feature would be great as a basic feature in weblink. After every update we have to reinsert this script into the backend.

0 0
replied on March 15, 2017 • Show version history

Brianna,

after testing, it seems this doesn't work. Specifically, when I alter the webaccess search url to match what should be the WebLink url, it doesn't actually conduct a search in weblink: it will just bring me to my weblink home page. Is this an error just in my system?

 

I resorted to following the article linked to before (https://www.laserfiche.com/support/webhelp/weblink/9.0/en-US/WL/WebLink.htm#Search_URLs.htm) which requires me to fill in each URL with a unique field value in order to do what I want it to do: but at least it works! Thanks again for your help :)

0 0
replied on March 15, 2017

Hi Robyn,

  1. What version of WebLink are you on?
  2. Can I see a sample URL? Feel free to change your machine name, but if possible, leave the rest of it untouched
0 0
replied on March 15, 2017

Hi Brianna,

Well, it seems that that was my mistake: I was not changing the entire part of the webaccess URL to fit properly for weblink. It's working just fine now!

My apologies for the error - thank you for your patience!

Robyn

1 0
You are not allowed to follow up in this post.

Sign in to reply to this post.

Details
Related Posts
Loading ...