How to: Add a Hyperlink to a URL (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS)

You can add a hyperlink to a report item when you want your users to be able to click a link in a report and open a browser to the URL that you specify. A hyperlink can be a static URL or an expression that evaluates to a URL. If you have a field in a database that contains URLs, the expression can contain that field, resulting in a dynamic list of hyperlinks in the report. You can add hyperlinks to text boxes, images, charts, and gauges. You must ensure that the user has access to the URL that you provide.

Note

You can create and modify report definitions (.rdl) in Report Builder 3.0 and in Report Designer in Business Intelligence Development Studio. Each authoring environment provides different ways to create, open, and save reports and related items. For more information, see Designing Reports in Report Designer and Report Builder 3.0 (SSRS) on the Web at microsoft.com.

You can also specify URLs to reports on any report server that you and your users have permission to view using URL requests to the report server. For example, you can specify a report and hide the document map for the user when they first view the report. For more information, see URL Access in the Reporting Services documentation in SQL Server Books Online.

You can add a hyperlink to a URL to any item that has an Action property, for example, a text box, an image, or a calculated series in a chart. When the user clicks that report item, the action that you define takes place. For more information, see the Action Properties Dialog Box (Report Builder 3.0), Action Properties Dialog Box, and Specifying Paths to External Items (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS).

To quickly get started, see Tutorial: Formatting Text (Report Builder 3.0).

Note

Links that are bound to dataset fields can be vulnerable to tampering for malicious purposes. For more information, see Securing Reports and Resources in SQL Server Books Online on msdn.microsoft.com.

  1. In report design view, right-click the text box, image, or chart to which you want to add a link and then click Properties.

  2. In the Properties dialog box, click Action.

  3. Select Go to URL. An additional section appears in the dialog box for this option.

  4. In Select URL, type or select a URL or an expression that evaluates to a URL, or click the drop-down arrow and click the name of a field that contains a URL.

  5. Click OK.

  6. (Optional) The text is not automatically formatted as a link. For text, it is helpful to change the color and effect of the text to indicate that the text is a link. For example, change the color to blue and the effect to underline in the Font section in the Home tab of the Ribbon.

  7. To test the link, click Run to preview the report, and then click the report item that you set this link on.