Create an external URL hyperlink with JasperReports

Question

How do you include a hyperlink (URL) in a PDF that links to an external site?

Using a simple string like "http://www.stackoverflow.com", a link is automatically generated. But, how can I use a URL like <a href="http://www.stackoverflow.com">Click here</a>?

If I use this HTML string, Jaspers create a link but also shows the code.

Using JasperReports 4.0.4 and iReport 4.5.1.

Answer 1

To make a textField a hyperlink to an external URL, you need to add the attribute hyperlinkType="Reference" to the element, and add a <hyperlinkReferenceExpression> tag within it. The reference expression is where you put the URL.

For example:

<textField hyperlinkType="Reference" hyperlinkTarget="Blank">
    <reportElement x="5" y="5" width="200" height="15"/>
    <textElement/>
    <textFieldExpression class="java.lang.String"><![CDATA["Click Here!"]]></textFieldExpression>
    <hyperlinkReferenceExpression><![CDATA["http://www.google.com"]]></hyperlinkReferenceExpression>
</textField>

The hyperlinkTarget attribute behaves in the same way as the target attribute in HTML.

Note that only textFields, images, and charts can be hyperlinked in this way.

Answer 2

For some reasons, the example given didn't work. I used wayback machine and found the following snippet that worked:

<textField hyperlinkType="Reference">
  <reportElement x="5" y="95" width="300" height="15"/>
  <textFieldExpression class="java.lang.String">"  >> Click here to go to www.google.com"</textFieldExpression>
  <hyperlinkReferenceExpression>"http://www.google.com
</hyperlinkReferenceExpression>
    </textField>