Add a Hyperlink to a Dialog

You can include a hyperlink on a dialog that can open a URL in a Web browser. This may be useful if you need users to refer to a specific Web page when answering questions in a dialog.

You may want to add a hyperlink to a dialog to let HotDocs Server users retrieve answers from a database. For example, the site administrator creates a Web page that presents information from a database, allowing users to select the appropriate data. Once the user selected the data, the Web page closes and the answers from the database fill the fields in the interview dialog. If you create such a Web page, it will only be accessible in HotDocs Server.

To add a hyperlink to a dialog

  1. Open a dialog for editing. (See Edit a Custom Dialog.) HotDocs displays the Dialog Editor.
  2. At the Properties tab of the Dialog Editor, click the Dialog Element button and drag it to the Contents list. The Dialog Element Editor appears.
  3. Enter a name for the component in the Dialog element name field, or select Generate name automatically, which allows HotDocs to name the component.
  4. In the Style group, select Web link.
  5. In the URL field, enter the complete Web address for the page you want the hyperlink to open. (Make sure the URL is entered correctly. Include http:// or https:// or ftp://, depending on the type of URL it is.)
  6. In the Link text field, enter the text you want to display as the hyperlink.
  7. Click the Options tab and select how you'd like the hyperlink to appear on the dialog, based on the following information:
    • In the Display as group, select whether the link should be a Button or Hyperlink. (If you select Button, you can specify a custom button size in the Button size group.)
    • If you select Hyperlink, select whether the link should include text, an image, or both in the Display using group. (Enter the name of the image file in the Image file field if you select Image.)

Any images displayed in a browser-based (HotDocs Server) interview must be located in the same folder as the template. Also, bitmap (.BMP) files do not work in browser-based interviews. Additionally, Silverlight does not support all possible color depths that are included in the PNG specification, specifically, gray scale and 64-bit true color.

    • In the Display in group, select whether the link should appear when the dialog is displayed in Desktop interviews, Server interviews, or both.
  1. Optionally, to control the appearance of the browser window when it opens, enter the JavaScript parameters in the Window.open features string (HotDocs Server only) field.

This value corresponds to the third parameter of the JavaScript window.open method (sFeatures). For example, to open the resource in a window that is 200 pixels high, 400 pixels wide, includes the status bar, and does not include the toolbar, menu bar, and location bar, use this string:

height=200,width=400,status=yes,toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=no

  1. Click OK. The Dialog Element Editor is closed.
  2. Drag the component up or down in the Contents list, depending on where you want the hyperlink placed on the dialog.

Rather than create a hyperlink that opens a Web browser, you can create an e-mail link. To do this, include mailto: in the URL, followed by an e-mail address, like this: mailto:publications@hotdocs.com.

If your hyperlink is designed to allow HotDocs Server users to access a database via a Web page, you must select Server interviews in the Display in group. Note that the hyperlink will not work in a desktop interview.