Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

Jesse Knight — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:10:14 GMT

This is a very old topic to resurrect, but what's interesting it how both of its subjects are still relevant: auditing of user actions, and multi-action triggers via a single click.

1. Auditing of user actions has been discussed quite a bit recently. A forum search of the past 18 months should get some great results.

2. The modern standard of redirects require no javascript. tl;dr - an API response with status code 302 and proper headers is perfect for "single click to do XYZ" in a lot of use cases, particularly in Chrome. For example, I used the redirect trick to allow another system to direct their users to an Appian API, which then used some context in the URL and loggedInUser() results to redirect users to the appropriate place inside Appian.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

Sravanteja Gadikota — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 19:43:55 GMT

Unfortunately, there isn’t a straightforward way to achieve this directly in Appian, so I used a combination of Web APIs, Integrations, and JavaScript to make it work.

Step 1:

Use a Web API in your save link and pass the necessary link information as a parameter.

Step 2:

Within the Web API:

Call an Integration that writes the data to the database.
Include JavaScript logic to launch the target page.

Below is a sample outline of the logic used.

"<html>
<script>
window.open('" & www.google.com & "', '_self')
</script>
<body>
'Redirecting to target system'
</body>
</html>"

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

SANTOSH S KUNDLIK — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:17:40 GMT

No button, its kind of dashboard and link is "Make Payment" and user goes to other external website.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

paulc919 — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:02:51 GMT

Is an alternative to save in a local variable which links have been clicked and then persist that in a saveInto command assuming another button is pressed on the screen ? That could be one way of meeting the requirement assuming there is some screen navigation occurring.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

paulc919 — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:58:14 GMT

Hi ... what Mike is saying that the functionality doesn't in the product to support your requirement. You or a Java Developer can create a custom plug in which extends the functionality so that you can then do what you want to achieve. However it then becomes your / another persons responsibility to maintain that custom plug in for compatibility in future versions of Appian.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

SANTOSH S KUNDLIK — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:45:54 GMT

I hope, someone have tried to create it. Its ultimately a custom SAIL component, as a!linkField need to accept it as part of Links property.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

Mike Schmitt — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:12:01 GMT

That's not what I was suggesting. What I'm saying is that a skilled plug-in creator might be able to come up with a whole new alternative expression function to use instead of a!safeLink.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

SANTOSH S KUNDLIK — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:09:37 GMT

I am not convinced that we can call as custom function using "uri" parameter of link, may be I am missing something.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

Mike Schmitt — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 14:13:06 GMT

Custom plug-ins can allow you to potentially add customized expression functions with functionality you need that's not offered in out-of-the-box functionality. The burden would be on you to figure out how to write it, but if you are able to figure it out it seems like it might be possible to create a custom link generating rule which captures saveInto data as well as opening the link, all in one click. I have no idea whether this is truly possible, mind you, just that it seems like it might be.

Alternatively you can attempt to get in touch with Appian and submit an enhancement request with your use case, which I suppose would be to enhance the safeLink rule with the possibility of executing a saveInto when clicked.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

SANTOSH S KUNDLIK — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 11:52:14 GMT

Thanks Mike for understanding, could you please elaborate on how custom plugin can help here?

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 21:21:58 GMT

Yes, I anticipate those shortcomings, which is why this is a workaround - however it (or something similar) might be the closest you can come without going the route of developing a custom plug-in.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

SANTOSH S KUNDLIK — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 21:15:08 GMT

Mike, we do not want to have 2 clicks and also what if we show actual link but user doesn't click it. It would have incorrect audit data.

RE: Clicking on linkfield to open URL and also save Auditing data into database

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 20:32:49 GMT

I don't believe it will be possible to do this within one link click - as you can see the safeLink control doesn't provide any saveInto capability. My idea would be perhaps require 2 clicks - the first click would be to show the link (in which you could perform whatever saveInto you like), and then after the user clicks that first link to expose the actual link, they can click the safeLink.