In this section, we introduce MicroStrategy web architecture, plugin architecture, deploying SDK, and configuring Web Customization Editor (WCE) both in Linux and in Windows, and discuss some best practices for customizations and upgrades.
The layers that make up the MicroStrategy Web application are as follows:
- XML API layer
- Web Objects layer
- Web Beans layer
- Web Transforms layer
- Application Objects layer
- Presentation layer
Application programming interface (API) is an interface that enables the user to access information from other applications, and allows the user to integrate services to their own applications. A Web Bean is a Java class that contains business logic and accepts no parameters, which includes JavaBean and Enterprise JavaBean:
MicroStrategy separates its main codes from plugins. Extra functionalities and customizations are implemented by using plugins, without modifying its main codes. Plugins are organized as subfolders in the plugins folder:
Let us deploy the WCE plugin in order to change the appearance of MicroStrategy Web:
- We can download MicroStrategy SDK from http://community.microstrategy.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/developer-zone.
- Moreover, we need Eclipse in order to work with MicroStrategy SDK. Let's download Eclipse SDK using this URL: http://archive.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops4/R-4.4.2-201502041700/.
Choose Red Hat Linux for Windows:
eclipse-SDK-4.4.2-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz - Create a folder for MicroStrategy SDK:
#cd /root/ #mkdir WebSDK - Extract
eclipse-SDK-4.4.2-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gzto/root/WebSDK. As a result, we get Eclipse. - Extract
MSTRSDK.zipto/root/WebSDKand then find JAR files:# cd /root/WebSDK/SDK/tools/WebCustomizationEditor - Extract
com.microstrategy.web.sdk.webcustomization.zipinto this folder:# cd /root/WebSDK/SDK/tools/WebCustomizationEditor/pluginsThen copy the JAR file to
/root/WebSDK/eclipse/plugins. - In addition, we should deploy Apache Ant.
Go to https://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi and download zip archive:
apache-ant-1.9.6-bin.zip. Extract to/root/WebSDK. - Finally, we need to deploy Apache Axis 2.
- Choose Binary distribution -
axis2-1.7.1-bin.zipand extract to/root/WebSDK. - Now we can run Eclipse in
/root/WebSDK/eclipse:# ./eclipse - Set preference for MicroStrategy Plugin. Go to Window | Preferences in order to add settings to the MicroStrategy plugin accordingly:
- Go to Web Services and fill in the information, like in the following screenshot:
- Now you can go to Window | Show View | Other and choose
MicroStrategy:
As a result, we deployed MicroStrategy customization plugin into Eclipse and now we are able to modify MicroStrategy Web.
If you are in a Windows environment, you need to download Web SDK (MSTRSDK.zip) from MicroStrategy Community (https://community.microstrategy.com/), unzip it, then cut and paste the SDK folder into the MicroStrategy installation folder:
The WCE is a tool provided by MicroStrategy to make developing easier, by automatically creating plugins inside the plugins folder, according to your customization requirements. It is possible to create plugins without WCE, but it will be hard and prone to mistakes. WCE is essentially a plugin of Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It can automatically create folders and template files, so that the user can concentrate on the critical parts of the code.
The plugin is included in the SDK folder as a ZIP file. You need to locate it in /SDK/tools/com.microstrategy.web.sdk.webcustomization.zip:
Unzip it, and put it into the Eclipse plugins folder:
There are some tips to follow that will save you time and increase your work's durability:
- Always encapsulate all the changes in plugin inside plugins
- Do not change any code outside the
pluginsfolder - Before an upgrade, always back up the content of the
pluginsfolder, and redeploy thepluginsfolder after the upgrade - After upgrading, remember to check if there is a new version of WCE