Version 2021

About modifying templates

You can modify a template's content, for example by adding an object to the template, or you can simply change the formatting of the template, for example by limiting the values that are displayed for a metric to only those values over $1,000,000.

See the appropriate section below depending on which type of modification you want to perform. To determine whether your modification is a content change or a formatting change, you can scan the links to tasks for content modification and formatting modification in each section below to determine where your modification fits.

The impact of modifying templates

In general, changes to a template can impact any reports that use the template as a shortcut. Changes made to a shortcut template in a report are propagated to all other reports that contain a shortcut to the same template. If you create a local copy of the template, changes made to the template do not impact other reports.

However, the effects of altering a template can be more complex. For example, if a metric is removed from a template, the change can affect all, some, or none of the dependent reports. The reports can be adversely affected if, for example, the metric is removed from the template, but remains on the view template of the dependent report. It depends entirely on how the metric is included in the view definition of reports. The Template Dependency Validator allows you to conduct a quick impact analysis before saving any changes to a template.

The tool helps prevent the view definition from breaking the report because the view is asking for an object that is no longer in the data definition since it was removed from the underlying template. By alerting you to a potential problem, you can resolve the issue before any reports are affected.

For example, a report has a shortcut to a template, which contains Country, Region, Metric 1, and Metric 2. The view filter is set to "Metric 1 > 20." Suppose Metric 1 is removed from the template but not from the report view. When the report is executed, an error occurs because the view filter can no longer be evaluated (Metric 1 no longer exists).

When a template is modified and saved in MicroStrategy Developer, the Template Dependency Validator is triggered. The validator lists:

  • Reports that depend on the template

  • Reports that will not run if the change is completed

To resolve the problem, do one of the following:

  • Cancel the change and re-evaluate.

  • Open each dependent report and remove the dependencies, then make your changes to the template definition.

For the previous example, you could remove the view filter from the view definition of the dependent report.

The changes to the template are not saved until the Template Dependency Validator is closed. For details on the interface, see Template Dependency Validator.

Modifying the content of a template

  1. In MicroStrategy Developer, navigate to the template you want to modify. Double-click the template to open it in the Template Editor.

  2. To add another object to the template:

    • From the Object Browser, navigate to the object you want to place on the template.

    • Drag and drop, or double-click the desired object to move it onto the template.

    • When you are satisfied with the layout of your template, save the template.

  3. To remove an object from the template:

    • In the template (under Template definition), select the object you want to remove. The selected object changes to blue to indicate it is selected.

    • Either drag and drop the object back to the Object Browser, or press DELETE. If you press DELETE, a dialog box opens asking if you are sure you want to remove the object. Click Yes.

When you drag and drop the object into the Object Browser to remove it from the template, you do not have to first navigate to that object's folder. You can remove objects from the Template definition section by dropping them anywhere in the Object Browser.

Additional tasks for modifying a template's content:

Modifying the formatting of a template

Modifying a template's formatting means making modifications that affect the display of values returned for that template. For example, you can modify the format by determining the evaluation order, or by applying report limits. Click any of the links below for steps to perform the formatting you need:

Many of the formatting changes you can make to an individual report, can also be made to a template so that the formatting appears on all reports based on that template. For additional formatting ideas that can be applied to templates, see Designing reports.

Common tasks for modifying a template's formatting:

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