Customizing MicroStrategy Web

MicroStrategy Web's open and customizable architecture allows you to change the look, feel, and even the functionality of MicroStrategy Web. You can also integrate this customized look and functionality in your own business intelligence applications. Some examples of how you can customize and integrate MicroStrategy Web functionality include adding a company logo to the MicroStrategy Web interface; modifying the look of icons, reports, and folders; hiding, disabling, and adding functionality to MicroStrategy Web; integrating MicroStrategy Web in a company portal; and modifying the look and feel of this MicroStrategy Web help program.

For more information on customizing MicroStrategy Web, see the MicroStrategy Developer Library (MSDL) provided with MicroStrategy SDK.

Install the online help documentation on a local web server

By default, the online help for MicroStrategy Web, MicroStrategy Web Administrator, and MicroStrategy Mobile Server is provided on a server hosted and maintained by MicroStrategy, allowing users of these MicroStrategy products to access the most recent and up to date documentation for their associated release.

In order to access the documentation, users must connect to the online help over the Internet. If allowing this type of connection is not feasible (for example, if users have a limited Internet connection or security concerns exist), you can provide a copy of the online help on a local web server instead. MicroStrategy provides help files that can be included in MicroStrategy Web or MicroStrategy Mobile Server deployments to provide local access to the online help. The local web pages served will only be in English, but full documentation in other languages can be found under the manuals folder within the MicroStrategyWebHelp.zip file available on the MicroStrategy download site.

Separate steps are provided below to modify your deployments of MicroStrategy Web or MicroStrategy Mobile Server to access local help files. You must perform these steps for each separate deployment of MicroStrategy Web or MicroStrategy Mobile Server.

Modify a MicroStrategy Web deployment to access local help files

On the machine that hosts your MicroStrategy Web deployment, extract the files from MicroStrategyWebHelp.zip.
From the extracted files, copy the top level folder (named MicroStrategy_Web_Help), move its entire contents, including all files and subfolders, into the top level directory for your MicroStrategy Web deployment.
Rename the copied folder help
Open the MicroStrategy Web Administrator page. For steps, see Web Administrator Page.
From the Web Server list on the left, click Help configuration. The help configuration options are displayed.
Select the Local. Links to the Help will start at ../help/ option, and then click Save.
Restart the web server hosting your MicroStrategy Web deployment.
To verify that the help is now accessing the local version of the help files, click Help or one of the Help icons within the MicroStrategy Web or MicroStrategy Web Administrator interfaces. Within the web browser page that displays the help information, verify that the URL in the address bar contains the location of a help file stored on the local web server instead of a file stored at www.microstrategy.com.

If you encounter an access error when clicking a help link, this can mean that the help files were not included in the proper deployment location. Ensure that the local help files you extracted from the associated .zip file are stored at the top level of the deployment path. The help folder must be the top level folder for the local help files.

Modify a MicroStrategy Mobile Server deployment to access local help files

On the machine that hosts your MicroStrategy Mobile Server deployment, extract the files from MicroStrategyMobileServerHelp.zip.
From the extracted files, copy the top level folder (named help) and move its entire contents, including all files and subfolders, into the top level directory for your MicroStrategy Mobile Server deployment.
Open the MicroStrategy Mobile Server Administrator page.
From the Mobile Server list on the left, click Help configuration. The help configuration options are displayed.
Select the Local. Links to the Help will start at ../help/ option, and then click Save.
Restart the web server hosting your MicroStrategy Mobile Server deployment.
To verify that the help is now accessing the local version of the help files, click one of the available Help options or ? (question mark) icons within the MicroStrategy Mobile Server interfaces. Within the web browser that displays the help information, the URL should reflect a local connection to the help as opposed to showing a connection to www.microstrategy.com.