Page Configuration File

MicroStrategy Web products' Page Configuration file is an XML file that defines the framework for the entire MicroStrategy Web application. It is responsible for defining the structure for every page in the application. For each page, it defines the page's name, sections, shortcuts, Web components, styles, and so on.

File name and location

The default name of the Page Configuration file is pageConfig.xml and is located in the WEB-INF/xml folder of the Web application.

The Page Configuration File XML Structure topic describes the attributes and elements that make up pageConfig.xml.

It is possible to modify the name and location for pageConfig.xml. To make the application aware of a modified file name or location, the application's deployment descriptor (web.xml) must be altered. Specifically, the <init-param> whose <param-name> is configFile must have its corresponding value altered.

If the new location of your file remains inside the application context (that is, inside the MicroStrategy folder (for JSP), or Web ASPx (for ASP.NET) by default), then you may use a relative path, as indicated below:

<init-param>

<param-name>configFile</param-name>

<param-value>/_custom/WEB-INF/xml/myPageConfig.xml</param-value>

</init-param>

If your file is located outside of the application context, you must specify an absolute file path. The parameter path value must be preceded by the key word ABSOLUTE: as in the following examples:

<param-value>ABSOLUTE:/usr/web-mstr-cust/customizedPageConfig.xml</param-value>

<param-value>ABSOLUTE:/C:/web-mstr-cust/customizedPageConfig.xml</param-value>

Always use forward slashes (/) and never back slashes (\), whether working in a Windows or UNIX environment.

File read frequency

The Page Configuration file is read into memory by the servlet or corresponding ASP.NET file when the application is initialized. The default configuration is for the application to read this file only when the application is started, rather than to check for updates to the file with each successive request. Thus, by default, if the Page Configuration file is modified (as well as any other MicroStrategy Web XML configuration file), the application must be restarted to recognize these changes.

This is an effective strategy for a production environment. However, for development this may be inefficient. To change this behavior during development, see Applying customization changes.