Part I:  Fundamentals of Customization

This section introduces the fundamentals of customization in MicroStrategy Web and helps you get started with basic customization tasks. The content in this section is required knowledge for performing more advanced customizations. This section is divided into two broad categories. The first several subsections within Fundamentals of customization cover comprehensive technical content. The remaining sections contain scenarios to show you how to perform many of the tasks described within the comprehensive technical content sections:Comprehensive technical content:

• Navigation and Workflow: URL API

  Introduction to the general structure and behavior of MicroStrategy Web product's URL parameters, as well as how they can be used to design custom URLs and facilitate custom workflows. 

• Page Content and Layout

  Discussion of the Page Configuration File, the MicroStrategy Web page, and use of JSP or ASP.NET files from the presentation layer

• Data Presentations, Styles and Layout Definitions

  Discussion of the Style Catalog and use of styles, transforms, and layout definitions responsible for defining the rendering of data. This subsection also includes how to customize CSS files in MicroStrategy Web.

• Additional Application Settings:

  Discussion of other properties, features, and files that are important for customizations.

Customization scenarios

The Customizations Explorer provides a quick way to find any customization scenario.

The customization scenarios in this section are organized in the categories given below. These scenarios use the information discussed in the comprehensive technical content above:

• Cosmetic changes for look and feel 

• Altering application workflow and navigation 

• Customizing existing functionality

Read the comprehensive technical content for fundamental application properties and settings that are governed based on the concepts in these sections.

Before making any customizations, read the Best practices for customizing Web products. This section contains information on minimizing the impact of upgrades and tips on viewing the customization changes. You can also see the Troubleshooting Reference for resolving issues. Also read Applying customization changes so you know the quickest and easiest way to see and implement your customizations.