Incremental fetch

Incremental fetch divides large documents or layouts into pages, thereby loading the data in batches (or blocks) rather than all at the same time. This improves the usability and performance of a large document or layout, by reducing the load and overall memory usage on the web server.

You can define the incremental fetch options in both MicroStrategy Web and in MicroStrategy Developer. Incremental fetch is applied when the document is executed in Editable Mode or Presentation Mode in MicroStrategy Web. MicroStrategy Developer does not apply incremental fetch to documents.

The blocks of data are defined by the number of objects (the block size) to return at a certain level. If the document or layout is grouped, you can select any group as the level. If it is not, then the block size is applied to the Detail section.

For example, each row in the Detail section of a document contains the Item attribute and several metrics. Incremental fetch is applied, with a block size of ten. In MicroStrategy Web, only ten rows of items are displayed on a single page, as shown in the document sample below:

The bottom of the document contains page numbers, so that you can navigate to another page to display more information. The document has 36 pages in all.

If the same document is grouped by Call Center, incremental fetch can be applied at the level of Call Center. This time, define the block size as five. Select All for the grouping, and then the incremental fetch is employed. Data for five Call Centers is displayed on a single page. The following image shows a portion of the first page of the document, including the end of the first call center and the beginning of the next. The document now contains only three pages, not 36.

If the group is displayed as a single element only, that group cannot be used as the fetch level, since the document must be displayed with all the grouping elements. You can still apply incremental fetch to the document, but only to the detail section, not to the group. If the document contains another group, which does allow all elements to be displayed, you can apply incremental fetch using that other group. For more information about grouping options, see Grouping records in a document.

If the document or layout is not grouped, incremental fetch can be applied only to the Detail section.

You can also apply incremental fetch to a specific Grid/Graph. For more information, see Incremental fetch on Grid/Graphs.

For steps to apply incremental fetch to a document in MicroStrategy Developer, see the MicroStrategy Developer help (formerly the MicroStrategy Desktop help).

To apply incremental fetch to a document

1. In MicroStrategy Web, open the document in the Document Editor.

2. If the document contains multiple layouts, select the layout to apply incremental fetch to.

3. From the Tools menu, choose Document Properties. The Document Properties dialog box opens.

4. On the left, under Layout Properties, select Advanced.

5. Select the Enable Incremental Fetch check box.

6. From the Fetch Level drop-down list, select the object to be counted for the incremental fetch level.

   • If the document or layout is grouped, the groups are displayed in the drop-down list. Groups that are displayed as a single element only are not shown on this list.

   • If the document or layout is not grouped or all the groups are displayed as single elements only, the only option is the Detail section.

7. Enter the Block Size, which is the number of objects (of the Fetch Level) that are returned in each block.

8. Click OK to return to the document.