Common Extensions | Features | Benefits | Available Starter Kits | FAQs
Additional FAQs: Portal Integration FAQs | Web Services FAQs | Visualization Framework FAQs
MicroStrategy SDK Product Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the MicroStrategy SDK?
- What APIs are available in the MicroStrategy SDK?
- How can the MicroStrategy SDK be used?
- What are the key benefits of using the MicroStrategy SDK?
- What Industry standards are supported by MicroStrategy SDK?
- Does the MicroStrategy SDK have sample code?
- How can I package the MicroStrategy SDK into an installation of a value-added product?
- How does the MicroStrategy Web architecture make customization and integration easier, quicker and more maintainable?
- What are the benefits of parameter-driven customizations?
- What are the benefits of MicroStrategy’s plug-in architecture?
- What is the MicroStrategy Developer Library?
- Does the SDK provide any utilities to upgrade Web customizations to newer versions?
- What products does one need to buy while developing applications with the SDK?
1. What is the MicroStrategy SDK?
The MicroStrategy SDK is a comprehensive Software Development Kit that enables easy customization of the MicroStrategy BI platform and integration with enterprise business applications. Through documentation of the application programming interfaces (API), sample code and utilities, and development tools, the MicroStrategy SDK empowers developers to implement highly customized, functional, and powerful Web reporting BI applications, meeting all of your organization痴 BI requirements.
2. What APIs are available in the MicroStrategy SDK?
The MicroStrategy SDK includes the following categories of API references:
- Intelligence Server API: The Intelligence Server API exposes all the functionality of the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, including the ability to create metadata objects, administer users, implement security, and tune Intelligence Server parameters.
- Web API: The Web API allows developers to customize the MicroStrategy Web interface and integration with third-party applications. It enables modification of the look and feel of the Web interface, presentation of BI data, and functionality available to end users.
- Visualization SDK API: The MicroStrategy Visualization SDK is a framework used to plug in any widget (Flash & Non-Flash) within the MicroStrategy platform, providing deep integration with Adobe Flex Builder to build any type of visualizations and Rich Internet Application possible using Flash.
- Office API: The MicroStrategy Office API allows developers to build custom applications that use Microsoft Office products as a user interface to the MicroStrategy BI platform. This includes connecting to a BI application, browsing folders and reports, specifying report parameters using prompts, and running and displaying reports and documents.
- Web Services API: The Web Services API provides a jump start to developers who want to develop and deploy Web Services-based applications. It is built using the Web SDK and makes use of the multi-layered MicroStrategy Web architecture that clearly separates functionality from presentation.
3. How can the MicroStrategy SDK be used?
MicroStrategy SDK is used to customize the MicroStrategy BI platform or integrate BI applications built using the MicroStrategy platform with third party applications such as portals, mapping software, and identity management products. With the MicroStrategy SDK, developers can:
- Create a completely personalized business intelligence solution that caters to their business standards and requirements and integrate such embedding business intelligence into their existing IT infrastructure.
- Expose MicroStrategy intelligence and functionality within any interface of their choosing--new or existing, email or web--or easily change the interface that MicroStrategy provides.
- (For partners) Build applications and products using best-in-class business intelligence technology that they can resell to their customers. Examples of these include Adobe AIR and offline desktop applications.
Any application that provides reporting or data analysis to the end user can benefit from the MicroStrategy SDK. Examples include, but are not limited to web portals, ERP systems, CRM applications, sales force automation tools, B2B supply chain applications, and any information delivery system. These applications can be used in various industry verticals including retail, financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, and manufacturing.
4. What are key benefits from using MicroStrategy SDK?
The key benefits from using MicroStrategy SDK include:
- Easily modify the MicroStrategy Web interface with minimal programming skills, empowering report developers to quickly build custom applications
- Quickly deploy changes to user interfaces without requiring a recompilation or restarting the application, to achieve the fastest time to value
- Easily upgrade and migrate customizations using intuitive customization and upgrade tools
- Focus on how best to use the analytical power of the MicroStrategy platform to improve your applications while using data as a service
- Minimal IT and other resources required, thanks to an intuitive development environment and in-depth Developer Library
- OEM and System Integrator-friendly platform
For more details, see Benefits
5. What Industry standards are supported by MicroStrategy SDK?
The MicroStrategy BI platform conforms to industry standards, such as J2EE, .NET, XML, JSR168, MDX, WSRP, SOAP, COM, and Adobe Flex. This adherence to industry standards allows BI applications built using the MicroStrategy SDK to be easily integrated with other business applications.
6. Does the MicroStrategy SDK have sample code?
A set of Java, Visual Basic, VBA, and VC++ sample code provide developers with a jumpstart to using the APIs. The MicroStrategy Software Development Library (MSDL) contains all the sample code with illustrative examples.
7. How can I package the MicroStrategy SDK in an installation of a value added product?
The MicroStrategy SDK has easy-to-use silent install and runtime procedures, designed to help embed and package MicroStrategy SDK into any custom installation program.
8. How does the MicroStrategy Web architecture make customization and integration easier, quicker and maintainable?
MicroStrategy Web and Web Universal uses a layered, object-oriented architecture that allows developers to identify and isolate the functionality that needs to be customized, while minimizing the impact on the rest of the application. In addition, customizations are individually packaged as plug-ins, making the management and portability of customizations very easy given that no compilation or modification of the source code is required to deploy the changes. This architecture, together with the open API, allows developers to not only customize the look and feel of the application, but to also customize the BI functionality and workflow available to users within the application.
9. What are the benefits of parameter-driven customizations?
Many MicroStrategy Web customizations can be performed easily by modifying parameters within configuration files. The Web Customization Editor, an Eclipse READY™ product included with the MicroStrategy SDK, simplifies this process by providing an intuitive interface for performing these changes.
Included with the MicroStrategy SDK, the Web Customization Editor allows developers to easily customize their Web interface by modifying parameters via an intuitive interface. The Web Customization Editor packages these and other customization changes as a plug-in, simplifying and streamlining the customization and upgrade processes.
The benefits of the parameter-driven customizations are as follows:
| Easy to use |
|
Quick to deploy |
|
Comprehensive |
|
Upgradeable |
|
10. What are the benefits of MicroStrategy痴 plug-in architecture?
MicroStrategy Web provides a framework for plugging in your customization changes as a piece of software (called a plug-in) into MicroStrategy Web such that no compilation or modification of the source code is required for deploying the customization changes. The Web Customization Editor provided with MicroStrategy SDK is built on top of the plug-in architecture. It automatically creates plug-ins for your customizations and saves them in the appropriate location.
The benefits of the plug-in architecture are as follows:
Extensible |
The plug-ins separate the customization code changes from the default code. As a result, plug-ins can be used to extend the functionality of MicroStrategy Web without the need to recompile or to add new functionality to MicroStrategy Web without requiring access to source code. |
Upgradeable |
Since plug-ins are independent, the architecture is designed to accommodate future additions of plug-ins without breaking the source code. This lack of dependency ensures that every upgrade allows you to view your customizations in the new version of MicroStrategy Web as well as use the new MicroStrategy Web functionality introduced in that upgrade. |
Transparent |
Due to the separation of the customization code changes from default code, it is easy to view only the customization changes, without the baggage of viewing them as a part of one huge file. |
Portable |
Once a plug-in has been successfully deployed using the Web Customization Editor, it can be easily ported to an identical version of MicroStrategy Web on a different machine by simply inserting the plug-in into the appropriate folder inside the MicroStrategy Web installation. This reduces the time in moving your customizations from a development environment to a production environment. |
Easy to manage |
Since plug-ins are self-sufficient, you can deploy your customization by simply adding the plug-in into the appropriate folder inside the MicroStrategy Web installation. Similarly, to remove a customization, you only need to remove the plug-in from that folder. Thus, you do not need to get involved with any manual process of modifying or recompiling the files. |
11. What is the MicroStrategy Developer Library?
The MicroStrategy Developer Library (MSDL) is the one-stop shop for all of your customization and integration needs. It contains comprehensive, user-friendly documentation and reference material, complete with API references, samples, and how-to痴 for developers to quickly access information at the most detailed level.
12. Does the MicroStrategy SDK provide any utilities to upgrade Web customizations to newer versions?
The layered architecture of the MicroStrategy platform enables organizations to easily upgrade and migrate customizations to newer versions of the MicroStrategy BI platform as they are released. MicroStrategy SDK contains a Configuration Upgrade utility that compares the parameter settings of the new release of the Web interface to the customized settings, and automatically merges and upgrades the parameter-driven customizations. In addition, MicroStrategy SDK痴 plug-in architecture allows customizations to be handled as plug-ins, making them portable and easier to upgrade and roll back as required. Lastly, the Web Customization Editor, also available with the SDK, allows developers to easily customize the Web interface by modifying parameters via an intuitive interface.
13. What products does one need to buy while developing applications with the SDK?
In order to use BI applications built using the MicroStrategy SDK, you have to buy the related MicroStrategy products that provide the underlying BI functionality. For example, in order to use MicroStrategy Intelligence Server API, one must buy MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. If the custom Web application provides functionality equivalent to that provided by MicroStrategy Web Analyst, you must buy a 10-user license of MicroStrategy Web Analyst in addition to the 10-user license of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server.