Tag Archives: MicroStrategy

Intelligence Server SDK startup kit – v2

SDK, , ,

In the first episode of this series I showed you how to connect to a MicroStrategy project using VB6. Time has come to look at three ways that can be employed to find an object.

Two of these methods (objSearch.Execute and ObjectSource.FindObject) are actually covered by Tech Notes on the Knowledge Base. Nevertheless, I thought to embed them in easy to use Functions.

The third method is the famous Search by ID, as I think is time for me to disclose its secrets… To be honest I never thought I would, but hey, it’s my 3 years within MicroStrategy community anniversary, so this one is on me :)

You can download the VB6 project files here:

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Intelligence Server SDK startup kit

SDK, , , ,

I happen to know a guy or two whose curiosity for Intelligence Server SDK increased alarmingly in the last couple of months. I dedicate this article to them, and anybody who would like to get their hands dirty with some cool stuff.

But first of all, what is IS SDK? Most of the SDK guys are familiar with the Web SDK, the one which allows endless customizing to the web interface of MicroStrategy, amongst other things. Intelligence Server SDK, on the other hand, deals with reading, creating, modifying and executing objects from your Metadata. One can easily consider it to be Command Manager’s big brother who went to College. Unlike Command Manager, IS SDK is anything but user friendly. But man, it packs a serious punch if you learn how to handle it! The documentation and Tech Notes do provide all the necessary information to do just about anything, but actual examples are scarce.

IS SDK can be used via Visual Basic or C++. Since I’m by no means a pure breed programmer, I work with VBA, which is more or less like speaking English to the computer.

Enough introductions already. If you want to unleash its power, the first thing you must do is connect to a project. This apparently simple task poses enough challenges to deter many an enthusiastic programmer from going any further. I find this counterproductive and quite discomforting.

This is why I assembled a startup kit customized for VB6, which offers the code and explanations on how to connect to a project. Actually, it is the exact form that I used for Metadata Browser.

Download here:
Connection.zip

Updates and new tips may come in the future, depending on your feedback.

Metadata Browser v1.1

SDK, , ,

February 10, 2010: Please find the latest version here: MBsetupV2.0.exe

First of all I would like to thank you for your feedback and encouragements after the release of Metadata Browser v1.0 beta!

For those learning about Metadata Browser for the first time, let me say that this is an application that enables any user to navigate through a project, retrieve and export components, dependents and recurring dependents, and search by object ID.

You can download Metadata Browser v1.1 here:
MBSetupV1.1.exe

New features

  • Documentation Tool (requested)
    Ever wanted to get a detailed list of the objects created or modified for a specific demand? Look no further!
    Simply select the folder where those objects or their shortcuts* are and click on the “Documentation” button. You will get an exportable list that shows all kind of useful information about your objects (i.e. alias, format and formula for Metrics, mandatory flag for Filters and Prompts, and many others).
  • Object Type Count (requested)
    This function shows the count for each object type in the selected folder.

* Creating folders with shortcuts for each demand or release is a good practice. It also saves you a lot of time when copying those objects to other projects via Object Manager.

Fixed issues

  • The windows can be resized (requested). In the beta versions they had a fixed size.
  • All object types should be recognized now and an appropriate icon should be displayed. I’ll come back with an article on how to do this via VBA in SDK.
  • The buttons were replaced by a slick looking toolbar (requested).
  • A manual is now available.
MetadataBrowser1.1

Metadata Browser v1.1

About donations

Surprisingly enough, I got more messages encouraging me to monetize this tool than I got new requirements.

Since money is not why I started working on Metadata Browser, I resist the suggestions of attaching a price tag to it. Nevertheless, if you so feel inclined to make a donation then you now have this opportunity.

This is a read only application. Using it will cause no changes to your Metadata.

Metadata Browser v1.0 beta

SDK, , , , ,

February 10, 2010: Please find the latest version here: MBsetupV2.0.exe

July 25, 2009: Thanks to your feedback, version 1.1 is already available here.

For the last months I’ve been working on a new program which would act as a platform for many kinds of new functionalities. This program is called “Metadata Browser” and you can already download the Beta version here (new version available here).

So far, Metadata Browser enables any user to navigate through a project, retrieve and export components, dependents and recurring dependents, and search by ID.

Metadata Browser

Metadata Browser

Please bear in mind that I’m learning SDK and VBA as I go, so don’t be too harsh if you find a bug. Instead, please write me at the email address displayed in the “About” window and give me an opportunity to improve this software. I would also be very happy to receive ideas on new features that you may wish to see in Metadata Browser.

If you reach that moment where you want to uninstall Metadata Browser, please be aware that on x64 operating systems the uninstall feature doesn’t work. Since the registries are not affected by this program, it’s enough to manually remove the files and shortcuts.

This is a read only application. Using it won’t cause any change to your Metadata.

Spool space error

Database, ,

Okay, so this is an old one, but I still find it useful.

If you can’t run a report because of a spool space error, and you can’t convince the DBA to give you a couple of gigabytes more, then you might want to go to the Report Editor, Data ->VLDB Properties -> Tables -> Intermediate Table Type and select True temporary table.

What this does is modifying the SQL so that instead of having a huge chunk of code (that would use up a lot of memory) it breaks the code into CREATE – INSERT bits that are far easier to handle. It also makes the SQL more readable by humans (this includes programmers).

By the way, this setting also comes to rescue when you get the “Database is terrified by the script and it can’t even begin to analyze it” error. I don’t have the specific error message at hand, but I know for sure that Teradata does this when the SQL code is all in one pass and is so large that it can be seen from the Moon.