Simplify Code Using MicroStrategy Custom Tags

Some content and layout customizations within page-sections require you to write code. If you need to write code, take advantage of MicroStrategy custom tags to simplify and minimize the amount of code you need to place directly in the JSP/ASP files. Use custom HTML tags to

• change layout of static and dynamic content directly in JSP/ASP files  

• make dynamic content generation easy:

  • Custom tags look like and can be used like HTML  

  • Custom tags provide quick and easy access to sophisticated code execution  

  • Custom tags are cross-platform and behave identically in .NET and J2EE environments  

There are many tags you can take advantage of. Commonly used tags include:

• Table-specific tags that dynamically size tables. 

• The beanValue tag that displays a specific property value of an object; this is useful for building URLs. 

• The connectionValue tag that returns information about properties related to a given connection, such as the name of a user currently connected, or project names and aliases currently connected. 

• Tags for including conditional logic. For example, "If a bean is of a specific type, then output this HTML." These tags are useful to enable scenarios such as, "If a report is a specific report, then display this additional panel of information." 

• Tags to assist in building shortcuts. 

• Tags to dynamically build hyperlinks based on the event you want the hyperlink to accomplish.

Best practices for using custom tags include:

• Avoiding JavaScript and DHTML: Use custom tags to replace cumbersome JavaScript and DHTML with reusable markup. 

• Making localization easy: Custom MicroStrategy tags can make customization in English and other languages simple and quick. 

All 50-plus custom tags are documented in the MicroStrategy Custom Tags Reference.