As you may (or may not know) all object in MicroStrategy are tracked by a system generated id. Having a system generated id is a method of managing/tracking objects and maintains the object continuity across all of your environments. Most objects can be seen by default within the developer. However there are hidden and secret hidden objects you can access as well.
Within MicroStrategy there are two tiers of hidden objects.
Standard Hidden Objects like the "Profiles" folder
Secret Hidden System objects like "Columns" and "Attribute Form Category"
Standard Hidden Objects
Hidden objects can easily be enabled using developer by Selecting
Tools ➡ Preferences ➡ Developer ➡ Browsing ➡ Display Hidden Objects
Having the ability to review objects directly within the profile folder of a user (My reports etc.) can be a major time saver!
Secret Hidden Objects
Secret hidden objects are a slew of system managed objects like columns, attribute forms and the like. Since these are managed in the metadata layer it's logical that they'd have a generated id. Ever wonder how these get managed and migrated between environment? Well, this is how. Now let's enabled it.
The System Objects folder isn't enabled within developer and requires a registry edit. First make sure to close you developer application or the edit wont take. Next, open your registry editor ("regedit" from the run command). Now with the registry open navigate to;
HKEY_CURRENT_USER ➡ Software ➡ MicroStrategy ➡ DSS Agent ➡ DSS Agent ➡ ShowInvisibleObjects and set the value to "yes "
Now open developer and see that the secret system objects folder is now available!
Thanks for checking out this blog post. If you found this post helpful please consider donating. Any contribution is appreciated! Just click the PayPal icon at the bottom of this page.