Category Archives: Utilities

Implementing section access based on Qlik Sense user table.

Welcome to my third Blog post, which will be a basic tutorial of how to setup section access for your Qlik Sense application, based on the Qlik Sense user table. This approach, created together with my colleague Martijn Olivier, is straight forward to implement in various occasions. My aim is not to over complicate it with all the extra possibilities that are possible. Also bear in mind that it should not substitute application level access based on security rules. This method describes how to implement section access within an application, based on a custom property assigned to a group of users.

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Auto AutoNumber your key fields

A quick note on a cool feature that I recently learned from Oleg Troyansky: AutoNumber.

I hear you thinking: “What? You didn’t know about AutoNumber? It’s been around for years. Hand over your Luminary badge!“. Admittedly, this is also what I thought when I hear Oleg mention it but it turned out that I misunderstood. Oleg wasn’t talking about the AutoNumber() script function, but the AutoNumber script statement. This statement was added in the June 2018 release of Qlik Sense (as well as QlikView 12.20) and lets you AutoNumber multiple fields, across multiple tables in a single line of script. And no, despite it being available for over a year, I hadn’t heard about it before. I’ll certainly be using it going forward though!

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Tutorial Tuesday: Implementing version control for Qlik Sense with Git, GitHub and Visual Studio Code

Welcome to my second Blog post, which will be a basic tutorial of how to setup a lightweight version control for Qlik Sense script. This approach is straight forward to implement in various occasions. My aim is not to over complicate version control by offering this as a nice beginners guide on version control and workflow.

This tutorial will be part of a series of Tutorial Tuesdays that will lead to a lightweight, straight forward and easy to implement framework within Qlik Sense. In the series of tutorials hereafter will we cover topics as version control with script changes, different localization settings, loading centralized variables, creating master items on variables and eventually getting a simple dashboard up and running based on all tutorials altogether.

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Extracting embedded images from QlikView

ImageExtractor for QlikView

ImageExtractor for QlikView

ImageExtractor is a small utility that extracts images from your QlikView applications and stores them as bitmaps. It also gives you a browser that tells you which images are used in which QlikView application.

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The Joy of QlikView Grid Layouts

While most QlikView Designers are familiar with the works and principles of data visualization gurus such as Stephen Few and Edward Tufte, when it comes to dashboard layout many (including myself) are more likely to follow the design principles of that other visualization expert: Bob Ross.

Dashboard Design - The Bob Ross way

I plot different objects on the sheet, basing their location on my experience, sound judgement and the overall aesthetic appeal. “Maybe in our world there lives a happy little treemap over there.” Apply a little horizontal and vertical alignment and I’ve finished another ‘masterpiece’. It’s much more of an art than a science, or at least that’s what I like to think.

While this approach is a lot of fun, it’s not a very fast way to get things done. Not every layout works immediately, and reshuffling objects after “happy little accidents” can take a lot of time.

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QlikView macro’s are bad!

Last Thursday I did a presentation at the Qlik Dev Group NL about QlikView macro’s. While the title Macro’s are bad! suggests that I have a very firm view on macro’s, of course the actual presentation is much more nuanced. I wouldn’t be talking about macro’s if I didn’t think they have their uses 😉

In my presentation, I identify some potential use cases for macro’s and discuss if these are a good idea. Next, I share some tips on developing and debugging your macro’s. There are a lot of myths around macro’s, so I have taken a look at which ones are actually true. The presentation concludes with an overview of some of the cool macro’s that are already out there.

You can find my slide deck below:

The examples that I used in my presentation can be downloaded using the link below:

Download the macro examples

I hope you will enjoy these slides. If you have any questions or, also interesting, a different opinion, then feel free to post to the comments section below.

RightQlik: a Windows Explorer context menu for QlikView

RightQlik

RightQlik is a small utility written by QlikView 11 for Developers co-author Miguel García. As I love how this utility makes my developer life just a little easier I posted a link today on LinkedIn and Twitter. I was surprised by how many people had never heard of RightQlik. It’s been out for quite a while. In the hope of having a few more people discover this little gem I am putting this post on my blog.

So what does RightQlik do?

RightQlik is a custom context menu (pictured right) that is shown when right-clicking on a QVW file. It allows quick access to common functions that you will often perform on a QlikView document:

  • Open in a new QV instance: open the QlikView document in a new QlikView instance (i.e. “having the program open multiple times”). This lets you easily switch between several QlikView files, or display them side by side (this is what I often use).
  • Open without data: opens the document without also loading its data. Very useful when you quickly need something from a big document, or if the data has become corrupted (fortunately a very rare event).
  • Reload document: reload the QlikView script and close the document after completion. With this option, you can run simultaneous, local reloads of several QlikView documents with a simple click by first selecting all of them.
  • Reload and keep open: reload the QlikView script and keep the document open after completion.

This custom context menu is only shown when dealing with QVW files, so it will stay out of your way when dealing with any other file type.

You can download RightQlik for free from the QlikMarket.

PS. If you find this utility useful, then please consider writing a short review on the QlikMarket.