Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Top 5 Little Known QlikView Shortcuts


In this post, I wanted to highlight a few little-known QlikView keyboard shortcuts.  Everybody is familiar with Ctrl-E to edit script or Ctrl-R to reload our application.  But lets take a look at a few shortcuts that you might not know about that provide some quick and cool functionality.  We will do this in reverse order for dramatic effect ;)

5.  Move locked objects: Alt-Drag


If you ever lock down your objects (Properties --> Layout --> Uncheck Allow Move/Size) then you know that you have locked their movement even for you, the developer.  Instead of checking this option again for all your objects, you can simply hold down Alt and drag your object wherever it is needed. 

4.  Comment & Uncomment: Ctrl-K-C / Ctrl-K-U


I am a fan of comments both in the script and in front end expressions.  These comments can help the next developer figure out why you did something, or far more likely, remind YOURSELF of what YOU did 3 weeks ago in this application.  Most people are familiar with highlighting text, right clicking and selecting comment or uncomment.  But the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-K-C will comment highlighted lines and Ctrl-K-U will uncomment the selection. 

3.  Activate previous or next sheet: F6 / F7


If you are progressing sequentially through the sheets of an application, F7 will save you a click as you proceed rightward from one sheet to the next.  F6 will move you backwards or right to left.

2.  Object properties:  Alt-Enter


Probably one of the most frequent operations is right clicking on an object and selecting properties.  There's a shortcut for that.  You still must activate the object with a click, but then Alt-Enter will get you to the properties.  That's a time-saver for sure.  If no object is selected it will invoke the sheet properties similar to if you right click in open space and select properties.

1.  Generate sample data: Ctrl-Q (2x)


Maybe not as usable as the previous, but this one takes the top spot for sheer cool factor.  Go to the script editor, and tap Ctrl-Q twice.  This will generate some scripting that, when reloaded, will create three tables of associated sample data for you to test with.  The script requires no outside files to run and will generate about 2,000 rows of transactions for you with a couple associated dimension tables. 

Please feel free to gloat if you knew these already.  Or I would be happy to hear about any other really cool shortcuts you have uncovered in your trials. 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Everything in its Place

 

The Problem


“Is there an easy way to fully expand and fully collapse my pivot chart?” or its cousin,“Can I just press a button to get the pivot chart back to a default?”
These are relatively frequent questions that I never had fully satisfactory answers for.
Before we get into the tip, I used to recommend Right Click à Collapse All or Right Click à Collapse Dimension Columns to collapse the chart and Right Click à Expand All to expand columns (one-by-one).

That solution is not great because first, if you are expanding the chart all the way out, you still have to do it one column at a time.  But the biggest problem presents once you pivot a dimension horizontally.  At that point, you cannot collapse the pivoted column without first un-pivoting the column.

Solution – The Layout Bookmark


The solution to this is actually pretty neat.  It involves a special kind of bookmark – The Layout Bookmark.  Our example will simply involve a collapsed state and a fully expanded and pivoted year column state.

First create a pivot chart and manipulate the columns so that none are pivoted and all are collapsed. 

Then we simply create a document bookmark Bookmarks à Add Bookmarks as follows.


 
 

Notice that we have unchecked “Include Selections in Bookmark”.  We want to be able to invoke this bookmark without affecting the current selections.  The only thing this bookmark will change will be the “layout state” of the application.
Next, expand out all the columns and then pivot the year column horizontally. 

 
 
 
Create another layout bookmark.
 
Now we need to create a couple buttons that will simply invoke each of these layout bookmarks.  But first, we need to know the id’s.  Go to Bookmarks à More…

 
There you can see that the id’s for these bookmarks are BM01 and BM02.  Take note of them.
Finally, create the buttons. 
You can name the button whatever you want and then for the button action, use Bookmark à Apply Bookmark along with the id for the bookmark you with to trigger.
 
Here is the finished product.  Hitting the buttons will expand or collapse the chart to the desired setting.

Notes

There are some complications to be aware of when creating layout bookmarks.
·         The layout state affects the entire sheet.  When you create a layout bookmark, it is taking a snapshot of the entire sheet layout, not just the pivot chart you are concerned with.  This includes minimize/restored settings and cyclic dimensions for all objects within the sheet.

·         The layout state activates the sheet.  This means that if you put this button on a different sheet, it will activate the sheet the bookmark was created on.  This could be good or bad but is important to understand for your use-case.

·         Layout states are hidden in containers.  If your charts are in a container, the layout state for objects within the container will not be saved.

Conclusion

Some of the other things that might be done using layout bookmarks.
·         Default sheet state
·         Set a cyclic dimension to be shown
·         Set a grouped expression to be shown
·         Set restored or minimized objects on a sheet
·         Set which object is shown within a single style container
I would love to hear any other ideas you have for this concept or other feedback.  Happy Qliking.

 

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Easy Way to Collect QVD Stats

 

Collecting Stats Helps Debugging and Alerts You to Problems

Most organizations will use QVD Generators to build out QVD data layers suitable for QlikView’s consumption.  There is generally no need to create any visualizations in these QVD Generators except for maybe some validation tables and some QVD statistics.  Today we will focus on an easy way to gather those statistics.  The statistics I generally gather help me answer questions regarding the output QVDs.
 
·         Which QVDs were written with this application?
·         How long did it take to create this QVD?
·         How many rows were written?
·         How many fields were in each table?
Obviously, being able to easily answer these questions helps us better understand and serve the BI enterprise.  It also provides a helpful tool for debugging logical errors in our QlikView scripts.
And because we actually take this statistics table and write it to QVD as well, we can use it in later loads as needed to create a data source lineage for a particular application.  Another benefit of creating this statistics QVD(s) is that I can drop all the tables that created the QVDs while still retaining the statistics.  This leaves the application light and quick to save.
Here is an example of the front end to show you what kind of data will be collected and displayed.  Of course, the stats you collect and present are really up to you, the developer.
 
 

How to set up the collection

I use blocks of code that can be basically put into any script and adjusted as needed.  We basically have four chunks of code that get deposited into our script.
1.       Set up any needed global variables and set up the statistics table structure.
2.       Set up a sub-routine that creates the stat table.
3.       Change the start time and table name each time we go to a new QVD.
4.       Call the subroutine.
 

Set up any needed global variables and set up the statistics table structure

First, create any variables that will need to be collected in your statistics or displayed in your front end.  For this example, we are using a variable to determine my directory, the name of my environment, the source, division and the path for my statistics QVD.  These two chunks of script should be inserted towards the beginning of the script before any loading occurs.
//dev
set vDir = 'C:\Users\Aaron\Documents\QlikView Apps\Blog Apps\Statistics Collection';
set vEnv = 'Dev';
//prod
//set vDir = 'D:\QlikView Documents\Production\Sales';

//   Set variables for qvd naming
set vDivision=  'QAP';
set vSource =   'BAAN';

LET StatisticsPath = '$(vDir)\ETL_Statistics_$(vDivision)_$(vSource).qvd';
 
We also will look for an existing statistics QVD and if one is not found, we will create it.
IF FileSize('$(StatisticsPath)') > 0 THEN //  The Statistics QVD already exists.
ELSE // The Statistics QVD needs to be created

Statistics:
LOAD * INLINE [
    TableName, Division, Source, ReloadedDate, StartTime, EndTime, Duration, Records, Fields
    , ]
;

STORE Statistics INTO $(StatisticsPath)(qvd);
DROP TABLE Statistics;
END IF  
 
 

Set up a sub-routine that creates the stat table

Next we create a subroutine that appends the statistics each time we load new data into a QVD.  This script records all of the needed data from whatever load has just occurred, adds it to the existing statistics records and then saves the whole thing back to QVD.  This script gets inserted just below the prior set up stuff and will be called at various times later in the script.
sub Stats

    
//   Call this script between qvd store and drop table commands to gather statistics for the qvd. 
     //   There must be a vStartTime and a vTable variable
     LET vEndTime = NOW();
    
LET vRecords = NoOfRows('$(vTable)');
    
LET vFields  = NoOfFields('$(vTable)');
    
     Statistics:
    
LOAD * FROM $(StatisticsPath)(qvd)   WHERE TableName <> '$(vTable)';
    
JOIN (Statistics)
    
LOAD DISTINCT '$(vTable)' AS TableName, '$(vDivision)' AS Division, '$(vSource)' as Source, DATE(NOW()) AS ReloadedDate, '$(vStartTime)' AS StartTime, '$(vEndTime)' AS EndTime,
          
INTERVAL(NUM('$(vEndTime)') - NUM('$(vStartTime)'),'hh:mm:ss') AS Duration, $(vRecords) AS Records, $(vFields) as Fields
    
RESIDENT Statistics;
    
STORE Statistics INTO $(StatisticsPath)(qvd);
    
DROP TABLE Statistics;

end sub 
 
 

Change the start time and table name each time we go to a new QVD

So now we go about the business of loading data from our data sources and creating QVDs.  The basic idea is that we will need to establish some variables at the beginning of each load and then run the subroutine at the end of each load.  Using this approach we can collect statistics for every QVD that gets created.  Start by adding this script to the top of each data loading section.  Note the vTable variable could also be used within your load statements to name your table.
//   Append this script to the start of each qvd creation.
LET vStartTime = NOW();
SET vTable = 'ETL_Sales_Header'; 
 
 

Call the subroutine

Finally, we can call the statistics subroutine that will record our ending variables and append the QVD.  This simple code will run the routine we created in the second step.
//   call subroutine to gather statistics for the qvd.
call Stats;
Place this code after we store each data QVD.  One thing to note is that you should wait to drop the data QVD until after this subroutine runs or simply drop them all at the end of your script.
 

Thoughts?

There are many ways we can simplify the data we are collecting or expand the data.  Hopefully this structure is clear and economical enough for you to adjust to your needs.  The example I provided is simply what I use to complete this task and I tweak the code depending on the situation.
As always, I hope you find this valuable.  Please let me know what you think.  And if you accomplish statistics collection differently or can improve upon this, please participate in the discussion.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

6 Pictures Only QlikView Developers will Understand



Donald Farmer and Tommy Chong
Gurus of their respective fields
We all talk a big game with our complex table structures and fancy visualizations.  But once in a while, it is OK to let our hair down (for those of us that have some) and have some fun at our own expense.  I thought it would be a nice change of pace to offer up a few examples that might relate to our collective QlikView development experiences.  See if you can guess what QlikView concepts the pictures below represent.  I went ahead and put the caption text in white so highlighting the caption should give you the answers (might not work?).  The answers were also added at the bottom of the post.  Enjoy!
Concatenated Keys


Link Table

Synthetic Key


Section Access
 

Reload



Cycle Group


Here are the answers in order:
1. Concatenated Keys
2. Link Table
3. Synthetic Key
4. Section Access
5. Reload
6. Cycle Group
Thanks to  DV  over at QlikShare for the inspiration for this post.
As usual, your comments and shares are much appreciated.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Let's Do Something Cool with Color



 
 
Script-Side ColorMix – Subcategory Color Assignments
This exercise came from something I did for my personal use, but I think the principal can be applied to business cases as well.  You can download the example here.

I have long used the ColorMix wizard in QlikView for heat map charts.  Using this function QlikView can assign colors to values in your chart based on its position in the range of all values.  This is an immediately apparent use-case but I wanted to do something a little different.

I have a regular fitness program where I mix up different types of activities throughout the week.  In addition to the main activities, I want to be able to visually separate sub activities from each other while still maintaining them as activity groups.  Here are screen shots of the Activity and the Activity SubClass broken out to show you what I mean:


Left - By Activity                                Right - By Activity SubClass

So my P90X programs will always be some shade of gray.  My Insanity programs will all be some shade of Orange, etc.  The front-side ColorMix function is great, but it would be very difficult to assign these in the front-end especially considering the grouped dimension and varying numbers of SubClass groups as time goes on.

The idea is that when only the Activities are shown, I want to explicitly assign the main colors.  But when we break these out into Activity SubClass, I want to dynamically assign a shade of that Activity color to each of the Activity SubClass values within it.  I realized quickly that the best way to do this was to utilize ColorMix in the script.

The first step is to decide what colors should be assigned to each category.  Create a spreadsheet and give each Activity an RGB value.  You must also decide what will be the range of colors that will be used to create the Activity SubClass colors.  In this case, the Activity list will need to be maintained, but the SubClass values can vary because the actual RGB values for each distinct SubClass will be assigned at reload time.
 
Activity ColorTop ColorLow Color
ActivityRGBRHGHBHRLGLBL
Insanity255151162551020255224185
P90X847571847571233231228
Hiking212250098116023025499
Running34841583484158118154207
Biking1302715913027159186112207
Elliptical255797925579792557979

 
Next you must create the script that will load these up and create the structure that will facilitate the ColorMix operation. 
Create a table with the distinct Activity SubClasses creating a key.
//  load distinct keys
TempColorMix:
load distinct ActivityKey, Activity as Act, [Activity SubClass] as ActSub, ActSubSort
resident ActivityLog
where not isnull(ActivityKey)
order by ActSubSort;
 
Create a counter row that resets for each major Activity.
//  add the subrow row numbers for each activity
//  must be done in separate step due to ordering and distinct features.
Temp2ColorMix:
load ActivityKey, Act, ActSub,
if(Act<>peek('Act'),1,peek('SubRow')+1) as SubRow
resident TempColorMix
order by ActSubSort;
drop table TempColorMix;
 
Now find the low and high value for each activity.  This will give the ColorMix function the ranges to create colors for.
//  find the max and min row number for each activity
left join (Temp2ColorMix)
load min(SubRow) as SubMin, max(SubRow) as SubMax, Act
resident Temp2ColorMix
group by Act;

Add in the actual color ranges we had set up in the spreadsheet.
//  join in the guide colors
left join (Temp2ColorMix)
LOAD Activity as Act,
    
argb(255,R,G,B) as ColorAct,
    
RH, GH, BH,
    
RL, GL, BL
FROM Data\Workouts.xlsx(ooxml, embedded labels, header is 1 lines, table is ColorMix);
 
Note that you can use a standard color dispersion or an enhanced color dispersion that results in a more distinguishable set of colors.  I put both examples in the sample script and just commented out the standard one.
//  now we can get the color for each Activity SubClass and create final table
ColorMix:
load ActivityKey, ColorAct,
   
//if(SubMax=1,ColorAct,colormix1((SubRow-SubMin)/(SubMax-SubMin),rgb(RH,GH,BH),rgb(RL,GL,BL))) as ColorSub //  standard color dispersion
    if(SubMax=1,ColorAct,colormix1((1+sign(2*(SubRow-SubMin)/(SubMax-SubMin)-1)*sqrt(fabs((2*(SubRow-SubMin)/(SubMax-SubMin)-1))))/2,rgb(RH,GH,BH),rgb(RL,GL,BL))) as ColorSub //  enhanced color dispersion (less collision in the middle spectrum)
resident Temp2ColorMix
order by Act, ActSub;
drop table Temp2ColorMix;

 

After reloading, we can focus on visualization. Create a variable expression to assign our colors.  We used $(vColorPick).
 
if(getcurrentfield(ActivityGroup)='Activity',ColorAct,
   if(count(distinct
[Activity SubClass])=1,ColorSub,rgb(154,151,170)))
This variable can be called in the Background Color attribute for the expression in any chart.  If you need help with Background Colors in Expression Attributes reference this article.  We added an else statement to take care of any values we neglected to assign in our spreadsheet.
So hopefully this has value for you.  I have posted the spreadsheet and qvw here.  Feel free to use it to learn more about this method OR obviously you could use it to keep your own workout log.

Is this valuable to you?  Then please share. 
Do you see other use cases or a better way to do this?  Then please comment.