2016 was a remarkable year for Qlik. Toma Bravo acquired Qlik in June of 2016 and Qlik Sense kept making rapid strides by adding new features through out the year.
That said, if you were busy building Qlik solutions and missed Qlik wisdom by visiting ever-growing list of blogs on AskQV.com, let not your heart be troubled.
I have prudently handpicked the best articles from these magnificent blogs so that you can quickly learn invaluable tips that may help you grow your skill in 2017.
So, without further ado, here’s my list of best Qlik articles of 2016.
1. How To Apply Your QlikView Skills To Qlik Sense
Many blog posts and tutorials on Qlik Sense focus on the data visualisation features. The load script is often omitted maybe because the script is almost identical to the QlikView load script, of which much has already been written. This post highlights some of the techniques that are common to both products.
2. The sortable Aggr function is finally here!
Despite the fact that we have been able to do some crazy stuff with Aggr(), every time we wanted to explore the possibilities of inter-record or range functions we faced a wall, Aggr() array of values couldn’t be sorted by any means. You couldn’t control how the data was ‘stored’ in the aggr() virtual table (load order by default) making it hardly usable for a variety of cases such as cumulative calculations, inter-record and range calculations, etc.
3. 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.
4. The Document Analyzer Compare Tool
I use the Document Analyzer tool as my tuning workbench. I’ve developed, and made available as a free download, a companion “Document Analyzer Compare Tool” that automates the comparison and reporting of different Document Analyzer runs. You can download both tools from the QlikView Cookbook Tools section. Let’s look at the details.
5. 17 Qlik Experts Reveal Their Favorite Tips
I was fortunate enough to convince some of the biggest names in the Qlik universe to provide their favorite QlikView and Qlik Sense tips. The contributors below consist of Qlik blog authors, current or former Qlik employees, and Qlik Luminaries. So let’s get on with the tips and tricks.
6. Fundamental rules of data visualization
There are many “rules” of data visualization that we read in many publications. Some contradict others and some just don’t make any sense. Some are accompanied by extensive amounts of proofiness, but often is missing appreciation of the fundamentals. I can use algebra to prove to you that 1+1=1, using perfectly legitimate algebraic transformations, but it is invalid because it breaks a fundamental rule (for those who are interested, I will add it at the end of the post).
7. Should I link or Concatenate
Qlik Sense has the ability to check field values when first loading the data and even if the field names don’t match Qlik Sense will make suggestions for you which is great news for new developers or developers that don’t want to get too bogged down with code.
8. Fact Table with Mixed Granularity
A common situation when modeling the data for a QlikView application is that you have several fact tables and the fact tables have mixed granularity. An example is budget vs. actual numbers, where the budget typically is made on a higher level than the actual numbers, e.g. the budget has regions instead of specific customers and months or quarters instead of specific dates.
Besides being a stunning way to present What-If scenarios, I liked the usage of the Tile Grid Maps, which have become a pretty popular visualization lately. What is a Tile Grid Map, you ask? Well, think of it as a mix between a choropleth map and a table heat map. If you want to see more examples, you can visit Bloomberg, The Washington Post or The New York Times.
10. Mastering QlikView Set Analysis
Every Qlik (View and Sense) developer must know Set Analysis. There are loads of articles on Qlikcommunity, and the good old reference manual has information on Set Analysis. However, the content on QlikCommunity is dispersed and hard to locate when you most need. Plus, reading Set Analysis is hard because of its syntax. When I started, I always forgot which brackets come first and the difference between Set Identifiers and Set Modifiers. Of course, with practice now I’m super comfortable with the subject and the syntax.
Enjoy!
