What’s New in QlikView 8

As a result of our development and your comments, QlikView 8 is considerably more powerful for data analysis while being even easier to use than before. A large number of improvements have been made compared with version 7.5, some of them truly ground-breaking. We believe that there will be something for everyone to enjoy. Most of the new features are presented more in detail below. Product integration Two major themes when making the specification of QlikView 8 was to strengthen QlikView’s ability to serve really large numbers of users and to handle really large numbers of documents. The key to these goals, we believe, lies with QlikView Server and QlikView Publisher. Making those components part of the default QlikView configuration is thus a must. With a number of developments we have tried to make them more integrated, more accessible and easier to utilize. One product suite With the release of QlikView 8 we want to emphasize the merging of QlikView, QlikView Server and QlikView Publisher into one integrated product suite. All components now share the same version number. A number of features have been added to make the components feel as one integrated unit. QVS and Publisher control panels from inside QlikView By configuring URLs in the Locations folder of User Preferences the QlikView administrator can have direct shortcuts to the QlikView Publisher control panel and the new html based QlikView server control panel from the QlikView menu. The control panels will of course appear as html windows inside QlikView. QlikView AccessPoint from inside QlikView Another configurable URL in the Locations folder gives the end-user direct shortcuts to QlikView AccessPoint from the QlikView menu. The AccessPoint will of course appear as an html window inside QlikView. Direct access to QVS and Publisher document folders Folder locations for QlikView server documents and QlikView Publisher source documents can be defined in the Locations page of User Preferences. When this is done, icons for direct access to these folders will appear in the Open and Save dialogs (requires Windows XP or later). Page generator for object based clients A page generator for the object based clients (AJAX zero-footprint, Java Objects and QlikX) has been integrated into QlikView. The wizard driven generator will take any QlikView document and produce a corresponding html page layout for any of the client types listed above. The html page can be previewed in an html window inside QlikView. The pages produced may be used directly or edited further in any html design tool.

Other QlikView Server related features

The following developments are mainly related QlikView Server and with the exception of graceful document refresh may belong more in the What’s new section of the QlikView Server reference manual. For reasons stated above we still chose to list them here as well.Graceful document refresh When using QlikView as a client to QlikView Server, it is now possible to refresh your session with new data (as the server document is updated) without loosing session or selection state. New Java clients The QlikView Java clients have been completely re-written to make full use of the possibilities in Sun Java 1.5. The result is a client close to pixel-perfect in behavior compared to the IE plug-in client. New features include better font-handling, support for transparent objects, color gradients, object borders with rounded corners etc. It is our ambition that the Java clients will gradually be expanded to cover basically all functionality supported in the IE plug-in client. Improved AJAX Zero-Footprint client The work continues to expand the functionality of the AJAX client and also to improve performance. Better perceived performance is expected mainly to an increased asynchronicity of individual sheet objects. New QlikView Server Control Panel The new QlikView server Control Panel is fully html based. It communicates not with the registry but rather directly with QlikView Server via a new web service interface. In addition to the controls of the old exe control panel it includes monitoring of various aspects of the QlikView Server, e.g. active users, active sessions, memory usage etc. The plan is to gradually expand the control panel with more control options, allowing for e.g. pre-loading of documents, scheduled loading/unloading, user exemption etc. Built-in http server A basic (trimmed down to the specific needs of QlikView Server and QlikView Publisher) http server has been added to QlikView Server. When running QlikView Server on Windows XP or later it will provide an alternative to MS IIS. It is expected that the use of the built-in http server will be expanded in QlikView versions to come.

Collaboration

The third major design goal for QlikView 8 has been to break the so far somewhat solitary nature of the QlikView experience. Great analysis can only get better if we provide good means of sharing findings and results with fellow users. Again, the key is QlikView Server.Server bookmarks and shared server bookmarks Bookmarks created when working with documents on QlikView Server can now be stored in a repository adjacent to the document on the server. Your personal bookmarks will be available for roaming from any computer where you work as an authenticated user. Your personal server bookmarks can always be found in the My Server Bookmarks page of the More Bookmarks dialog. Furthermore, you may flag any of your personal server bookmarks as shared to other users. That means that they will appear on the Shared Server Bookmarks page of the More Bookmarks dialog. Other users’ shared bookmarks will be available to you in the same manner. This functi nality will be available to Enterprise, Professional and Analyzer users alike, but for now not from the Java and AJAX zero-footprint clients. User objects and shared objects It has never before been possible for an end-user to add sheet objects when working with a document on QlikView Server. Now it is! Objects may be created in the usual manner but will be stored in a repository adjacent to the document on the server. Your personal sheet objects will be available for roaming from any computer where you work as an authenticated user. Your personal server objects can always be found in the My Server Objects page of the Server Objects dialog (Layout menu). Furthermore, you may flag any of your personal server objects as shared to other users. That means that they will appear on the Shared Server Objects page of the Server Objects dialog. Other users’ shared objects will be available to you in the same manner. This functionality will be available to Enterprise and Professional users with exe or IE plug-in client. Shared reports In analogy with server sheet objects there will also be the possibility to define personal server reports and share those with other users. Again, this functionality will be available to Enterprise and Professional users with exe or IE plug-in client. Mail bookmark – click to invoke When you find something worth sharing in a QlikView Server document, you may with just a single command from the menu send a snapshot to another user. A temporary server bookmark (including layout status information) will be created on the server. A mail with a qvp URL encoding the bookmark reference will be generated. You just need to enter recipient name and any text you like to go with the link. When the recipient clicks on the link, the QlikView Server document will be opened and your selections and layout status reapplied. This functionality obviously relies on the recipient having access to the document on the server and access to relevant parts of data and layout therein. Mail qvw document as attachment The local qvw file counterpart of the above item. Creates a mail with the qvw document as attachment. No QlikView Server required or involved.

Input fields

The fourth and final major theme of QlikView 8 is the introduction of the possibility to change certain field values without running the script. Whereas interactive and programmatic input of values in variables has been possible for a long time, the extension of these capabilities to fields is a true paradigm shift in QlikView. It opens up QlikView to applications such as budgeting, planning, forecasting and what-if analysis. Finally the programmatic entry of input field data may be used to achieve near-real-time data display in QlikView.Input fields An input field is just like any other field in QlikView, with the difference that its values, as read in the script, can later be changed without running the script again. Input fields can be used like any other fields in all types of sheet objects. The script creates placeholders for each field value, which can later be edited to contain new data. Any field can be turned into an input field by listing it in an inputfield statement in the script before it appears in a load or select statement. Values of an input field can be changed in list box cells, table box cells and in table chart expression cells. Only list boxes and table columns which contain input fields are editable. By hovering over an editable cell you will see an input icon. Clicking on the icon sets the cell in input edit mode. It is possible to use up/down arrow keys to move between cells while staying in input edit mode. The entire QlikView document will automatically recalculate whenever new values are entered. A table chart expression cell may contain the aggregation inputsum(inputfield) and still be open for input. The change will then be distributed back to the underlying field values, based on predefined algorithms, such as e.g. ”spread equally” or ”spread proportionally”. There are also Automation APIs for extracting and setting values programmatically.

General features

Windows Vista compliance QlikView is now fully compatible with Windows Vista. Advanced search If you start a text search with an equal sign = , you may now enter an advanced search expression involving search criteria for associated fields and full boolean logic. After the equal sign you may type any valid QlikView layout expression. The expression will be evaluated for each filed value in the search field. All values for which the search expression returns a non-zero value will be selected. This feature adds new dimensions to QlikView search. In order to facilitate the entry of complex search expressions, an expanded search dialog has been added. It can be opened from the regular search window or via ctrl+F. Alert wizard The new alert wizard simplifies the task of defining alerts Field level security in section access The QlikView script section access has been amended with syntax to suppress one or more fields based on log-in identity. Suppressed fields are completely unavailable in the layout and cannot be referenced via Automation. Scrambling page in document properties With the help of the new scrambling page it is possible to perform a random scrambling of the data in one or more fields. Numbers are scrambled to numbers and text to text (spaces are kept). Once scrambled, the data cannot be recreated in its original form by QlikTech or anyone else.

Script, data Retrieval and data Interpretation

Office 2007 compatibility QlikView 8 can read Excel files saved in the new Office 2007 format. Multiple tabs in hidden script It is now possible to have multiple tabs in the hidden part of the script.

Script and layout functions

Workday functions The new functions networkdays, firstworkday and lastworkday have been added to simplify calculations involving work days. Like operator The like operator has been added for string matching with wildcards. Hash functions in script The two new script functions has128 and autonumberhash128 can be used build complex keys with better performance. Other new functions The age function returns the age in completed years at a certain time. The substringcount function returns the number of times the string substring appears within the string text

Chart features

Funnel chart The funnel chart is a new chart type in QlikView, typically used for showing data in flows and processes. From a display standpoint it is related to the pie chart. Improved 3D pie chart The pie chart has been amended with a new improved 3D look with true perspective. Search/select in straight table expression column It is now possible to add a search icon in expression columns in straight tables. clicking the icon a search box will be opened. You may then type a search criteria (e.g. >100000). When hitting ENTER all table rows with an expression value matching the search criteria will be selected. ALL qualifier with modifying dimensions The ALL qualifier functionality in QlikView chart expressions has been extended to match that of the TOTAL qualifier. This means that the ALL qualifier can be used with more aggregation functions and that it may be modified with one or more chart dimensions.

Layout features

Animated GIF support Animated GIF images are now supported in QlikView text objects and buttons. Text object stretch/align settings There are now full stretch and alignment settings for both background and foreground images in text objects. Eraser icon on each line in Current Selections Box Options have been added for displaying clear and lock/unlock icons on each row in the current selections box. Clicking on the icons has the same effect as the previously available Clear and Lock/Unlock commands in the current selections box context menu. Expanded layer control GUI for objects A custom setting has been added in the layer control for sheet objects. Whereas the previous GUI has only allowed the use of three layers, there is now access to the full underlying 255 layers. With design grid turned the object menus of all sheet objects have been amended with an Order cascade menu for easy control of layers. Detailed control of minimized sheet object size/position On the Advanced Caption Settings dialog (Layout page of sheet object properties) it is now also possible to set minimized sheet object size and position to exact pixel values. Object ID renumber command. A command has been added for a complete renumbering of all sheet, sheet object, bookmark, alert and report IDs in a document. Please use with caution, as e.g. macros referencing objects by ID will be rendered useless.

Printing and exporting from QlikView

Report editor enhancements The report editor has undergone extensive work to make building of reports easier. New functionality includes a zoom control, design grid, alignment tools and the ability to navigate to any object in the report using the tab key. Furthermore it is now possible to drag and drop multiple sheet objects from the layout to the report in one operation. Drag and drop capabilities with in the report editor have also been expanded, including the possibility to move the border between the different sections of a multi paper page interactively. Configurable section spacing in report The distance between the different sections of a multi paper page can now be configured as a percentage of the total paper height. Show condition on reports Just as it has been possible before to attach a show condition on sheets and sheet objects, it is now also possible to do the same on reports. This allows for the conditional display of reports depending on selections made or user identity. Calculated report names The name of a report may now be expressed as a calculated formula. Print code enhancements The general print code of QlikView has been revised for better performance and better page number calculation.

Automation and Macros

Automation Interface The QlikView Automation interface has been extended with a number of new members in order to facilitate better control of QlikView. Since many parts of QlikView have been extensively changed, macros from earlier versions of QlikView may have to be revised in order to work in QlikView 8. This is especially true for all macros referencing sheet object properties. Below a few much requested highlights have been singled out. See the QlikView 8.0 APIguide for details on all new Automation members. Improved export method A new method ExportEx has been added. This method gives you options for exporting QlikView sheet object data content to any file format supported, including QVD Field level security – Option in Automation reduce-method The Document.ReduceData method has been amended with the option of dropping individual fields as part of the reduction.