QlikView Macro's Are Bad
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The document discusses the use and implications of macros in QlikView, outlining both potential benefits and significant drawbacks. It emphasizes that while macros can automate tasks and improve efficiency, they may lead to stability issues and confusion for users, particularly in multi-threaded environments. Additionally, the document includes various use cases, myths, and resources for developing macros effectively within QlikView.
QlikView Macro's Are Bad
- 1. Macro’sare bad! Why you should never use macro’s Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Not sure if …
- 2. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 AGENDA 1 2 4 3 Introduction Developing macro’s What reference materials are there? How can you debug macro’s? What are macro’s? Where can you find them? What are the language options? What use cases are there? 5Some cool and/or useful macro’s How are we and others using macro’s? Macro’s myths Is it true what they say? 2
- 3. ABOUTBARRYHARMSEN 1 BI Consultant Working at Bitmetric. Started 15 years ago in ‘traditional’ Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. Switched to Qlik in 2008 and still enjoying it very much. 2 Blogger Regular blogger at www.qlikfix.com, together with my colleagues. Focused on Qlik, with topics ranging from common challenges to the extremely obscure (some would say pointless). 3 Author Authored the book QlikView 11 for Developers together with Miguel García. 4 Organizer of Qlik Dev Group NL Started organizing meetup for Qlik professionals in March 2015. Hobby/fun project. Help, speakers and sponsors welcome! 3 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015
- 4. WHATIS A MACRO? “Asingle instruction that expands automatically into a set of instructions to perform a particular task. ” Scriptto automate a series of steps in QlikView Found under Tools | Edit Module (Ctrl + M) VBScript JScript 4 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015
- 5. MACRO USE CASES Sowhat can you use macro’s for? Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 5
- 6. MACROUSE CASES (1/2) Custom scriptfunctions Custom chartfunctions Reportgeneration Front-endinteractivity Create additional functions that can be used in the QlikView script. Create additional functions that can be used in front-end charts. Generate reports by making selections and exporting data and/or images to Excel, PowerPoint, Word, HTML, etc. Provide additional front- end interactivity, for example dynamically modifying charts or selections, calling a web service etc. 6 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015
- 7. MACROUSE CASES (2/2) Cache warming Mass updates Dynamicupdate Developmentautomation Timed script that automatically makes selections on big server documents. Ensures that the results are already cached for the users. Perform an ad-hoc mass update of document, sheet or object properties across an application. Dynamically insert or update values into the QlikView data model. Automate common developer tasks, for example generation of ad-hoc report objects, or document layout and navigation. 7 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015
- 8. MACROUSE CASE CUSTOMSCRIPTFUNCTIONS Create additional functions that can be used in the QlikView script. Examples Regular Expressions*, Levenshtein Distance, SHA-1 hashing* Alternative: dump table to CSV during reload and process externally (R, Python, Perl) 8 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 * See: http://www.qlikfix.com/2010/10/18/regular-expressions-in-the-load-script/ for example ** See: http://www.qlikfix.com/2012/06/06/check-if-your-linkedin-password-was-leaked/ for example Good idea? Depends
- 9. Requires some additional tweaking touse Set AllowMacroFunctionsInExpressions to 1 Found in Easter Egg menu: Help | About QlikView | Right-click Q MACROUSE CASE CUSTOMCHARTFUNCTIONS Use additional macro functions within expressions in the front-end. 9 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? No, unless…
- 10. MACROUSE CASE REPORTGENERATION Export QlikView data and objects into external reports, for example in PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, Word or HTML. Can be done from within the application, butalso externally Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? Depends Example included in presentation files 10
- 11. Macro’s are run bythe user using button/text object, or by using triggers. Many macro’s do not work in AJAX client, OnPostReload trigger doesn’t work on server. Can have stability issues or just plain confuse the user. MACROUSE CASE FRONT-ENDINTERACTIVITY Add additional ‘pyrotechnics’ to the QlikView front-end, for example changing chart properties at run time, adding/modifying expressions, etc. 11 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? No! Example included in presentation files
- 12. MACROUSE CASE CACHE WARMING Open a (large) document on the QlikView Server and ensure that common user selections have been made (and cached), before the ‘real’ users log in. Cache warming improves ‘perceived’ performance It’s a good idea to first try to improve the actual performance of an app before using cache warming. Alternatives: QV Scalability Tools* or Selenium Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? Sort of, better alternatives out there *QV Scalability Tools can be downloaded here: https://community.qlik.com/docs/DOC-6658 12
- 13. When other solutions do not work, macro’s can be useful todomass updates Alternatives: Search & Replace expressions, Search & Replace across Prj- files, Format Painter, applying themes, etc. MACROUSE CASE MASS UPDATES Perform an ad-hoc mass update of documents, sheets or objects. Across an application, or across multiple applications. 13 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? Yes, but be careful, better safe than sorry Example included in presentation files
- 14. MACROUSE CASE DYNAMICUPDATES Dynamically insert or update rows in the QlikView data model. Trickle load datainto the data model Partial alternative: Partial Reload Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? No, just don’t use Dynamic Updates Example included in presentation files 14
- 15. A lazy efficient developer is a good developer! Minimize time on non-value added activities, so you can spend more time on the things that really matter. MACROUSE CASE DEVELOPMENTAUTOMATION Automate common developer/designer tasks. For example exporting and importing variables, creating ad-hoc analysis objects, creating navigation and layout object. 15 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 Good idea? Yes, a very good idea! See http://www.qlikfix.com/2013/09/06/importing-and-exporting-variables/ for an example
- 16. DEVELOPING MACRO’S Reference materials anddebugging Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 16
- 17. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 17 DEFAULT DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT Built-in Module Editor • Found under Tools | Edit Module • No-frills • Kind of a pain to work with Debugging? Virtually non-existent, besides writing values to a message box.
- 18. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 18 ALTERNATIVEDEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT VbsEdit • Stand-alone VBScript IDE • IntelliSense • Object Browser • Compile to EXE Debugging? Plenty! Add breakpoints, inspect values and objects at runtime, etc. What’s the catch? Not free, costs 49 Euro. Download from http://www.vbsedit.com/
- 19. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 19 REFERENCEMATERIALS API Guide • Provided by Qlik • Lists simplified object model • Describes methods and properties • Nice collection of sample macro’s Check out other people’s stuff • QlikCommunity • Blogs Download from https://community.qlik.com/docs/DOC-2640
- 20. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 20 DEVELOPMENT TIPS Use Option Explicit Forces the explicit declaration of all variables. Use descriptive variable names So not xyz but wbExport or chProps. Comment your code Needs no further explanation, just do it already. Don’t misuse On Error Resume Next Only use for error handling, not to mask crappy code Write reusable subroutines Compartmentalize functionality so that you can reuse it across applications, i.e. not “one big subroutine”.
- 21. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 21 SYSTEMACCESS When dealing with macro’s that access the system (i.e. stuff outside of QlikView), don’t forget to enable System Access in the Module Editor. Requested Module Security shows access level requested by the developer. Current Local Security shows the access level granted by the user.
- 22. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 22 INCLUDING MACRO’S The macro editor doesn’t have the $(include) option that we can use in regular QlikView script, but we can simulate it, with a macro. Uses the ExecuteGlobal command. Allows you to store your macro’s in external VBS files and include them into your applications. Useful for version control. Read more at http://www.qlikblog.at/509/simulating-include-command-qlikview-macros/
- 23. MACRO MYTHS Busted? Ornot? Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 23
- 24. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 24 MACROMYTHS Macro’s are single-threaded SOMEWHAT Macro code is executed sequentially (i.e. “single-threaded”) but each statement can be multi-threaded.
- 25. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 25 MACROMYTHS Macro’s clear the cache FALSE Any selection that is made by a macro is cached in the same way as a regular selection made in the UI.
- 26. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 26 MACROMYTHS Macro’s clear the undo/redo stack TRUE Changing document, sheet or object properties in a macro will clear the undo/redo stack.
- 27. COOL MACRO’S Sowhat’s being done with macro’s? Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 27
- 28. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 28 DOCUMENTANALYZER • Analyzes the structure of a QVW • Focuses on which fields are used and where • Can be used to tune performance of QlikView applications or investigate impact of data changes • Made by Rob Wunderlich Download from http://qlikviewcookbook.com/tools/
- 29. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 29 COPYGROUPS UTILITY • Copy cyclic and drill-down groups from one QlikView application to another. • Yes, it’s Rob again Download from http://qlikviewcookbook.com/tools/
- 30. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 30 QLIKVIEW MACROCOLLECTION Collection of macro’s by Lucian Cotea Examples for: • Exporting JPEG’s • Exporting to Excel • Sending emails • Setting Autozoom • Creating variables • and lots of other stuff https://luciancotea.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/qlikview-macros-useful-collection/
- 31. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 31 TURBOQLIK Internal Bitmetric tool, used for: • Template / layout generation • Color management • Variable management • Ad-hoc report object generation • Object library • And whatever makes our life easier
- 32. THANK YOU!
- 33. CONTACTINFO Telephone, Address, Email,Social Media, etc. Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 33
- 34. SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter Google+ LinkedIn https://twitter.com/meneerharmsen https://plus.google.com/+BarryHarmsen http://www.linkedin.com/in/barryharmsen Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015 34
- 35. CONTACT INFO Bitmetric B.V. Planetenweg 5 2132 HN, Hoofddorp TheNetherlands barry@bitmetric.nl +31 (0)23 2302 062 +31 (0)62 4581 706 35 Qlik Dev Group NL – October 29th 2015