Tutorial - Scripting for Beginners

Qlik Sense®
June 2019
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 Contents

1 Welcome to this tutorial! 4

1.1 What you will learn 4
1.2 Who should take this course 4
1.3 Package contents 4
1.4 Lessons in this tutorial 5
1.5 Further reading and resources 5
2 Scripting in the data load editor 6
2.1 Data load editor 6
2.2 Script editor 7
Accessing syntax help for commands and functions 7
Commenting in the script 8
Indenting code 8
Inserting a prepared test script 8
2 LOAD and SELECT statements 9
3 Selecting and loading data 10
3 Renaming fields 22
3 Reducing data 25
3 Transforming data 33
3.1 Resident LOAD 33
3.2 Preceding LOAD 38
3 Concatenation 40
3.3 Automatic concatenation 40
3.4 Forced concatenation 43
3.5 Preventing concatenation 44
3 Circular references 47
3.6 Resolving circular references 48
3 Synthetic keys 50
3.7 Resolving synthetic keys 52
4 Using data in an app 54
4.1 Adding a chart 54
4.2 Adding dimensions and measures 55
Creating and adding dimensions 55
Creating and adding measures 55
4.3 Thank you! 59

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 1   Welcome to this tutorial!

1 Welcome to this tutorial!

Welcome to this tutorial, which will introduce you to basic scripting in Qlik Sense.

Before you can create visualizations in your app in Qlik Sense, you have to load your data.
Knowing how to use load scripts allows you to prepare and manipulate your data when you
load it into your app.

You can load data using the data manager or the data load editor. You use the data load
editor when you want to create, edit and run a data load script.

1.1 What you will learn

After completing this tutorial, you should be comfortable with loading data using scripts, editing scripts, and
transforming data.

1.2 Who should take this course

You should be familiar with the basics of Qlik Sense. That is, you have created apps and visualizations.

You require access to the data load editor and should be allowed to load data in Qlik Sense Enterprise on
Windows or Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes.

Note that there are minor differences when loading data in Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows or Qlik Sense
Enterprise on Kubernetes. Those differences have been indicated where applicable.

If you are using Qlik Sense Cloud Business, you can follow the instructions for Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows.

1.3 Package contents

The zip package that you downloaded contains the following data files that you need to complete the tutorial:

l Customers.xlsx
l Dates.xlsx
l Region.txt
l Sales.xlsx

Additionally, the package contains a copy of the Scripting Tutorial app. You can upload the app to your hub.

We recommend building the app yourself as described in the tutorial to maximize your learning. Additionally,
you would have to upload and connect to your data files as described in the tutorial for the data loads to work.

However, if you run into problems, the app may help you troubleshoot. We have indicated which script segments
are associated with each lesson.

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 1   Welcome to this tutorial!

1.4 Lessons in this tutorial

Depending on your experience with Qlik Sense, this tutorial should take 3-4 hours to complete. The topics are
designed to be completed in sequence. However, you can step away and return at any time. There are,
mercifully, no tests.

l Introduction to data loading

l LOAD and SELECT statements
l Selecting and loading data
l Renaming fields
l Reducing data
l Transforming data
l Concatenation
l Circular references
l Synthetic keys
l Using data in an app

1.5 Further reading and resources

Qlik offers a wide variety of resources when you want to learn more.

At help.qlik.com, you find the Qlik Sense online help and a number of downloadable guides.

If you visit www.qlik.com, you will find the following:

l Training, including free online courses

l Demo apps
l Qlik Community, where you will find discussion forums, blogs, and more

These are all valuable sources of information and are highly recommended.

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 2   Scripting in the data load editor

2 Scripting in the data load editor

Qlik Sense uses a data load script, which is managed in the data load editor, to connect to and retrieve data
from various data sources. A data source can be a data file, for example an Excel file or a .csv file. A data source
can also be a database, for example a Google BigQuery or Salesforce database.

You can also load data using the data manager, but when you want to create, edit and run a data load script
you use the data load editor.

In the script, the fields and tables to load are specified. Scripting is often used to specify what data to load from
your data sources. You can also manipulate the data structure by using script statements.

During the data load, Qlik Sense identifies common fields from different tables (key fields) to associate the data.
The resulting data structure of the data in the app can be monitored in the data model viewer. Changes to the
data structure can be achieved by renaming fields to obtain different associations between tables.

After the data has been loaded into Qlik Sense, it is stored in the app.

2.1 Data load editor

You can create scripts to load data in the data load editor. The editor is available from the drop-down menu in
Qlik Sense.

When you open the data load editor, the script editor appears in the middle of your screen. Script sections are
shown as tabs in the left menu. Qlik Sense automatically creates the Main section. Data connections are shown
in the right menu.

If you are doing this tutorial in Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows, you will be connecting to your data files using
the AttachedFiles connection. If you are doing this tutorial in Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes, you will be
connecting to your data files using the MyDataFiles connection.

The script must be written using the Qlik Sense script syntax. Qlik Sense syntax keywords are highlighted in blue.

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 2   Scripting in the data load editor

Data load editor in Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows

Data load editor in Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes

2.2 Script editor

There are a number of functions available in the editor to assist you in developing the load script.

Accessing syntax help for commands and functions

There are several ways to access syntax help for a Qlik Sense syntax keyword.

Accessing the help portal

You can access detailed help in the Qlik Sense help portal in two different ways.

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 2   Scripting in the data load editor

l Click D in the toolbar to enter syntax help mode. In syntax help mode you can click on a syntax
keyword (marked in blue and underlined) to access syntax help.
l Place the cursor inside or at the end of the keyword and press Ctrl+H.

You cannot edit the script in syntax help mode.

Using the auto-complete function

If you start to type a Qlik Sense script keyword, you get an auto-complete list of matching keywords to select
from. The list is narrowed down as you continue to type, and you can select from templates with suggested
syntax and parameters. A tooltip displays the syntax of the function, including parameters and additional
statements, as well as a link to the help portal description of the statement or function.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Space to show the keyword list, and Ctrl+Shift+Space to
show a tooltip.

Commenting in the script

You can insert comments in the script code, or deactivate parts of the script code by using comment marks. All
text on a line that follows to the right of // (two forward slashes) will be considered a comment and will not be
executed when the script is run.

The data load editor toolbar contains a shortcut for commenting or uncommenting code. Click … , or press Ctrl
+ K to comment or uncomment code.

Indenting code
You can indent the code to increase readability. Click À to indent the text (increase indentation) or, click à to
outdent the text (decrease indentation).

Inserting a prepared test script

You can insert a prepared test script that will load a set of inline data fields. You can use this to quickly create a
data set for test purposes. Press Ctrl + 00 to insert the test script.

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 2   LOAD and SELECT statements

2 LOAD and SELECT statements

You can load data into Qlik Sense using the LOAD and SELECT statements. Each of these statements generates
an internal table. LOAD is used to load data from files, while SELECT is used to load data from databases.

In this tutorial, you will be using data from files, so you will be using LOAD statements.

You can also use a preceding LOAD to be able to manipulate the content of the data loaded. For example,
renaming fields has to be done in a LOAD statement, whereas the SELECT statement does not permit any
changes to field names.

The following rules apply when loading data into Qlik Sense:

l Qlik Sense does not differentiate between tables generated by a LOAD or a SELECT statement. This means
that if several tables are loaded, it does not matter whether the tables are loaded by LOAD or SELECT
statements or by a mix of the two.
l The order of the fields in the statement or in the original table in the database is unimportant to the Qlik
Sense logic.
l Field names are case sensitive and are used to establish associations among data tables. Due to this, at
times it is necessary to rename fields in the load script to achieve a desired data model.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

3 Selecting and loading data

Loading data from files, such as Microsoft Excel or any other supported file format, is easily done by using the
data selection dialog in the data load editor.

Do the following:

1. Open Qlik Sense.

2. Create a new app.
3. Name the app Scripting Tutorial, and then click Create.
4. Open the app.

Before you load data into your app for the first time, there is an option to use Add data to
easily load data from files. However, in this tutorial we want to see the script, so we will use
the data load editor.

5. Open the data load editor from the drop-down menu in the top toolbar.
6. Click P in the left menu to add a new script section below the section named Main.
Using more than one section makes it easy to keep your script organized. The script section will execute
in order when you load data.

7. Give the section a name by typing Sales.

New Sales tab in Scripting Tutorial app

8. Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows: Under AttachedFiles in the right menu, click Select data.
Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes: Under MyDataFiles in the right menu, click Select data.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Select data window (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

Select data window (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

9. Upload and then select Sales.xlsx. A data preview window opens.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Data preview window for Sales data file

10. Deselect the fields # of Days Late and # of Days to Ship. You might need to click on the field headings to
see the complete field names.
11. Search for date in the Filter fields search field.
12. Click on the heading Invoice Date and type Bill Date to rename the field.
13. Click Insert script. The load script is inserted into the Sales section of the script editor. Note that Qlik
Sense puts double quotes around field names that contain a space.
Your script should look like this:

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Load script in Sales tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

Load script in Sales tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

14. Add the following row above the LOAD statement to name the table Table1:
Table1:

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 3   Selecting and loading data

15. Now adjust the script to ensure that the dates are interpreted correctly. Change the Date field to the
following:
Date#(`Date`,'MM/DD/YYYY') as "Date",

Your script should look like this:

Updated load script in Sales tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Updated load script in Sales tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

16. In the upper right corner, click Load data.

This will load the data into the app. A script execution progress window is displayed. When it is finished
you will see a summary of possible errors and synthetic keys even if there are none.

17. Click Close.

18. Open the data model viewer from the drop-down menu in the top toolbar. By clicking w the data
model viewer will open in a new tab.
19. Select s and + in the top menu to show the table view that is used in this tutorial. If your table is not
displayed properly, you can remove the existing load script and build the script again.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Table view in data model viewer of Sales data

Now, let's load another table called Dates. After we load the table, Qlik Sense will connect it with the Sales
table on the Date field.

20. Open the Data load editor.

21. Click P to add a new script section.
22. Name the section Dates. If the new section Dates is not already placed below Sales, put the cursor on the
o drag bars, and then and drag the section down below the section Sales to rearrange the order.
23. Click on the top row of the script and click … .
Make sure // is added into the script.

24. Add the following text after //:

Loading data from Dates.xlsx

The top line of your script should now look like this:

// Loading data from Dates.xlsx

25. Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows: Under AttachedFiles in the right menu, click Select data.
Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes: Under MyDataFiles in the right menu, click Select data.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Under Field names, make sure that Embedded field names is selected to include the
names of the table fields when you load the data.

26. Upload and then select Dates.xlsx. A data preview window opens.
Data preview window for Dates data file

27. Click Insert script.

Your script should look like this:

Load script in Dates tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Load script in Dates tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

28. Add the following on the row above the LOAD statement to name the table Table2:
Table2:

29. To ensure that the Month column in the file Dates.xlsx is interpreted correctly in Qlik Sense we need to
apply the Month function to the Date field.
Change the Date field to the following:

Month (Date) as "Month",

Your script should look like this:

Updated load script in Dates tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Updated load script in Dates tab (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

Now you have created a script to load the selected data from the file Dates.xlsx. It is time to load the data
into the app.

30. In the upper right corner, click Load data.

When you click Load data, the data is loaded into the app and the script is saved.

31. When the script execution is finished, click Close.

32. Open the Data model viewer.
Now you can see that a connection has been made between the two fields named Date in the two tables.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Table view in data model viewer

33. Click Preview in the bottom left corner. Click on the name of the table Table2.
This will display information about the table. In the Preview field you can see that 628 rows of data have
been loaded into the internal table Table2. If you instead click on a field in the table, you will see
information about the field.

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 3   Selecting and loading data

Table preview in data model viewer

The data is now available to use in visualizations in an app. We will show you how later in this tutorial.

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 3   Renaming fields

3 Renaming fields
In the previous topic, we showed you how to rename fields in the data preview window. In the heading of the
data preview window, you renamed Invoice Date to Bill Date. When you inserted the load script, you could see
that the field would be renamed using the keyword AS.

We can also perform this action directly in the script.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor in the Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Click the Sales tab.
3. In the load script, make the following changes. Note that you have to include parentheses around fields
that contain a space.
i. Change GrossSales, to:
GrossSales AS "Gross Sales",

ii. Change "Item Desc", to:

"Item Desc" AS "Item Description",

Your script should look like this:

Load script window with script to rename fields (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

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 3   Renaming fields

Load script window with script to rename fields (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

4. Click Load data. The data is loaded.

5. Open the Data model viewer. Confirm that the fields have been renamed.
6. You can also view all your fields in an app. Click the Analysis tab in the top toolbar. The app opens in
sheet view.
7. Click Edit, and then click Fields. You can see the field names that you changed. You can use any of these
fields in the visualizations that you create in your app.

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 3   Renaming fields

Renamed fields in analysis view

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 3   Reducing data

3 Reducing data
Qlik Sense provides several different ways to reduce the amount of data that you load into your app. You can,
for example, filter data from files or from data connectors.

You can also reduce data directly in the load script.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor in the Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Click Load data.
Based on the load script that you have written so far, Qlik Sense loads 65,534 lines from the Sales.xlsx
data file into Table1. Note that Sales data is the name of the tab that contains your table in the original
Sales.xlsx file.

Data load progress window

3. In the data load editor, click the Sales tab.

4. Add the following line at the end of the load script, before the final semicolon:
Where Sales > 100.00 and Date("Invoice Date") >= '01/01/2013'

This tells Qlik Sense to only load data where sales are greater than $100.00. It also uses the Date function
to load data where the date is equal to or greater than January 1, 2013.

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 3   Reducing data

Your script should look like this:

Load script window with script to reduce amount of data loaded (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

Load script window with script to reduce amount of data loaded (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

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 3   Reducing data

5. Click Load data.

Based on your updated load script, Qlik Sense now loads fewer lines from the Sales.xlsx data file.

Data load progress window with reduced data load

6. If you the add the data to a table in your app, you can see that only the data that conforms to the
conditions that you created was loaded.

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 3   Reducing data

Table containing Bill Date and Sales fields

Note that we added the Sales field as a dimension. This is so that the Sales values are shown
individually. If we had added Sales as a measure, the values would have instead been aggregated per
date.

Typically, you would add Sales as a measure. With measures, you have the option to display values as
currency amounts (for example, dollars) by applying number formatting to the column.

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 3   Reducing data

Number formatting applied to Sales measure

However, as we are using Sales as a dimension, we need a different approach. In this case, we will use a
chart expression. Even though we are not discussing chart functions in detail in this tutorial, this is a
good opportunity for a quick example.

When we use Sales as a dimension, the values are displayed as numeric, as shown in the table above.

To fix this, you can open the chart expression editor Sales field by clicking fx, and then using the Money
function.

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 3   Reducing data

Opening the expression editor

Enter the following in the expression editor.

=Money( Sales )

Expression editor

The values in the field will now display as monetary units. Those units (in this case, dollars) are specified
in the Main section of the load script.

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 3   Reducing data

Table containing Bill Date and Sales fields. Sales now shown in dollars.

7. Now that we have completed this example, comment out the Where statement. Don't forget to add a
semicolon to the end of your first LOAD statement.
Your script should look like this:

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 3   Reducing data

Load script window with Where statement commented out (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

Load script window with Where statement commented out (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

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 3   Transforming data

3 Transforming data
You can transform and manipulate data using many different techniques in the data load editor.

One of the advantages to data manipulation is that you can choose to load only a subset of the data from a file,
such as a few chosen columns from a table, to make the data handling more efficient. You can also load the
data more than once to split up the raw data into several new logical tables. It is also possible to load data from
more than one source and merge it into one table in Qlik Sense.

In this topic, you will perform some basic data transformation using a Resident load, and then a Preceding load.

3.1 Resident LOAD

You can use the Resident source qualifier in a LOAD statement to load data from a previously loaded table. This
is also useful when you want to perform calculations on data loaded with a SELECT statement where you do not
have the option to use Qlik Sense functions, such as date or numeric value handling.

In this example, you will create a new table called Sales_Buckets and then load the data from Table1 using a
resident load. In the Sales_Buckets table, you will create a variable called quantity_threshold, and then use a
Where statement to only load data that meets that threshold.

1. Open the Data load editor in the Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Click the Sales tab.
3. Add the following to the end of your script:
SET quantity_threshold = 12000;

Sales_Buckets:
LOAD
"Sales Qty" as "High_Quantity",
"Item Description" as "Item",
"Customer Number" as "Customer"
Resident Table1
Where ("Sales Qty" > $(quantity_threshold));

Your script should look like this:

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 3   Transforming data

Load script window with script to create new table called Sales_Buckets (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows)

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 3   Transforming data

Load script window with script to create new table called Sales_Buckets (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes)

4. Click Load data.

5. Open the Data model viewer. You can see that you created a new table called Sales_Buckets with the
data loaded according to the fields that you specified, and the threshold that you set.

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 3   Transforming data

Sales_Buckets table in data model viewer

6. Add the data to a table in your app. Add Item and Customer as dimensions. Add High-Quantity as a
measure aggregated on Count, and then again aggregated on Sum. Next, add a new column as a
measure with the following formula:
= Sum(High_Quantity) / Count(High_Quantity)

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 3   Transforming data

New measure with formula

Your table shows, for example, that Customer 10025737 has made 4 large orders of High Top Dried
Mushrooms, with an average quantity of 14,800. To perform sorts on the data in the fields, close Edit
mode by clicking Done.

Table showing customers that have made large orders

7. Now that we have completed this example, comment out the script for the quantity_threshold variable
and the Sales_Buckets table.
The end of your script should now appear as follows:

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 3   Transforming data

Commented out script

3.2 Preceding LOAD

A preceding load allows you to perform transformations and apply filters so that you can load data in one pass.
Basically, it is a LOAD statement that loads from the LOAD or SELECT statement below, without specifying a
source qualifier such as From or Resident that you would normally do. You can stack any number of LOAD
statements this way. The statement at the bottom will be evaluated first, then the statement above that, and so
on until the top statement has been evaluated.

As mentioned earlier in this tutorial, you can load data into Qlik Sense using the LOAD and SELECT statements.
Each of these statements generates an internal table. LOAD is used to load data from files or from an inline
table, while SELECT is used to load data from databases. You have used data from files in this tutorial. In this
example, you will use an inline table. However, it is worth noting that a preceding load can be used above a
SELECT statement to manipulate your data. The basics are the same as you will see here using LOAD.

This example is not related to the data we are loading in this tutorial. It is only used to show an example of what
a preceding load can look like. You will create an inline table in the data load editor called Transactions. Date
interpretation will be performed in the preceding LOAD, where a new field called transaction_date will be
created. This field is created from the sale_date field.

1. Create a new app and call it ReformatDate.

2. Open the data load editor, and then create a new tab called TransactionData.
3. Add the following script:
Transactions:
Load *,
Date(Date#(sale_date,'YYYYMMDD'),'DD/MM/YYYY') as transaction_date;
Load * Inline [ transaction_id, sale_date, transaction_amount, transaction_quantity, customer_
id, size, color_code
3750, 20180830, 23.56, 2, 2038593, L, Red
3751, 20180907, 556.31, 6, 203521, m, orange
3752, 20180916, 5.75, 1, 5646471, S, blue
3753, 20180922, 125.00, 7, 3036491, l, Black
3754, 20180922, 484.21, 13, 049681, xs, Red
3756, 20180922, 59.18, 2, 2038593, M, Blue
3757, 20180923, 177.42, 21, 203521, XL, Black ];

Your script should look like this:

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 3   Transforming data

Load script with preceding load

4. Click Load data.

5. Open the Data model viewer. Select and expand the Transactions table. You can see that all the fields
were loaded as specified by the * in the preceding load statement. A new field called transaction_date
was created. The field has the reformatted date.
New field called transaction_date in data model viewer

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 3   Concatenation

3 Concatenation
Concatenation is an operation that takes two tables and combines them into one.

The two tables are added to each other by stacking one on top of the other, with a column for each distinct
column name. The data is not changed and the resulting table contains the same number of records as the two
original tables together. Several concatenate operations can be performed sequentially, so that the resulting
table is concatenated from more than two tables.

3.3 Automatic concatenation

If the field names and the number of fields of two or more loaded tables are exactly the same, Qlik Sense will
automatically concatenate the content of the different statements into one table.

The number and names of the fields must be exactly the same for automatic concatenation to take place. The
order of the two LOAD statements is arbitrary, but the table will be given the name of the table that is loaded
first.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor in the Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Click the Dates tab.
3. Click Load data.
Based on the load script that you have written so far, Qlik Sense loads 628 lines from the Dates.xlsx data
file into Table2.

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 3   Concatenation

Data load progress window

4. On a new line in the script in the section Dates, copy and paste the LOAD statement for Table2. This will
cause the data to be loaded twice. Name the second table Table2a.
You could also delete the existing script, and copy and paste the following (Qlik Sense Enterprise on
Windows):

Table2:
LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,
"Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://AttachedFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Table2a:
LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,
"Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://AttachedFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Or delete the existing script, and copy and paste the following (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes):

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 3   Concatenation

Table2:
LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,
"Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://MyDataFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Table2a:
LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,
"Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://MyDataFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

5. Click Load data.

Qlik Sense does not load Table2 and then Table2a. Instead, it recognizes that Table2a has the same field
names and the number of fields as Table2. It then adds the data of Table2a to Table2, and deletes table
Table2a. The result is that Table2 now has 1,256 lines.

Concatenation in data load progress window

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 3   Concatenation

6. Open the Data model viewer.

7. Click Show preview.
Only Table2 was created. Select Table2. The table has 256 rows.

Data model viewer showing Table2

3.4 Forced concatenation

Even if two or more tables do not have exactly the same set of fields, it is still possible to force Qlik Sense to
concatenate the two tables. This is done with the Concatenate prefix in the script, which concatenates a table
with another named table or with the most recently created table.

Do the following:

1. Edit the LOAD statement for Table2a, adding Concatenate and commenting out Week.
Your script should now appear as follows (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows):

Table2a:
Concatenate LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,

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 3   Concatenation

// "Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://AttachedFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Your script should now appear as follows (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes):

Table2a:
Concatenate LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,
// "Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://MyDataFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

By commenting out Week, we make sure that the tables are not identical.

2. Click Load data.

3. Open the Data model viewer.
Now you can see that Table2a has not been created.

4. Click Table2 in the data model viewer, and then click Preview.
The table has the fields Date, Month, Quarter , Week, and Year . The field Week is still showing, because it
was loaded from Table2.

5. Click Week in Table2. The preview shows that the number of non-null values for the field is 628. However,
it you click any of the other fields, you see that number of non-null values is 1256. Week was loaded just
once, from Table2. The number of values, or records, is the sum of the number of records in Table2 and
Table2a.

3.5 Preventing concatenation

If the field names and the number of fields of two or more loaded tables are exactly the same, Qlik Sense will
automatically concatenate the content of the different statements into one table. This can be prevented with a
NoConcatenate statement. The table loaded with the associated LOAD or SELECT statement will then not be
concatenated with the existing table.

Do the following:

1. To be able to separate the content of the two tables completely, add NoConcatenate to the LOAD
statement in Table2a, and rename the fields so that Qlik Sense does not create a synthetic key based on
the matching fields. Uncomment Week in Table2 so that the two tables have the same fields.
Your script should now appear as follows (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows):

Table2:
LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",

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 3   Concatenation

Quarter,
"Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://AttachedFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Table2a:
NoConcatenate LOAD
"Date" as "Date2",
Month (Date) as "Month2",
Quarter as "Quarter2",
"Week" as "Week2",
"Year" as "Year2"
FROM [lib://AttachedFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Your script should now appear as follows (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes):

Table2:
LOAD
"Date",
Month (Date) as "Month",
Quarter,
"Week",
"Year"
FROM [lib://MyDataFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

Table2a:
NoConcatenate LOAD
"Date" as "Date2",
Month (Date) as "Month2",
Quarter as "Quarter2",
"Week" as "Week2",
"Year" as "Year2"
FROM [lib://MyDataFiles/Dates.xlsx]
(ooxml, embedded labels, table is Dates);

2. Click Load data.

3. Open the Data model viewer.
Now you can see that the two tables are completely separated.

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 3   Concatenation

Data model viewer showing Table2 and Table 2a

4. Now that we have finished demonstrating concatenation, we no longer need Table2a. Delete all the rows
in the LOAD statement for Table2a, and then click Load data.

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 3   Circular references

3 Circular references
If there are circular references (loops) in a data structure, the tables are associated in such a way that there is
more than one path of associations between two fields.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor in the Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Click P to add a new script section.
3. Name the section Region.
4. Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows: Under AttachedFiles in the right menu, click Select data.
Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes: Under MyDataFiles in the right menu, click Select data.
5. Upload and then select Region.txt. A data preview window opens.
6. Select all fields and make sure that Embedded field names under Field names is selected to include
the names of the table fields when you load the data.
7. Click Insert script.
8. Click Load data.
This time it appears that something has gone wrong with your data load. A circular reference has been
created. The Data load progress window will show an error message, stating that a circular reference
was found during the load. However, the load is completed and the app is saved.

9. Open the Data model viewer.

You can drag the tables around to reorganize them in a way so that the connections between the tables
are easy to see.

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 3   Circular references

Data model viewer showing circular reference

The red dotted lines indicate that a circular reference has been created. This is something that you
should avoid, because it may cause ambiguities in the data interpretation.

3.6 Resolving circular references

To be able to understand what caused the circular references, let us take a closer look at your tables in the Data
model viewer.

If you look at Table1 and the Table2 in the screenshot above, you can see that they have the Date field in
common. You can also see that Table1 and Region have the SalesKey field in common. Finally, notice that the
Table2 and Region have the field Week in common. This means that a loop, a circular reference, has been
created. Since this can cause problems in the data analysis later on, let us remove it.

The easiest way to resolve this is to rename or remove one of the fields. In our case, we have loaded some data
that we do not need for our app, and we can remove it.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor.

2. Click on the section Region and delete the following two rows in the LOAD statement:
"Week",
SalesKey

3. Make sure to also remove the comma after "Region Code".

Your script should now appear as follows (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows):

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 3   Circular references

LOAD
Region,
"Region Code"
FROM [lib://AttachedFiles/Region.txt]
(txt, codepage is 28591, embedded labels, delimiter is '\t', msq);

Your script should now appear as follows (Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes):

LOAD
Region,
"Region Code"
FROM [lib://MyDataFiles/Region.txt]
(txt, codepage is 28591, embedded labels, delimiter is '\t', msq);

4. Click Load data.

5. Open the Data model viewer.
The undesired references to Region has been removed.

Data model viewer showing that circular reference has been removed

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 3   Synthetic keys

3 Synthetic keys
When two or more internal tables have two or more fields in common, this implies a composite key relationship.
Qlik Sense handles this through synthetic keys. These keys are anonymous fields that represent all occurring
combinations of the composite key.

When the number of composite keys increases, depending on data amounts, table structure and other factors,
Qlik Sense may or may not handle them gracefully. For example, they may affect performance and increase
memory usage. Whenever there are several synthetic keys that are dependent on each other, it is good practice
to remove them.

Now it is time to load our final set of data.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor in the Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Click P to add a new script section.
3. Name the section Customers.
4. Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows: Under AttachedFiles in the right menu, click Select data.
Qlik Sense Enterprise on Kubernetes: Under MyDataFiles in the right menu, click Select data.
5. Upload and then select Customers.xlsx. The data preview window opens.
6. Select Sheet1
7. Click Insert script.
8. Click Load data.
Now you can see in the data load progress window that a synthetic key was created.

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 3   Synthetic keys

Data load progress window with synthetic key warning

9. Open the Data model viewer.

We can see that a synthetic key has been created by seeing that a new table, $Syn 1 Table, has been
created. It contains all the fields, Region and Region code, that the connected tables Sheet1 and Region
have in common. In this case it makes the connections a bit confusing and misleading, so it is not
desirable to keep.

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 3   Synthetic keys

Data model viewer showing synthetic key

3.7 Resolving synthetic keys

The easiest way to eliminate synthetic keys is to rename one or more fields in the tables. This can be done when
loading the data. Now we will go through the steps of how to remove a synthetic key.

Do the following:

1. Open the Data load editor.

2. Click the section Customers and delete the row in the LOAD statement saying:
Region,

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 3   Synthetic keys

3. Click Load data.

4. Open the Data model viewer.
The synthetic key is has been removed.

Data model viewer showing that synthetic key has been removed

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 4   Using data in an app

4 Using data in an app

To finish off this tutorial, it is time for you to put your loaded data into a visualization in your app.

4.1 Adding a chart

Now that your data is loaded, you can create some charts with the data. Charts are often also called
visualizations. It is not until you have also added the required dimensions and measures that a chart is complete.
You will start by adding the charts and then continue by adding dimensions and measures.

Do the following:

1. Create a new sheet in your Scripting Tutorial app.

2. Drag a filter pane from the Charts tab to the sheet and use the handles to resize it so that it is 3 cells wide
and 4 cells tall. Place it in the top left corner of the sheet.
3. Drag a bar chart to the top right corner, make it 5 cells tall and wide enough to stretch until the side of
the sheet.
4. Drag a line chart to the remaining space.
The icons on the sheet show what sort of chart that you have added. Now you can add dimensions and
measures to your charts to complete them as visualizations.

Qlik Sense sheet with empty charts

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 4   Using data in an app

4.2 Adding dimensions and measures

The next step is to add dimensions and measures. Begin by adding time dimensions to the top left filter pane.
The benefit of a filter pane is that you save space. Instead of having one filter pane each for Year , Quarter ,
Month, and Week, you will use only one filter pane for the same purpose.

Creating and adding dimensions

Do the following:

1. On top of the assets panel to the left, click H to open Fields. Here you find all the fields in all the tables
that you have loaded in the data load editor.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the list, and click the field Year . Drag it to the center of the top left filter
pane.
3. In the same way, add Quarter , Month and Week to the filter pane.
You have now created a filter pane with four dimensions: Year , Quarter , Month, and Week.

Creating and adding measures

Most visualizations need both dimensions and measures. A measure is the result of an aggregation expression,
which is, in many cases, a common function, such as Sum, Max, Min, Avg (average), or Count.

In the bar chart you will show the sales by region.

Do the following:

1. Click Fields H .
2. Click the field Region and drag it to the center of the bar chart area.
3. Click Add "Region".
4. Click the field Sales and drag it to the center of the bar chart area.
5. Click Add as measure > Sum(Sales) .
6. In the properties panel on the right-hand side, click Appearance and then Presentation. Select
Horizontal.
The bars are now displayed horizontally.
7. In the properties panel on the right-hand side, click Sorting.
The sorting order is displayed.
8. Drag Sum([Sales]) above Region so that the dimensions are sorted by Sum([Sales]) (measure value)
instead of Region (dimension value, alphabetically).
The bar chart is complete, showing the sales results for the different regions. This is a basic bar chart.
There are many options to enhance it in the properties panel (to the right). Just to show you one of the
possibilities, let us use the title area for something more than just a title.

9. Paste the following into the title field of the bar chart:

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 4   Using data in an app

='Total sales: $'& Round(Sum(Sales)/1000000, 0.1) & 'M'

10. Press Enter.

The final visualization on this sheet is a line chart.

Do the following:

1. Click Fields H .
2. Click the field Month and drag it to the center of the line chart area.
3. Click Add "Month".
4. Click the field Year and drag it to the center of the line chart area.
5. Click Add "Year".
6. Click the field Margin and drag it to the center of the line chart area.
7. Click Add as measure > Sum(Margin) .
8. Add the title Profit margin on top of the line chart.
Charts with data

9. Click @ Done to stop editing the sheet.

The sheet is now complete and you can begin to click around and interact with the contents of the sheet.

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 4   Using data in an app

Completed sheet

Because we limited the amount of monthly sales data in our original Sales.xlsx file, there is little data
available for our chart after the end of March for each year. You can make selections in your filter pane
so that you are only comparing the first three months of each year.

10. Click the Month field in the filter box, and then select Jan, Feb, and Mar .

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 4   Using data in an app

Filter box

11. Close the filter pane. The Profit margin chart shows the data for the first three months of each year.

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 4   Using data in an app

Profit margin chart updated based on selections

4.3 Thank you!

Now you have finished this tutorial, and hopefully you have gained some basic knowledge about scripting in Qlik
Sense. Please visit our website for more inspiration for your apps.

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