Without further ado….
Enjoy and let us know what you think in the comments.
QVApps
General features
Metadata
A number of features have been added to QlikView 10 with the purpose of providing possibilities to add metadata to the QlikView document. Adding metadata remains entirely optional for the developer.
Field tags
Fields can now be tagged with system defined and custom meta-tags. A number of system tags are automatically generated for the fields of a document when the script is executed. The user may amend these tags using simple script syntax. Tags may also be set interactively (script-generated tags and interactive tags should however always be separated) from the Tables page of the Document Properties dialog.
The tags are currently shown in the Tables page of the Document Properties dialog and as hover tooltips in places such as the Table Viewer and various property dialog field lists. In future releases the tags, if defined, will be used for intelligent sorting of field lists and for field filtering in various dialog.
Field comments
This new functionality provides a way for making use of field comments (metadata) often found in ERP/DBMS data dictionaries (or manually defined in e.g. Excel spreadsheet) etc as help text to developers when designing QlikView layout. Comments are read from a file/database or set individually as part of script execution.
Once in, the comments are shown in the Tables page of the Document Properties dialog and as hover tool-tips in places like such as the Table Viewer and various property dialog field lists.
Table comments
In analogy to field comments it is also possible to read or set comments to source tables. Comments are shown in the Tables page of the Document Properties dialog and as hover tooltips in the Table Viewer.
Expression comments
Chart expressions can be given an explanatory text comment. These are visible and editable in the Expressions page of the Chart Properties dialog.
Variable comments
Variables can be given an explanatory text comment. These are visible and editable in the Variables page of the Document Properties dialog and in the Variable Overview.
Improved Script Editor
The script editor has been redesigned. A number of new commands can be found in the menus, e.g. the ODBC administrator can now be opened from inside the script editor; also the 32 bit OCDB administrator can be opened from a 64 bit QlikView.
Separation of the database thread from QlikView
The basic idea is that QlikView at script run spawns a second process – QVConnect – that in turn connects to the data source. Data is subsequently streamed from QVConnect to QlikView. Not only does this lead to a more robust architecture, but it is also possible to use 32-bit ODBC from a 64-bit QlikView by using a “Connect32” statement in the script.
Two different QVConnect files are installed in the QlikView folder: QVConnect32.exe and QVConnect64.exe. It is also possible to develop custom connect programs.
Parallel load
The interpretation and transformation of data is now done in multiple threads, which speeds up the load process tremendously. This does not imply any changes to the load script, i.e. the load script is still sequential: no parallel branches can be defined.
Presentation and Layout features
Getting Started Wizard
To help new users getting started working with their own data, a wizard has been introduced for creating new documents. The wizard guides the user through the process of loading an Excel file and creating a first chart. The wizard can be disabled. Also, it can be restored via User preferences.
Container objects
A new object type – the Container Object – has been developed. This object enables the user to define an object that sometimes shows e.g. a bar chart, sometimes a pivot table and sometimes some other object type. Small tabs or a drop-down allows the user to choose which object to show. The container object can thus be used instead of “fast type change” to toggle between object types, but has the additional advantage that the objects need not have the same set of dimensions, or even be of the same type.
List Box expressions
Whereas list boxes previously could display a frequency number it is now possible to add any number of arbitrary QlikView expressions for display next to the list box field values. The expressions are defined in the same manner as chart expressions and all of the display options available in table charts are also available here. For example you may show the expression results both as text, images, gauges and mini charts. This feature is available in QlikView Desktop, in the QlikView Plug-in client and in the Ajax client.
Mekko charts
This is a new chart type requested by several of our customers. In essence it is a bar chart where the value of one expression or dimension is used to determine the width of the bars. This feature will be available in all clients.
Linked objects
It is now possible for several sheet objects to share a common set of properties. When two or more objects are linked they share all properties with the exception of size, position and display state (minimized, normal, maximized). When you change the properties of one object the change is immediately reflected in the other linked objects. Linked objects may reside on the same sheet or on different sheets.
Associative search
A new optional search logic has been introduced: By clicking the small chevron in the search control, it is possible to enter the associative search logic. This means that it is possible to search in other fields and get the result set in the field to which the search control belongs. It is then also possible to simultaneously search in several fields.
Sheet object backgrounds
The wide array of possibilities to define backgrounds (transparency, images etc), which have long existed in bitmap charts and text objects, are now available also in other types of sheet objects. This feature is available in QlikView Desktop, in the QlikView Plug-in client and in the Ajax client.
New selection styles
A couple of cool new list box selection styles have been added. “LED” style retains classic selection behaviors while “LED checkboxes” combines the new LED look with the Windows Check boxes selection behavior. Both styles look extra good in combination with the new transparent or semi-transparent list box backgrounds (see above). The new styles are available in QlikView Desktop, in the QlikView Plug-in client and in the Ajax client.
Improved Current Selections Box
It is now possible to configure the current selections box with a selection drop-down for each displayed field. This makes it possible to freely modify selections directly from the Current Selections box. This feature is available in QlikView Desktop, in the QlikView Plug-in client and in the Ajax client.
Menu caption icon
A new caption icon has been added. When clicking on the new “Menu” icon, the context menu of the sheet object is opened. This feature is available in QlikView Desktop, in the QlikView Plug-in client and in the Ajax client. Default on mobile browsers (e.g. Mobile Safari on iPhone/iPad).
Web view / Ajax mode in QlikView Desktop
Via a single click on a toolbar button it is now possible to switch between traditional rendering and Ajax rendering when running QlikView Desktop. This feature provides a convenient way for the developer to see exactly how the layout will look when used from an Ajax client. Naturally the Ajax property dialogs are available when running in web view, providing for some nice functionality that is not available to the developer in standard view. It should however be noted that some functionality, e.g. report editing, is not available in web view.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Some changes to listboxes with new “cool” styles; but we still can’t modify the colour of the selected item? I mean, really, how hard can it be to implement that?
Disappointed by these release notes for a major version. Most of these changes are for minor versions / service pack editions. I rather see an overhaul of the total representation layer than small “cool” changes to listboxes. That would warrant a major version release.
My thoughts pretty much echo the first comment – these are nice changes, and I’d be inclined to install QlikView 9.1 if it included this – but for a major release, this seems underwhelming. I’m having a hard time seeing how any of it will significantly improve the QilkView experience for my users – the Container objects seem to be the only useful addition. Likewise, my own experience as a developer is unlikely to be significantly enhanced – some potentially nice minor changes in the thread separation and parallel loading, but nothing significant.
Gone missing are several enhancements that I would’ve liked to see in this release:
1) Overhaul of the script editor to make it act more like a code editor and less like Notepad.
2) Improved linking between documents (hopefully, the tags/metadata will be used for this in future releases)
3) Bullet Graphs – these are far more useful than Mekko charts (which I have never actually seen used anywhere), no idea why they’d add those and ignore bullet graphs.
4) Improved mechanisms for dealing with adapting QlikView documents for varying monitor resolutions – QV should be able to use up monitor real-estate automatically and without issues, whereas opposed to the current behavior of ignoring it entirely and requiring a macro to activate the subpar option of Fit Zoom to Window / Apply Zoom to All Sheets.
I’m not sure I’ll be making the effort to run a major release upgrade for this set of functionality.
So is it true that we won´t find Bullet Graphs in version 10 ?? A real miss !!From what I have seen so far it´s the most space efficient type of graph. I got a link on how to create a bullet graph, but for whatever reason it does not work for me on QlikView 8.5–http://andpointsbeyond.com/2008/05/02/create-a-bullet-graph-in-qlikview-video/
One feature I think should be included (and I am not shure if it is not already available, but I tried a few alternatives and did not work as I expected) is the capacity of creating groups on the fly in dynamic tables, in a similar way of what Excel does. Just selecting a few rows and create a new group for these values. Or maybe improve the way editable fields work.
Yes, this thing is a necessity. I’ve been looking for this. My coleagues (end-users) are asking why isn’t this option available.
This is an important functionality.
It baffles me why they haven’t created a manual/custom grouping function. Spotfire uses tags and it’s extremely user friendly. Tableau has something similar. If Qlikview had this functionality I’d lock it in tomorrow for our business without a second thought.
Hi, yu should put the option on change the colours of the selections states.
Hi, yu should put the option on change the colours of the selections states.
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