To help reduce the repetition and developer error, Qlik has introduced a master library where we can store reusable items, such as dimensions, measures and even whole visualizations. For people experienced in Qlik's other products such as QlikView, just think; "no more linked objects and storing expressions in variables!"
It is easy to think of library items in a self-service context. Don't get me wrong; ultimately you will have to decide what will be published; from your data model to the world for their own analysis purposes. Having said that, the secret sauce of this recipe is in saving your own time.
It is a productivity hack that implies; "automation is to your time what compound interest is to money". While it is not an exact parallel, this is a nice concept to frame the usefulness of timesaving functions in Qlik Sense. The effective use of the library saves time spent on scrolling down field lists, rewriting expressions over and over, applying a single change in multiple places, and so on.
Once you have saved enough time to eclipse the setup investment, the value of taking this approach can only compound with continuous development.
- Create a new Qlik Sense application and name it
Master Library. - Open the data load editor.
- Enter the following script and load the data by clicking on the
button. (The script is available in a separate text file that can be downloaded from the Packt Publishing website):
Data: LOAD * INLINE [ Name, Region, Country, City, OrderId, Sales, Company, OrderDate Wooten, C, Mozambique, Carmen, 1, 45.55, Est Nunc Laoreet LLC, 22/12/14 Blankenship, Delta, Cayman Islands, Sapele, 2, 95.76, Lorem Donec Inc., 17/01/15 Sheppard, Wyoming, Vatican City State, Cheyenne, 3, 38.31, Lobortis, 07/08/14 Goddard, H, Curaçao, San Francisco, 4, 86.33, Non Inc., 07/09/14 Galloway, Aragón, Trinidad & Tobago, Zaragoza, 5, 85.80, Diam Proin., 21/01/15 Kirsten, Tamil Nadu, Wallis & Futuna, Neyveli, 6, 28.47, Mollis Non Limited, 03/05/14 Holland, Cartago, Falkland Islands, San Diego, 7, 1.34, Ullamcorper Inc., 17/07/14 Thaddeus, BC, Canada, Oliver, 8, 59.04, Ante Nunc Mauris Ltd, 17/02/15 Lareina, CA, Spain, San Diego, 9, 4.55, Pellentesque Tincidunt Limited, 29/07/14 Jescie, Vienna, Monaco, Vienna, 10, 54.20, Ultricies Ligula Consulting, 16/06/14 Logan, IL, Saint Barthélemy, Paris, 11, 91.31, Mi Foundation, 13/12/14 Shannon, CG, Nepal, Aberystwyth, 12, 80.86, Auctor Non LLC, 03/05/14 Andrew, SO, Argentina, Sokoto, 13, 88.78, Scelerisque Mollis Associates, 12/12/14 Jocelyn, WP, Tanzania, Konin, 14, 15.91, Ligula Tortor Dictum Ltd, 22/08/14 Gordon, FL, Hong Kong, Miami, 15, 93.97, Suscipit Inc., 12/05/14 ];
Once the data has been loaded, you can check the results by opening the data model viewer through the navigation dropdown (
) in the top corner on the left hand side of the toolbar, as shown in the following screenshot:
You can find the Preview button to the bottom left of the screen. There are several other places in Qlik Sense where you can create master library items but the data model preview screen is the best, as it also lets you see the data first. Take a minute to browse the data you have loaded in data model viewer.
- In the data model viewer, select the
Datatable by clicking on its header and then click the Preview button to view the fields and the field values loaded from theDatatable. - The Preview window will appear as shown in the following:
- Select the Region field from the table to get the preview as shown in the following:
- Next, click the
button. - The following window appears. If you are likely to publish this dimension for consumption by users, you can enter a description here:
-
It is advised to use tags to make our life easier. Add the tag Geo and click on
. - Now click on
to create a Master dimension in the library. - Repeat this process for the Country and City fields.
- Click on
to go back to the data model viewer. - Finally, it's time to create a measure. Select the Sales field from the
Datatable in the data model viewer. - Click the
button. When we create a Master measure we need to make sure we use an aggregation function such as Sum,Avg, and so on, along with the selected field. - In the Create new measure window, type
SUMin front of (Sales), as shown in the following image:
- Click on Create.
-
Save the changes made in the master library by clicking on the
button on the toolbar in the table preview. Exit the table preview by going to the App Overview. - Open (or create) a sheet and enter the edit mode by clicking on the
button. - Once you are in the edit mode, click the chain (
) icon on the left hand side of the asset panel to open the Master items menu. - To add visualizations, first create them in the user interface then drag them into the library.
While the Master item menu panel is very useful to speed up the development when defining the contents, it is easier to do it from the filters pane. In short, you can browse the entire contents of your data model and right-click on the most important fields to add the ones that will be frequently used.
