The current version of Qlik Sense does not support the loading of data from custom databases, such as SAP or Salesforce. Nevertheless, it can still be achieved in a few simple steps. The following recipe explains the steps to load data from a SAP database.
The Custom connector option under Create new connection is not available in the Qlik Sense data load editor. This feature is going to be introduced soon in a forthcoming release of the product.
The following recipe requires you to use another Qlik product named Qlikview in order to generate the extract script that is to be copied and used in the Qlik Sense application. Qlikview is free software that can be downloaded from the Qlik website. The recipe also requires the SAP connector for QlikView to be installed.
Once we install the SAP connector, the RELOADSAPDD.qvw and ScriptBuilder.qvw files are saved on the hard drive.
We will work along with the RELOADSAPDD.qvw file, which is stored at the C:ProgramDataQlikTechCustomDataQvSAPConnectorScriptBuilder location.
In order to extract data from a custom database, such as SAP:
- Activate the legacy mode as described in the recipe just prior to this.
- Open the Qlikview file and input the SAP credentials to generate the connection string similar to the following:
CUSTOM CONNECT TO ""Provider=QvSAPConnector.dll;ASHOST=192.168.210.166;SYSNR=00;CLIENT=100;KeepCasing=1;NullDate=1;XUserId=UPJDRIRJJaSMVEVIXSFA;XPassword=IQWOQIRNJbaMXUVMXLMGSEA;"";
- Open Qlik Sense. Copy and paste the SAP Connection string from the script editor of the QlikView file to Qlik Sense.
- Similarly, one can copy and paste the load script generated for any SAP table in a QlikView file to a Qlik Sense file.
- Save and load data.
- The data load editor with all the connection strings will appear, as shown in the following:
The essence of the recipe is that the custom connections don't work in Qlik Sense, unless it is running in a Legacy mode. The user can copy the script generated in the QlikView file to the Qlik Sense Load script while running the application in the legacy mode, as this script cannot be generated directly in Qlik Sense.
Qlik Sense can extract data from any data source that can be loaded by QlikView (such as Salesforce) in practically the same way as it is described in this recipe.