A seamless way to save data in a Qlik Sense application
Bohua Li introduces an S-cubed extension for adding user comments in a Qlik Sense application, along with a guide for users to implement the extension themselves.
To save data during business explorations
During my Business Intelligence (BI) career, there’s always been one question asked by clients: is it possible to write some user data into the Qlik app, preferably directly into the data model?
The reasons why users often ask are:
- During the BI process, there’s always a need to note down user comments or to flag/highlight data records.
- After BI explorations, users look forward to having their findings and summaries saved together with the app for further actions
- It would be great if user inputs can be BI-friendly, so they are easy to search, select and drill-down.
After all, it is these BI applications that generate positive outcomes from user inputs to enable a complete life-cycle for BI business.
Solution Architecture
Qlik Sense is a read-only Business Intelligence platform, as well as one of the best standard BI products/solutions on the market. To save data, into the Qlik Sense app, will require several stages during the ’SAVE’ action:
- Receive user inputs from the Qlik app font-end visualizations
- Insert the inputs as data-rows into a data table in the Qlik model
- Save the changes into a reloadable content (QVD, TXT, Database…)
To achieve the above features, the extension will leverage the following technologies to resolve the challenges:
- Qlik visualization extension to collect user inputs
- Qlik Capability API to save and reload the Qlik app
- Partial reload and replacement of load scripts to modify the Qlik app data model
- (Optional) Store save changes into external content for archiving