Introducing QVSConnector

QVSConnector is a .NET component which allows you to build applications and services which connect to QlikView applications running on QlikView server.

QVSConnector is the component powering QVExcel, the fully integrated Excel Add-in for financial reporting in QlikView. As such this component has been in development and testing for well over two years. We are now considering releasing it as an independent and commercially supported product.

The purpose of this web page is to illustrate what the component is capable of and allow companies who might be interested in such a product to register their interest.

Using QVSConnector

This section gives a quick technical overview on how the connector is used.

Connecting to a QlikView Document

Connecting to QlikView Server and opening a document is as simple as the following three lines of code:

There is also a version for using ticketing:

Extracting A QlikView ListBox

Having established a connection to a QlikView Server document, the following code shows how we can extract and render a list box - in this example we are running in an ASP.NET page.

If this code is run in an ASP.NET page we will see something like this:

Making A Selection

The following code shows one of the methods which can be used for making a selection in a listbox.

If we now run our web page, we will see something like this (note that the above code also shows how selections can be cleared):

Extracting A QlikView Table

Extracting table objects from QlikView is very similar to the above. For example to extract all the cells of an object we would use the following code:

We now have an array of values we can render to our web page or use in another application type.

Extracting A QlikView Image

Any object can also be extracted as an image. For example the following code shows part of a custom HTTP handler which extracts a QlikView object as an image and writes it back to the browser. This example also illustrates how an existing connection to a QlikView Server document is reused to improve performance.

Printing Reports

The component is also able to enumerate the reports defined for a certain QlikView application and print them to pdf.

Other Features

The QVSConnector component has a number of other methods for interacting with QlikView Server or specific documents. For example you can retrieve a list of all the documents on the server or all of the objects within a particular application. You can also retrieve all the fields and field values in an application and execute any QlikView expression.

The list below represents the most useful functionality currently supported by QVSConnector.

event EventHandler<QVObjectUpdatedEventArgs> QVObjectUpdated;

bool Open(string qvDoc);

List<string> GetDocs();

List<QVObjectDetails> GetAppStructure(bool extractCaptions);

List<QVObjectDetails> GetListBoxes();

bool DoesObjectExist(string objectId);

List<QVField> GetFields();

object GetFieldValue(string fieldName, long index);

string GetFieldsAsString();

object GetFieldCount();

string GetField(int index);

long GetNoItemsInField(string fieldName);

object GetRowCount(string objectId);

object GetColumnCount(string objectId);

object GetCellValue(string objectId, int r, int c);

object[,] GetCells(string objectId, int left, int top, int width, int height);

List<string> GetDimensionsAndExpressions(string objectId);

string ExecuteExpression(string expression);

string GetTextObject(string objectId);

string GetObjectHandle(string objectId);

void CallStandardAction(eStandardAction action);

void ClearListBox(string listBoxId);

ListBoxItems GetListBoxItems(string objectId, int offset, int pageSize);

void SelectValuesListBox(string objectId, params ListBoxItem[] text);

void SelectValuesListBoxText(string objectId, params string[] texts);

void SelectValuesListBoxNumeric(string objectId, params string[] numbers);

Image ExportObjectToBitmap(string objectId, int? width, int? height);

byte[] ExportObjectToBitmapBytes(string objectId, int? width, int? height);

byte[] ExportObjectToBitmapBytes(string objectId);

List<Bookmark> GetBookmarks();

Bookmark RecallBookmarkById(string bookmarkId);

Bookmark CreateBookmark(string bookmarkName);

void RemoveBookmark(string bookmarkName);

string PrintReport(string reportId);

List<Report> GetDocReports();

Possible Use Cases

QVSConnector can really be used in any .NET based application where you need to connect to live QlikView applications.

For example you could use it to integrate QlikView charts, data and functionality into a Windows Forms desktop application or website, you could write a SOAP wrapper around QlikView server using QVSConnector to provide the data or you could use the component to feed data from QlikView into another one of your business systems.

Client Testimonial

As a cutting-edge intelligence company, we are always striving to innovate with the analytics and reporting systems that we provide our clients. We made the decision to use Qlikview as our main Business Intelligence Tool and underlying technology behind our analytics, but our clients have never been entirely satisfied with the user experience of Qlikview alone.

This is where QVSConnector comes in.

We wanted to be able to utilise the powerful data engine that Qlikview provides, but in an ASP.NET Web Application that we could customise and enhance to our clients’ needs. QVS connector has given us the functionality we need to do this by bridging the gap between the two technologies.

Our ASP.NET website can now query the Qlikview data engine, and present results and graphs with incredible speed, whilst the user just see’s our Web Application. This means that our reporting systems will work on client machines with the lowest specifications (as all of the technology is server-side), whilst maintaining all the speed and analytical power that the Qlikview engine offers. For our needs, QVSConnector has been perfect so far.

As this is a brand new technology support was always a concern for us, but Industrial CodeBox have been incredible helpful in any support queries we have had, even adding functionality to QVSConnector that we have asked for. We look forward to seeing how the technology evolves as even more functionality is implemented. Thanks ICB.

-Jake Greenwood, Lead Developer. Consumer Intelligence

Next Steps

We are interested in talking to companies who would like to try out this component in specific projects or applications. In order to be considered for our beta scheme please ensure that:

- You are running QlikView Server 10 or 11.
- You or someone in your team has strong .NET expertise.
- You have a particular project or application which you need the component for and are willing to discuss this in detail with us (we will consider NDAs if necessary).
- You are willing to have regular online meetings to discuss your experiences with QVSConnector.
- You are willing to carry out detailed testing and submit bug reports for regarding any issues experienced.

If having read this page you would like to apply for beta access to QVSConnector please fill out this form.