Wednesday 16 May 2018

Working with Qlik script in VSCode

I'm a big fan of Microsoft's free code editor Visual Studio Code (VSCode). For some time now I've been using it for various non-Qlik projects including Arduino based ones. Recently I decided to make the leap to working with Qlik script files in VSCode rather than Notepad++ (NPP) which had been my go-to editor for many years.

Although Notepad++ is a perfectly capable text and code editor, there has been a large increase in competition in recent years and NPP has gotten left a little behind. One very relevant example is NPP's syntax highlighting engine which only supports very basic highlighting whilst the majority of the competition have moved to RegEx based engines that can provide much more accurate highlighting.

Having been using VSCode for several months now, I thought I'd share some of the extensions and tools I have begun to find very valuable when working with Qlik script files.

Monday 14 May 2018

Qlik for Notepad++ v2.6 Released

Version 2.6 contains the following functionality improvements and bug fixes:
  • Added the missing keyword DETAIL
  • Corrected issue that was preventing "GROUP BY" being correctly highlighted
  • Made normal brackets "( and )" a delimited pair to support auto bracket closing and prevent issue with opening brackets preventing function highlighting
This release contains the following known issues:
  • The if() function is highlighted in bold. This is because Notepad++ can't differentiate between the if() function and the IF statement. No known solution is available for this issue.
It is recommended that this release be used with Notepad++ version 6.6.9 and later.

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Qlik Sense WordPress Plugin v1.3.1

A new release of the Qlik Sense WordPress Plugin is out. Version 1.3.1 brings the following tweaks and changes:

  • Fixed a bug where clicking cancel on the shortcode insert popups still inserts the shortcode
  • Made the plugin clean up all its settings uninstalled
  • Made the plugin translation ready and included en_US and en_GB translations

If you'd like to help translate the plugin into other languages, please get in touch.

If you have the plugin installed already, the update should become available in the WordPress admin control panel of your site. Full details of how to install and use can be found here.

Wednesday 14 February 2018

Qlik for WordPress Plugin v2.0

Qlik for WordPress v2.0 has just been released. This release provides the biggest improvements to date, bringing a large number of new features as well as the usual tweaks and bug fixes.

If you've tried the plugin before and found it stopped other features and plugins from working, give it another try as hopefully this issue has now be resolved.

Plugin Settings Page

The plugin now has its own settings page where you can turn on or off the otional features.


Qlik Web Syntax Highlighter v2.0

Qlik Web Syntax Highlighter v2.0 has just been released. This release provides the biggest improvements to date, bringing a large number of new features as well as the usual tweaks and bug fixes and follows:

  • Added Qlik Sense connection string support
  • Added the missing keywords DERIVE and FLUSHLOG
  • Added support for DIRECT QUERY statements
  • Fixed issue with REM comments not supporting whitespace before them
  • Fixed issue with clicking cancel on shortcode prompts results in shortcode still being entered
  • Fixed issue with variable declarations containing a full stop (AKA period) not highlighting correctly
  • Fixed issue with backslash incorrectly operating as an escape character in strings
  • Other minor highlighting improvements
  • Significant speed improvements
  • Added custom vector font to allow insertion of some Qlik icons
  • Added the LUIicons vector font from LeonardoUI to allow insertion of all Qlik Sense UI icons
  • Added optional extra line numbers to code block (should be used with caution as can prevent correct highlighting of code than spans multiple lines eg. /* */ block comments)

Thursday 8 February 2018

Qlik for Visual Studio Code v0.4.0

After my recent post regarding text editors for working with QlikView and Qlik Sense script files, Visual Studio Code was top of the wish list. There was already a Qlik VS Code extension available in the VS Marketplace, that whilst not perfect was a great start. So I reached out to it's author Xavier Hanh with an offer to collaborate on improving the syntax highlighting it offers.

I'm pleased to announce the first fruits of the collaboration, a new release of the Qlik for Visual Studio Code extension.

Tuesday 6 February 2018

The Vanishing Addict

I've received a number of similar questions lately regarding the absence of any new posts over the last year or more and my sudden return. So I thought I'd address them all out in the open. Here goes....

Am I still alive? Yes, thankfully I am.

Have I given up Qlik? Are you kidding? Until they develop an effective treatment I'll remain an addict.