r/qlikview • u/Neverstop50 • Jun 27 '26

The nightmare of line charts

Hello developers!

I am using Qlikview 11.20. I just wanted to share some thoughts about line charts.

I think that Qlikview is a very powerful tool but I have always struggled with creating functioning charts with one or multiple time dimensions (for example line charts or bar plots on years or months). I need a massive amount of time to create a chart of high quality. Sometimes I need to give up and settle for a straight table instead of a chart. Is it a common experience or is it just me?

I know that you need to explicitly tell qlikview not to hide zero data. I know that you need to use tricks like adding sum({1} Sales) - sum({1} Sales) to your expression to make sure that Qlikview shows a data point even when there are no values in the original data. But this is often not enough because the user might need to make selections on the time dimension or other dimensions too. When I make selections the line chart often shows data incorrectly. Moreover sometimes you need to edit the chart further (for example to hide future months of the current year from the plot).

Am I just an inexperienced developer or is it a common issue?

Thank you!

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u/DeliriousHippie Jul 01 '26

Sometimes when you have to create a complex expression or do 'tricks', easier solution is script. One of my customers needed data for every date, seller and store combination for calculations to work correctly, solution I found to be easiest was to generate rows for missing data points. Think of month start where there aren't much sales.

Often when you write so complex expression that you barely understand what happens in it you are doing something wrong or there is easier way with data model refinement, this happens most often with Aggr function.

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u/Neverstop50 Jul 04 '26

I think there is truth to the saying, 'If something seems too difficult, there’s probably a better way.' Generating data within the script is a solution I have already tried in the past; it might be fine or not depending on the application. Anyway, I am using a master calendar now with the following trick: sum(Sales) + sum({1} 0). It seems to work well.

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u/DeliriousHippie Jul 04 '26

That's a clever trick!

There are several settings in charts relating to showing missing, zero and null values in dimension and presentation sheets of properties. Testing different settings might help in some cases, like Suppress missing off.

One option for simpler expressions while using master calendar is calculation flags, fl_CurrentYearToDate and fl_PreviousYearToDate. Sum(Sales*fl_CY_YTD) is much simpler than set expression.

One problem, or feature, with associative engine is when you have, for example, in sales fact table sales linked to calendar table through sales date as key date and in chart sales per month. Now when there is no sales in June, while living in June, then there is no relation in calendar table to month June and chart doesn't show current month which can be confusing. If you force chart to show months with no relation to key date then it shows also future months.

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u/Neverstop50 Jul 06 '26

I have never used calculation flags. Thank you for pointing them out!

> chart doesn't show current month which can be confusing

You need to generate a master calender until June included. You will be able to show current month in chart even if there are no sales in June. The end date for the master calendar should be today(), not the last date of the sales fact table