What has changed from a developer’s point of view?

The following chart summarizes the developer's Qlik Sense journey over the duration of one year, coming from a pure QlikView environment with limited knowledge of JavaScript or web development:

1. Lasso experience: Coming from a QlikView background, the very first time you saw Qlik Sense in action was probably when you were exposed to a lot of new features on how data can be visualized in Qlik, using web technologies, JavaScript, and HTML. It looks sexy, sure, but the thing that impressed you the most would have probably been the lasso functionality on the Scatter Chart, which allows you to select your values on the canvas cowboy style by dragging a lasso with your mouse, as depicted in the following image:

This, among other features...

It is not an easy endeavor to compare QlikView and Qlik Sense, as they are serving different use cases and are built upon two completely different technologies. However, asking for a direct comparison is the most-asked question among existing QlikView users or developers, or even among businesses that are evaluating which technology to use for their data analytics project.

This section will try to provide a like-for-like comparison both from a user perspective as well as from a technical standpoint.

Qlik Sense's primary focus is to deliver a governed environment where business users can freely create apps and analytics without needing dedicated IT developers or consultants to do it for them. Of course, some more complex apps and dashboards will continue to require a classic software development approach; however, when compared to QlikView, this shifts, and the Qlik consultant will need to change their mindset slightly.

The goal of every new Qlik Sense project is to ensure to have the business user in mind. Approach the business user themselves, not the project manager or the stakeholder, and try to understand how he or she is conducting analytics at the current...

There are plenty of commonalities between QlikView and Qlik Sense in the loading script, but this section will cover a few of the differences:

• Data sources: Qlik Sense does not work on absolute file paths, as it uses the concept of data connections. This allows administrators to manage permissions for each user as well as which folder and database connections the users are allowed to use and have access to. QlikView did not support the aspect of online self-service application development in production. Hence, file paths could be specified in absolute terms. The change of loading data is minimal- instead of using the file path, you will need to create a data connection based on the same and then reference the data connection using lib://.

While it is all is straightforward to set up and implement, caution needs to be paid to the implications...

There are significantly visible changes on the frontend in Qlik Sense compared to QlikView, but this section will cover most of the technical aspects of it:

• Alternate states: Alternate states are supported in Qlik Sense, as it's sitting on the same engine as QlikView. However, there is no supported way in the user interface to create alternate states or assign them to an object. There have been some extensions in Qlik branch, which are trying to support the direction. However, they have not been implemented robustly. Comparative analysis is one big beneficiary of alternative states, and it apparently suffers in Qlik Sense because of that. Alternate states can be used for sophisticated mashups and QAP projects, but in Qlik Sense alternate states are not available to be implemented via the user interface.
• Variables: Variables can be used in Qlik...

During the presentation, A year with Qlik Sense, Martin Mahler briefly outlined the change of the role of a Qlik consultant or developer in a direct comparison between the two technologies, which is nicely summarized in the following comparative bar chart. It displays the split of the time spent as a Qlik developer in five core skill sets (Dashboarding, JavaScript DEV (development), Training, Data Modelling, and Server Maintenance) related to both technologies:

While there is a lot of overlap, the most significant difference between the two technologies is the introduction of a newly required skillset, JavaScript in Qlik Sense, which starts to occupy most of the time of the developer compared to when he or she was developing in QlikView. The second biggest change is the reduction of Dashboarding required in Qlik Sense. While counter...

One of the important selling points of Qlik Sense is its mobile compatibility-the same Qlik Sense app works seamlessly across multiple devices with an almost identical user experience. There are some limitations around interactivity (for example, there is no right-click on the iPad). However, the look and feel is very similar.

While QlikView did have an AJAX browser and an iOS app, which allowed the user to access their apps on devices other than a desktop PC, it was very limited and, quite simply, ugly. At the same time, the performance of the Qlik engine suffered when accessed via AJAX, which in summary left, a very sour user experience on mobile devices with QlikView.

Qlik Sense is all about working on mobile. While, in theory, it sounds easy to expect everything to work seamlessly across multiple devices, it is quite a big challenge. A Qlik Sense consultant...

If you are coming from a QlikView background, moving on to Qlik Sense at some point is very likely for you. While the technology is new and slightly different, there are many transferable skills, including the Qlik expression language with set analysis. But just because QlikView and Qlik Sense share the same name in parts, and the same data engine backend, it does not mean they are 100% identical. With Qlik Sense, a new way of providing data analytics using self-service is introduced. Qlik Sense is entirely web-based, and, as such, new programming languages, such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5 play a significant role. The key differentiator, however, is the extensibility of Qlik Sense, using the aforementioned programming languages. Building extensions, mashups, as well as integrating Qlik into other platforms becomes a stronger use case, and with it new and different skill...