Data and reload
QV2QS converts the QlikView UI and can automatically load data into the converted app using the Auto-binary option. Enable Reload and Auto-binary in the wizard or on the command line, and QV2QS handles the data transfer automatically. If Auto-binary is not used, the converted app must be reloaded separately to populate data.
QV2QS converts the QlikView UI metadata (PRJ XML) into Qlik Sense JSON and builds the app directly on the Qlik Cloud tenant. The conversion process handles sheet layouts, visualization objects, expressions, and styling. Without a reload, the resulting Qlik Sense app contains no data after the build step completes.
To populate data into the converted app, the app must be reloaded. There are three approaches:
- Automatic binary load — QV2QS uploads the original QVW file to Qlik Cloud and uses a
Binarystatement to load the data during the build. This approach is the fastest way to see a working app with data immediately after conversion. For details, see Automatic binary load below. - Manual reload — If data connections have already been created in Qlik Cloud and the QVD files or data sources are accessible, the app can be reloaded after adjusting the load script. QV2QS applies basic load script path normalization, but connection names and data source paths may require manual updates.
- Triggered reload — Use the
--reloadflag to trigger a reload as part of the deployment. The reload executes the load script as-is. The reload succeeds only if the data connections and data sources referenced in the load script are already available in the Qlik Cloud environment.
Two flags control data at different stages. The --noData flag skips data during the build step so the app structure can be tested without waiting for a reload. The --exportQvfNoData flag exports the QVF without data after the build completes, producing a smaller file for sharing. The flags can be used independently or together.
Automatic binary load
Automatic binary load uploads the original QVW file to Qlik Cloud, uses a Binary statement to load the data into the converted app, and then removes the uploaded file. The converted app receives the same data as the QlikView original without requiring manual data connection configuration.
To enable automatic binary load, use --autoBinary on the command line or enable Auto-binary in the user interface.
QV2QS performs the following steps when automatic binary load is enabled:
- Upload the QVW file to Qlik Cloud as a temporary app.
- Prepend a
Binary [<appId>];statement and anExit Script;statement to the converted app load script. - Build the app (and reload if
--reloadis specified), which loads data from the uploaded QVW. - Delete the temporary uploaded app from Qlik Cloud.
- Restore the original load script in the Qlik Cloud app, removing the Binary and Exit Script statements.
After cleanup, the Qlik Cloud app contains the loaded data but the load script no longer references the temporary app.
The upload step is subject to Qlik Cloud file size limits. Large QVW files may exceed the upload limit for the tenant subscription tier. If the upload fails, deploy the app to a space with large app support enabled, or use the --binaryAppId argument to reference an existing app already in Qlik Cloud. For details on tenant resource limits, see Qlik Cloud resource limits.
Cleanup on failure
If the build or reload step fails after the QVW file has been uploaded, QV2QS automatically attempts to clean up before exiting. Cleanup includes deleting the temporary uploaded app from Qlik Cloud and restoring the original load script both locally and in the Cloud app.
If the cleanup itself fails (for example, due to a network interruption), the temporary app may remain in the Qlik Cloud tenant. Orphaned temporary apps are named QV2QS_Binary_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS (for example, QV2QS_Binary_20260219_143025). Check the target space for apps matching this pattern and delete them manually. The local script.qvs file in the build directory may also contain the temporary Binary statement. Re-run the conversion to regenerate it.
Automatic binary load requires the --reload flag and a --qvw path. QV2QS rejects the command and exits with code 1 if either requirement is missing.
The original QVW file on the local machine is never modified or deleted. Only the temporary copy in Qlik Cloud is removed after the data load completes.
Automatic binary load is not supported for apps that use Section Access. The Qlik Cloud reload engine cannot authenticate against the Section Access table in the source QVW file. When QV2QS detects Section Access in the source app, the binary upload and reload steps are skipped and a warning is logged. The app is deployed without data. To load data, create Qlik Cloud data connections and update the load script manually, or remove Section Access from a copy of the source QVW and re-run with --autoBinary.
When --preserveTargetAppScript is combined with --reload, the reload executes the existing load script in the target app, not the converted script. This is useful when the target app already has working Qlik Cloud data connections and only the UI layer needs to be updated. For details, see Reusing an existing app.