Load

You can use distinct as a predicate if you only want to load unique records. If there are duplicate records, the first instance will be loaded.

If you are using preceding loads, you need to place distinct in the first load statement, as distinct only affects the destination table.

Preceding load

A list of the fields to be loaded. Using * as a field list indicates all fields in the table.

The field definition must always contain a literal, a reference to an existing field, or an expression.

fieldname is a text that is identical to a field name in the table. Note that the field name must be enclosed by straight double quotation marks or square brackets if it contains e.g. spaces. Sometimes field names are not explicitly available. Then a different notation is used:

@fieldnumber represents the field number in a delimited table file. It must be a positive integer preceded by "@". The numbering is always made from 1 and up to the number of fields.

@startpos:endpos represents the start and end positions of a field in a file with fixed length records. The positions must both be positive integers. The two numbers must be preceded by "@" and separated by a colon. The numbering is always made from 1 and up to the number of positions. In the last field, n is used as end position.

• If @startpos:endpos is immediately followed by the characters I or U, the bytes read will be interpreted as a binary signed (I) or unsigned (U) integer (Intel byte order). The number of positions read must be 1, 2 or 4.
• If @startpos:endpos is immediately followed by the character R, the bytes read will be interpreted as a binary real number (IEEE 32-bit or 64 bit floating point). The number of positions read must be 4 or 8.
• If @startpos:endpos is immediately followed by the character B, the bytes read will be interpreted as a BCD (Binary Coded Decimal) numbers according to the COMP-3 standard. Any number of bytes may be specified.

expression can be a numeric function or a string function based on one or several other fields in the same table. For further information, see the syntax of expressions.

as is used for assigning a new name to the field.

from is used if data should be loaded from a file using a folder or a web file data connection

file ::= [ path ] filename

Example: 'lib://Table Files/'

If the path is omitted, Qlik Sense searches for the file in the directory specified by the Directory statement. If there is no Directory statement, Qlik Sense searches in the working directory, C:\Users\{user}\Documents\Qlik\Sense\Apps.

Directory

The filename may contain the standard DOS wildcard characters ( * and ? ). This will cause all the matching files in the specified directory to be loaded.

The format specification consists of a list of several format specification items, within brackets.

Format specification items

Legacy scripting mode

In legacy scripting mode, the following path formats are also supported:

• absolute

  Example: c:\data\

• relative to the Qlik Sense app working directory.

  Example: data\

• URL address (HTTP or FTP), pointing to a location on the Internet or an intranet.

  Example: http://www.qlik.com

fieldassource::=(tablename, fieldname)

The field is the name of the previously loaded tablename and fieldname.

The format specification consists of a list of several format specification items, within brackets. For more information, see Format specification items.

data ::= [ text ]

Data entered through an inline clause must be enclosed by specific characters – square brackets, quotation marks, or back ticks. The text between these is interpreted in the same way as the content of a file. Hence, where you would insert a new line in a text file, you should also do it in the text of an inline clause: by pressing the Enter key when typing the script.

In a simple inline load, the number of columns are defined by the first line.

You can customize the inline load with many of the same format specification items that are available for other loaded tables. These items are listed in brackets. For more information, see Format specification items.

For more information about inline loads, see Using inline loads to load data.

table label is a label preceding the LOAD or SELECT statement(s) that created the original table. The label should be given with a colon at the end.

Loading data from a previously loaded table

Table labels

size ::= number

Number is an integer indicating the number of records to be generated.

The field list must not contain expressions which require data from an external data source or a previously loaded table, unless you refer to a single field value in a previously loaded table with the Peek function.

You can load data from analytic connections. You need to use the extension clause to call a function defined in the server-side extension (SSE) plugin, or evaluate a script.

You can send a single table to the SSE plugin, and a single data table is returned. If the plugin does not specify the names of the fields that are returned, the fields will be named Field1, Field2, and so on.

Extension pluginname.functionname( tabledescription );

• Loading data using a function in an SSE plugin

  tabledescription ::= (table { ,tablefield} )

  If you do not state table fields, the fields will be used in load order.

• Loading data by evaluating a script in an SSE plugin

  tabledescription ::= ( script, table { ,tablefield} )

Data type handling in the table field definition

Data types are automatically detected in analytic connections. If the data has no numeric values and at least one non-NULL text string, the field is considered as text. In any other case it is considered as numeric.

You can force the data type by wrapping a field name with String() or Mixed().

• String() forces the field to be text. If the field is numeric, the text part of the dual value is extracted, there is no conversion performed.
• Mixed() forces the field to be dual.

String() or Mixed() cannot be used outside extension table field definitions, and you cannot use other Qlik Sense functions in a table field definition.

More about analytic connections

You need to configure analytic connections before you can use them.

Qlik Sense Enterprise: Creating an analytic connection

Qlik Sense Desktop: Configuring analytic connections in Qlik Sense Desktop

You can read more about analytic connections in the GitHub repository. qlik-oss/server-side-extension

criterion is a logical expression.

while is a clause used for stating whether a record should be repeatedly read. The same record is read as long as criterion is True. In order to be useful, a while clause must typically include the IterNo( ) function.

criterion is a logical expression.

group by is a clause used for defining over which fields the data should be aggregated (grouped). The aggregation fields should be included in some way in the expressions loaded. No other fields than the aggregation fields may be used outside aggregation functions in the loaded expressions.

groupbyfieldlist ::= (fieldname { ,fieldname } )