The setting defines which day in January to set as reference day to define week 1. In other words, this setting prescribes how many days in week 1 must be dates within January.
Syntax:
ReferenceDay
ReferenceDay sets how many days are included in the first week of the year. ReferenceDay can be set to any value between 1 and 7. Any value outside of the 1-7 range is interpreted as the midpoint of the week (4), which is equivalent to ReferenceDay being set to 4.
If you do not select a value for the ReferenceDay setting, then the default value will show ReferenceDay=0 which will be interpreted as the midpoint of the week (4), as seen in the ReferenceDay values table below.
The ReferenceDay function is often used in combination with the following functions:
If the Qlik Sense app is operating with unbroken weeks, the ReferenceDay variable setting will be enforced. However, if broken weeks are being used, week 1 will begin on January 1 and terminate in conjunction with the FirstWeekDay variable setting and ignore the ReferenceDay flag.
Integer that defines which day to use as the first day of the week.
Qlik Sense allows the following values to be set for ReferenceDay:
ReferenceDay values
Value
Reference day
0 (default)
January 4
1
January 1
2
January 2
3
January 3
4
January 4
5
January 5
6
January 6
7
January 7
In the following example the ReferenceDay = 3 defines January 3 as the reference day:
SET ReferenceDay=3; //(set January 3 as the reference day)
Some of the examples below use inline loads. For more information, see Inline loads.
Regional settings
Unless otherwise specified, the examples in this topic use the following date format: MM/DD/YYYY. The date format is specified in the SET DateFormat statement in your data load script. The default date formatting may be different in your system, due to your regional settings and other factors. You can change the formats in the examples below to suit your requirements. Or you can change the formats in your load script to match these examples.
Default regional settings in apps are based on the regional system settings of the computer or server where Qlik Sense is installed. If the Qlik Sense server you are accessing is set to Sweden, the Data load editor will use Swedish regional settings for dates, time, and currency. These regional format settings are not related to the language displayed in the Qlik Sense user interface. Qlik Sense will be displayed in the same language as the browser you are using.
Example 1 - Load script using the default value; ReferenceDay=0
Overview
Open the Data load editor and add the load script below to a new tab.
The load script contains:
The ReferenceDay variable that is set to 0.
The BrokenWeeks variable that is set to 0 which forces the app to use unbroken weeks.
A dataset of dates from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020.
Load script
SET BrokenWeeks = 0;
SET ReferenceDay = 0;
Sales:
LOAD
date,
sales,
week(date) as week,
weekday(date) as weekday
Inline [
date,sales
12/27/2019,5000
12/28/2019,6000
12/29/2019,7000
12/30/2019,4000
12/31/2019,3000
01/01/2020,6000
01/02/2020,3000
01/03/2020,6000
01/04/2020,8000
01/05/2020,5000
01/06/2020,7000
01/07/2020,3000
01/08/2020,5000
01/09/2020,9000
01/10/2020,5000
01/11/2020,7000
];
Results
Load the data and open a sheet. Create a new table and add these fields as dimensions:
date
week
weekday
Results table
date
week
weekday
12/27/2019
52
Fri
12/28/2019
52
Sat
12/29/2019
1
Sun
12/30/2019
1
Mon
12/31/2019
1
Tue
01/01/2020
1
Wed
01/02/2020
1
Thu
01/03/2020
1
Fri
01/04/2020
1
Sat
01/05/2020
2
Sun
01/06/2020
2
Mon
01/07/2020
2
Tue
01/08/2020
2
Wed
01/09/2020
2
Thu
01/10/2020
2
Fri
01/11/2020
2
Sat
Week 52 concludes on Saturday, December 28. Because ReferenceDay requires January 4 to be included in week 1, week 1 therefore begins on December 29 and concludes on Saturday, January 4.
Example - ReferenceDay variable set to 5
Overview
Open the Data load editor and add the load script below to a new tab.
The load script contains:
The ReferenceDay variable that is set to 5.
The BrokenWeeks variable that is set to 0 which forces the app to use unbroken weeks.
A dataset of dates from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020.
Load script
SET BrokenWeeks = 0;
SET ReferenceDay = 5;
Sales:
LOAD
date,
sales,
week(date) as week,
weekday(date) as weekday
Inline [
date,sales
12/27/2019,5000
12/28/2019,6000
12/29/2019,7000
12/30/2019,4000
12/31/2019,3000
01/01/2020,6000
01/02/2020,3000
01/03/2020,6000
01/04/2020,8000
01/05/2020,5000
01/06/2020,7000
01/07/2020,3000
01/08/2020,5000
01/09/2020,9000
01/10/2020,5000
01/11/2020,7000
];
Results
Load the data and open a sheet. Create a new table and add these fields as dimensions:
date
week
weekday
Results table
date
week
weekday
12/27/2019
52
Fri
12/28/2019
52
Sat
12/29/2019
53
Sun
12/30/2019
53
Mon
12/31/2019
53
Tue
01/01/2020
53
Wed
01/02/2020
53
Thu
01/03/2020
53
Fri
01/04/2020
53
Sat
01/05/2020
1
Sun
01/06/2020
1
Mon
01/07/2020
1
Tue
01/08/2020
1
Wed
01/09/2020
1
Thu
01/10/2020
1
Fri
01/11/2020
1
Sat
Week 52 concludes on Saturday, December 28. The BrokenWeeks variable forces the app to use unbroken weeks. The reference day value of 5 requires January 5 to be included in week 1.
However, this is eight days after the conclusion of week 52 of the previous year. Therefore, week 53 begins on December 29 and concludes on January 4. Week 1 begins on Sunday, January 5.
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