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Field tags

Field tags provide the possibility of adding metadata to the fields in your data model. There are two different types of field tags:

  • System field tags

    System field tags are generated automatically when the script is executed and data is loaded. Some of the tags can be manipulated in the script. System tags are always preceded by a $ sign.

  • Custom field tags

    You can add custom tags to fields in the data load script, using the Tag statement. Custom tags may not use the same name as any system tag.

    See: Tag

    See: Untag

System field tags

The following system field tags are generated automatically when data is loaded.

Tag Description Can be manipulated in the script
$system

System field that is generated by Qlik Sense during script execution.

See: System fields

No
$key Key field providing a link between two or more tables. No
$keypart The field is part of one or more synthetic keys. No
$syn

Synthetic key

See: Synthetic keys

No

$hidden

Hidden field, that is, it is not displayed in any field selection list when creating visualizations, dimensions or measures. You can still use hidden fields in expressions, but you need to type the field name.

You can use the HidePrefix and HideSuffix system variables to set which fields to hide.

See: HidePrefix

See: HideSuffix

Yes
$numeric All (non-NULL) values in the field are numeric. Yes
$integer All (non-NULL) values in the field are integers. Yes
$text No values in the field are numeric. Yes
$ascii Field values contain only standard ASCII characters. Yes
$date All (non-NULL) values in the field can be interpreted as dates (integers). Yes
$timestamp All (non-NULL) values in the field can be interpreted as time stamps. Yes
$geoname Field values contain names of geographical locations, related to a point field ($geopoint) and/or an area field ($geomultipolygon). Yes
$geopoint Field values contain geometry point data, representing points on a map in the format [longitude, latitude]. Yes
$geomultipolygon Field values contain geometry polygon data, representing areas on a map. Yes

Derived field tags

The following tags can be used when you declare derived fields to specify how to use and display the fields on a contiguous axis in a line chart. You can manipulate the tags in the data load script.

Tag Description
$axis The $axis tag is used to specify that the field should generate a tick on the contiguous axis of the chart.

$qualified

$simplified

You can specify a qualified and a simplified version of an axis label by deriving two different fields. The qualified field is displayed as label when the axis is zoomed to a deeper level, to show full context.

For example, you can generate two fields when showing data by the quarter:

  • A simplified field, with the $simplified tag, showing quarter, like 'Q1'.
  • A qualified field, with the $qualified tag, showing year and quarter, like '2016-Q1'.

When the time axis is zoomed out, the axis shows labels in two levels, for year (2016) and quarter (Q1), using the simplified field. When you zoom in, the axis shows labels for quarter and month, and the qualified field (2016-Q1) is used to provide full year context for the quarter.

$cyclic The $cyclic tag is used for cyclic fields, for example quarter or month, with a dual data representation.

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