qlBuilder
Motivation
qlbuilder
is a CLI tool which is ran from the command prompt. The tool allows Qlik Sense developers to write their Qlik scripts locally and to communicate with Qlik instance to:
- set the reload script into configured Qlik app
- reload app (the reload is performed from Qlik instance itself)
- check for syntax errors while developing without the need to save the whole app (the syntax check is performed against temporary session app)
- download Qlik app(s) with or without data
Installation
npm install -g qlbuilder
Once the global package is installed you can use qlbuilder
command from any folder
How to use?
(To list all commands run qlbuilder --help
)
Run one of the following commands from CMD/PowerShell
-
qlbuilder create [name]
- create the initial folders and files in the current folder.name
is used as root folder name-
-t --task
(optional) - supplying this argument will createVSCode
specific files inside.vscode
folder as well. Thetasks.json
file describe all tasks that can be ran withqlbuilder
. Change the environment name insettings.json
file and useVSCode
to start the tasks. (tasks.json
can be left as it is. No need for editing there) -
-s --script
(optional) - the creation process will copy the script files from the specified template folder using Templates -
-c --config
(optional) - the creation process will copy the template yml from the template folder asconfig.yml
into the current folder using Templates
-
-
qlbuilder build
- builds the full load script from
/src/*.qvs
files. The produced script is saved indist
folder (LoadScript.qvs
)
- builds the full load script from
-
qlbuilder checkscript [env]
- builds the script (from
/src/*.qvs
files) - connects to Qlik and checks the script for syntax errors -
env
is the environment name fromconfig.yml
. The check is performed against temporary session app.
- builds the script (from
-
qlbuilder reload [env]
- connects to Qlik and reload the app -
env
is the environment name fromconfig.yml
. Once the reload has startedqlbuilder
will display the progress in the same console. -
-ro, --reload-output <LOCATION>
- after the app is reload (with or without errors) the reload log will be saved in<LOCATION>
folder. The reload log file name will be inappId_timestamp.txt
format. -
-roo, --reload-output-overwrite <LOCATION>
- similar functionality to--reload-output
but the file name will beappId.txt
. With this option only the last reload log will be kept.
- connects to Qlik and reload the app -
-
qlbuilder setscript [env]
- builds the script (from
/src/*.qvs
files) - connects to Qlik and checks the script for syntax errors -
env
is the environment name fromconfig.yml
- sets the new script
- saves the app
- builds the script (from
-
qlbuilder getscript [env]
- (the opposite ofsetscript
) get the remote script, splits it into tabs and save the files insidescr
folder.config.yml
should present to indicate from which env/app to extract the script-
-y
- optional flag. Thegetscript
command will always ask for confirmation before overwrite the files intosrc
folder. Passing-y
will skip this confirmation and will directly executegetscript
command.
Steps:
- connects to Qlik and get the script from desired app -
env
is the environment name fromconfig.yml
- split the script into tabs/files
- saves the
qvs
files intosrc
folder
-
-
qlbuilder watch [env]
- enters in watch mode. The default behavior is to build and check the script syntax on any*.qvs
file insidesrc
folder. Can accept three additional flags:-
-r
- reloads the script on anyqvs
file change -
-s
- sets the script (and save the app) on anyqvs
file change -
-d
- disable the auto check for syntax errors. By default the script will check for syntax errors on each save (connects to QS and checks the script for errors against session/temp app)
Inside
watch
mode the console is active and the developer can perform additional actions. Just type one of the letters/commands below in the console to trigger them:-
s
orset
- build, syntax check and set script -
r
orrl
- build and set the script, reload the app and save. If any syntax error (during the build and set) the reload is not triggered -
c
orclr
- clear console -
e
orerr
- check for syntax errors (useful only if the watch mode is started with-d
argument) -
?
- print these commands -
x
- exit
-
-
qlBuilder section [sub-command]
- main commands for interactive section operations-
add
- adds new script section at specified position -
remove
- remove one or many script sections. Once the sections/files are removed the rest of the files are re-numbered (seerenumber
operation) -
move
- move specific script section up/down. After the file is moved (in reality the file is actually renamed) the files are re-numbered -
renumber
- ideally all files are prefixed with an index (1--
,2--
,3--
etc.) if section/file is deleted/renamed manually this index can appear "broken". Executingrenumber
command will re-index the files so the prefix will be continous
-
-
qlbuilder download [env]
- download the specified Qlik app. Optional parameter to include or exclude the data in the exported app/file-
-p
or--path
(mandatory) - path to the folder where the qvf will be downloaded -
-nd
or--nodata
- optional parameter indicating if the exported app should include the data or not. Default istrue
-
-
qlbuilder templates
- list all available script and config templates-c --create
(optional) - creates empty templates folder structure (if it doesn't exists) using Templates -
qlbuilder vscode
- creates the.vscode
folder (inside the current folder) with thetasks.json
andsettings.json
files. Please check thecreate
command description above for more info -
qlBuilder appDetails [env]
- display info about the configured app -
qlBuilder createApp [env]
- creates brand new (empty) app on the specified environment. Updatesconfig.yml
appId for the environment
config.yml
The create
command will create few folders and config.yml
file. The config file is pre-populated with example values. This file specifies Qlik environments (dev, test, prod etc.)
The config file is in yaml
format. The config below defines one environment (desktop
) and the connection to it is made on localhost:4848
and the app that we will target there is qlbuilder Test.qvf
- name: desktop
host: localhost:4848
secure: false
appId: C:\Users\MyUserName\Documents\Qlik\Sense\Apps\qlbuilder Test.qvf
(Take a look at the example above for how to specify otherApps
. Used for setting the same script to additional apps)
For QSE
with certificates the config will be:
- name: prod
host: 192.168.0.100:4747 # IP/FQDN of QS engine (central node)
appId: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-12345678901 # app ID
authentication:
type: certificates
For QSE
with JWT
the config will be:
- name: jwt
host: 192.168.0.100/virtual-proxy-prefix # IP/FQDN with of the virtual proxy (see below)
appId: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-12345678901a # app ID
authentication:
type: jwt
sessionHeaderName: X-Qlik-Session-jwt # (optional) see below
When working with jwt
port is not required. If JWТ
is not the main method for authentication then the Virtual Proxy prefix need to be provided. For more information how to set this please check this
Qlik Support article
For QSE
with Windows/Form the config will be:
- name: uat
host: 192.168.0.100/virtual-proxy-prefix # IP/FQDN with of the virtual proxy (if needed)
appId: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-12345678901a # app ID
authentication:
type: winform
sessionHeaderName: X-Qlik-Session-Win # (optional) see below
For Qlik Saas
with Windows/Form the config will be:
- name: saas
host: tenant-name.eu.qlikcloud.com
appId: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-12345678901a # app ID
authentication:
type: saas
By default qlbuilder
will try and connect through https
/wss
. If the environment is QS Desktop or the communication is done via http
/ws
then secure: false
need to be added to the environment configuration
sessionHeaderName
- each Virtual Proxy should have a unique session cookie header name. The default value is X-Qlik-Session
. If the default VP is used then this config value is not needed. qlBuilder
will show warning message and will try to connect to Qlik with the default value.
Environment variables and home config
For security reasons (mainly to avoid commit users and password) qlbuilder
expects some environment variables to be set before start. The content of the variables can be pre-set using .qlbuilder.yml
config file in the user home folder (see below)
Environment variables
-
Windows
-
QLIK_USER
- in format DOMAIN\username QLIK_PASSWORD
To set env variables:
- in CMD -
set QLIK_USER=DOMAIN\UserName
- in PowerShell -
$env:QLIK_PASSWORD="my_password"
-
-
JWT
requires one environment variable to be set-
QLIK_TOKEN
- the content of the jwt token
-
-
Cert
-
QLIK_CERTS
- the folder location where the certificates are stored. The script will search for 3 certificates -root.pem
,client_key.pem
andclient.pem
-
QLIK_USER
- username in formatDOMAIN\UserName
-
-
Saas
-
QLIK_TOKEN
- the API key, generated from the user settings panel
-
Home config
.qlbuilder.yml
config file - this file should be placed in your home folder (c:\users\my-username
). The file contains the credentials for the Qlik environments. The name of the environments should match the ones in the local config.yml
dev:
QLIK_USER: DOMAIN\my-dev-user
QLIK_PASSWORD: my-dev-password
prod:
QLIK_USER: DOMAIN\my-prod-user
QLIK_PASSWORD: my-prod-password
dev_jwt:
QLIK_TOKEN: eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWIiOiIxMjM0NTY3ODkwIiw...
prod_cert:
QLIK_CERTS: c:\path\to\cert\folder
QLIK_USER: DOMAIN\UserName
The environment name is used as an command argument (so try not to have spaces in the environment names)
Naming script files
At the moment (it will probably change in near future) the script is build by reading the qvs
files in src
folder by alphabetical order. The files should have the following naming convention:
number--name.qvs
To ensure alphabetical order the files should start with number followed by separator (--
) and name. The name will be used as a tab name when setting the script in Qlik.
For example having the following files:
1--Variables.qvs
2--DBLoad.qvs
3--Transformation.qvs
4--StoreData.qvs
5--DropTables
Will result in the following tabs in Qlik
Extra
Having the script files as local files allows to put them in version control. This will put the src
, dist
and config.yml
files in the repository.
In some cases the Prod environment app can be without the original (full) script and just includes (via REST API call) the final load script (the one in dist
folder) from Git's master branch. This way, technically, there is no need to touch the Prod
app in case of an script change ... this is just an idea how to benefit from this approach.
Templates
New projects can be initialized with predefined scripts and/or configs. In order to do this qlBuilder
will search for templates in C:\<USER>\qlbuilder_templates
folder. By default this folder (and its sub-folders) do not exists and can be created either manually or with:
qlBuilder templates create
There are two types of templates - config and script. Check the sections below for more information. Both Script and config template arguments are optional and if used can be provided independently to each other or both at the same time.
Config
Under qlbuilder_templates
folder create a folder named config
. The config
folder is where the config templates will be stored. Each template config should be valid qlBuilder
config (yml
file). There are no limitations on what the template file name should be (as long as is a valid file name).
For example: if there are 3 config template files: dev_config.yml
, uat_config.yml
and test.yml
. Each template can be invoked with the following commands:
qlBuilder create my-project-name -c dev_config
qlBuilder create my-project-name -c uat_config
qlBuilder create my-project-name -c test
As seen when specifying config in the command the file extension (.yml
) is omitted.
Note Only files with
yml
extension are valid config templates
Script
Under qlbuilder_templates
folder create a folder named script
. This folder will contain the folders with the script templates. Each template folder will contain the qvs
script files that will be copied across when create
command is used (if -s
argument is provided). The script files should be prefixed (1--xxx
, 2-xxx
, 3--xxx
etc).
For example: if there are 3 config template folders: dev-env
, uat-env
and test
. Each template can be invoked with the following commands:
qlBuilder create my-project-name -s dev_env
qlBuilder create my-project-name -s uat_env
qlBuilder create my-project-name -s test
Note Only files with
qvs
extension will be copied to the result folder
Roadmap
Have a look at the issues labeled as an enhancement
If you have any issues, comments, suggestions etc please use the GitHub issue tracker