Exploring Dollar Sign Expansion in QlikView

In QlikView, the dollar sign expansion is a way to reference a field’s value in a calculation or expression. The dollar sign expansion is written in the format of a dollar sign followed by the field name in brackets, such as $[FieldName].

For example, if you have a field called “Sales,” you could reference the value of that field in a calculation using the dollar sign expansion:

$(Sum(Sales) / Sum($[Sales]))

In this example, the dollar sign expansion is being used to reference the total value of the “Sales” field in the denominator of the calculation.

Dollar sign expansion can also be used in set analysis, which allows you to specify specific subsets of data to be used in a calculation.

For example, the following expression uses dollar sign expansion to calculate the total sales for a specific category:

In QlikView, the dollar sign expansion operator ($) is used to reference a field or expression in a preceding load statement. It is used to create a link between the current load statement and a previously loaded field or expression, allowing you to reference the field or expression in the current load statement without having to re-specify it.

For example, consider the following QlikView script:

LOAD * INLINE [

ID, Value

1, 100

2, 200

3, 300

];

LOAD ID, Value * 2 AS DoubleValue

INLINE [

ID, Value

1, 50

2, 100

3, 150

];

In the second load statement, the field “Value” is not explicitly defined in the script. However, it is used in the expression “Value * 2”, which calculates the double value of each row in the data set. Using the dollar sign expansion operator, we can reference the “Value” field from the preceding load statement and use it in the current load statement, like this:

LOAD ID, $(Value) * 2 AS DoubleValue

INLINE [

ID, Value

1, 50

2, 100

3, 150

];

The dollar sign expansion operator can be used to reference any field or expression that has been defined in a preceding load statement. It can be especially useful when working with complex scripts that involve multiple load statements and nested expressions, as it allows you to reuse fields and expressions without having to re-specify them in each load statement.

It’s important to note that the dollar sign expansion operator only works within a single script, and it cannot be used to reference fields or expressions from other scripts or external data sources.

In addition, the field or expression being referenced must be defined in a preceding load statement, and it must be fully specified (including any table or field names) in the preceding load statement.