topic Re: Set Analysis Syntax in App Development

Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:50:10 GMT

Hi everyone... I am hoping someone can assist. We have had a view here for a literal decade or more that contains many set analyses, and while I am 99.9% positive that they were fine before, suddenly we are getting an error message from them. They still appear to work fine and produce a correct number; that's the strange part. But I need to use the numbers in other calculations and the same set analysis code seems to not be working in the new formulae.

Here is the formula. The red underline begins after the first $ and goes the length of the formula, with the error in the header reading, rather unhelpfully, "Errors in expression". I have broken out the pieces and ascertained that it looks to be correct syntax. Can anyone see what's wrong here? Thanks so much for any guidance you can provide!

=sum({[Group 3]<[Property Description]=$::[Property Description],
[Building Description]=$::[Building Description],
[Group/Transient]=$::[Group/Transient],
[Group Block]=$::[Group Block],
[Guest Type Description]=$::[Guest Type Description],
[Guest Type Group Description]=$::[Guest Type Group Description],
[House Use]=$::[House Use],
[Owner/TimeShare]=$::[Owner/TimeShare],
capture_date={'$(v_forecast_capture)'},
[Stats Date]={'>=$(v_forecast_start_pace)<=$(v_forecast_end_pace)'}>}$(vroomnights))

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

Oleg_Troyansky — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:57:10 GMT

Hi @raynac ,

I can't see anything that's wrong with the syntax. It's hard to guess what the problem might be. As a work around, I'd suggest replacing this syntax with functions P(). If your current syntax causes problems (it could even be a bug in the product), then this alternative syntax might work:

sum({[Group 3]<[Property Description]=P({$}),
[Building Description]=P({$}),
[Group/Transient]=P({$}),

...

Try it and see if it solves the problem.

Cheers,

Oleg Troyansky

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:15:59 GMT

Hi Oleg,

Thanks so much for your help. I do appreciate it!

When I try this exact code you gave me, I still get errors. The first P does turn red, but then the red line appears at the first half of the parentheses.

Perhaps I misunderstood your instructions? I apologize, as this is not my code... I am merely trying to remedy it.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

Oleg_Troyansky — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:02:02 GMT

Hmm, it looks very strange... You did everything correctly, no worries there.

Now I spotted an issue in one of the filters, but it wouldn't give you a syntax error like this - the search condition for dates should be enclosed in double quotes and not in single quotes. But that's not the main problem. I'd try to explore the following:

1. Verify that the Alternate State [Group 3] actually exists. Maybe it was deleted.

2. Verify the contents of the variable VROOMNIGHTS - maybe there is an issue there?

3. Check how the fully expanded expression looks like at the bottom of the screen, next to the error message.

4. Check that all the fields, starting with the [Property Description], exist in the data.

5. This is a long shot, but still - what version of the software are you using? Could it be so old that it doesn't support Alternate States?

Cheers,

Oleg

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:28:34 GMT

Hi @Oleg_Troyansky

Thank you again for all your great suggestions!

Re #5, I actually thought about the Qlikview version, after your first message. So, I checked and I have the most recent one.

Re #1, I checked here and Group 3 definitely still exists, unless I need to check somewhere else.

Re #2, I did copy and replace the formula for the variable into the set analysis, replacing the variable with no change.

Re #4, I checked each and every field. Yes, all still there.

So the only one I am not sure how to do is #3.

I am simply baffled because they were working fine at some point in the past and I don't think I have changed anything in the script or the formulae. Plus, there are a few dozen of these set analyses in this view... this is another and the red underlining actually stops partway through this one!

I am at a loss.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 18:14:34 GMT

I just discovered one more thing. We have three different views that all rely on an extensive use of this sort of set analysis and all of them are showing the same basic error... red line starting on the first period after the first dollar sign.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

Vegar — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 23:03:30 GMT

@raynac Did you ever solve this?

What i tend to do when I run into problems like this is to simplify my measure. Try to identify what you can remove from this expression , but still have this issue?

Have you tried

=sum($(vroomnights))?
=sum({[Group 3]<[Property Description]=$::[Property Description]>} $(vroomnights))
Other

Consider also what you can not move out of the measure in order to avoid that issue.

It mught be easier to troubleshoot and find a solution when you have pinpointed with an example where the problem occur.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:07:22 GMT

Hi @Vegar,

Thanks so much for the suggestion!

=sum($(vroomnights)) works perfectly with no errors.

If I remove the [Property Description] line, the error just "moves down" to the next condition.

That pattern continues until I remove the last condition:

and only disappears once the entire set is removed.

If I do it in reverse, remove the dates and work my way up to the Property... again, everything just stays underlined in red until I get to the top, and remove the set analysis.

Any ideas would be truly appreciated!

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

Vegar — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 20:34:44 GMT

What happens if you do even more cleaning in your expression.

Simple modifier:

Sum ({[Group 3]<[Stats date]={"*"}>}$(vRoomNights))

Simpler state that we know exists:

Sum ({1<[Stats date]={"*"}>}$(vRoomNights))

Simpler expression in the sum:

Sum ({[Group 3]<[Stats date]={"*"}>}1)

Do you get issues with all these three as well.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:21:44 GMT

Hi @Vegar,

I ran them one at a time, as requested, and here's what happened.

As a sanity check, I went in and made sure nothing had inadvertently happened to the alternate states, but they are all there.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

Oleg_Troyansky — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:55:09 GMT

I tested it in my QlikView Desktop (Ver. May 2024), and I can see that the expression editor doesn't like it when Alternate State is enclosed in square brackets. For this reason, I'd recommend avoiding spaces in Alternate State names.

Having said that, the expression worked as expected, despite the red lines. It happens quite frequently that expression syntax is highlighted as wrong, while the expression works just fine. This appears to be one of these cases.

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

raynac — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 19:04:04 GMT

Hi @Oleg_Troyansky - nailed it! That's exactly what it was. I almost never put spaces in anything (I even rarely use underscores as I was taught to use "camel case" when I was in school) but my colleague who did this likely didn't realize it would cause trouble later! I am going through and recreating "Group 1" as "Group1" etc just to clean up the code, and because I really do think it's causing trouble in larger calculations. Thank you so much for persevering to help me... I deeply appreciate you and your help!

Re: Set Analysis Syntax

Oleg_Troyansky — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 12:46:41 GMT

Great! I'm happy I could help!