topic Re: Autonumber in App Development

Autonumber

SKiruthiga — Tue, 25 May 2021 17:41:40 GMT

Hello Folks,

Appreciate your time. Looking for an information regarding autonumbers.,my app is around 20GB which has a lot of keys.,now I am trying to replace some of the keys with autonumbers and see reduction in app size. My question is which is the best to get used between Autonumber,Autonumber128 and 256.,is there any recommendation with respect to size reduction.,looking forward to hearing from you.,

thanks a lot!

Kiruthiga

Re: Autonumber

QFabian — Tue, 25 May 2021 18:40:32 GMT

Hi @SKiruthiga , one thing is check your source data, this is important to choose the proper function.

Please check the related help :

https://help.qlik.com/en-US/qlikview/April2020/Subsystems/Client/Content/QV_QlikView/Scripting/CounterFunctions/autonumber.htm

You can only connect autonumber keys that have been generated in the same data load, as the integer is generated according to the order the table is read. If you need to use keys that are persistent between data loads, independent of source data sorting, you should use the hash128, hash160 or hash256 functions.

Re: Autonumber

rwunderlich — Tue, 25 May 2021 22:51:52 GMT

The recommended method to autonumber keys is to use AutoNumber statement at the end of your script. This is much faster than any of the AutoNumber() functions.

AutoNumber myKeyField;

-Rob

Re: Autonumber

SKiruthiga — Mon, 31 May 2021 14:20:15 GMT

Hello Rob,

Thank you,but unfortunately the app size is not reducing a much with both Autonumber funtion/Autonumber statement at the end of script.

for eg, My app size with out auto number : 19394.53 MB

with autonumber function: 19192.75 MB

with autonumber statement: 19046.97 MB

Is there any other approach you could recommend to reduce the app size? I am running behind for a solution.,thank you so much!

Kiruthiga

Re: Autonumber

rwunderlich — Mon, 31 May 2021 15:01:03 GMT

Use QS Document Analyzer to identify unused fields and then drop those fields from the model .

https://easyqlik.com/qsda/

-Rob

Re: Autonumber

AnthonyM — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:53:35 GMT

This one comment saved me few times already. It is not well documented officially (or I struggle to find it) how to use AutoNumer outside of LOAD statements. Thanks Rob!

Re: Autonumber

F_B — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:07:30 GMT

Hi @SKiruthiga ,

which solution did you find for your case?

Have a nice day

Re: Autonumber

marksouzacosta — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:12:49 GMT

Hi @AnthonyM ,

This is how you can use AutoNumber outside your Load Statement:

[us-cities-reduced]: LOAD // Key fields id AS %CityId, // Regular fields name, state FROM [lib://IPC DevOps:DataFiles/us-cities-reduced.qvd](qvd) ; [us-cities-zip-codes]: LOAD // Key fields id AS %CityId, // Regular fields zip_code FROM [lib://IPC DevOps:DataFiles/us-cities-zip-codes.qvd](qvd) ; Autonumber '%*';

You can create any naming convention for your key fields. In my example, I'm saying that all my key fields start with % and ends with whatever else, that is why the '%*'. You could say, for example, my key fields start with @ and ends with Key. In this case will AutoNumber '@*Key'.

Reference: https://help.qlik.com/en-US/cloud-services/Subsystems/Hub/Content/Sense_Hub/Scripting/ScriptRegularStatements/Autonumber.htm

Regards,

Mark Costa

Re: Autonumber

AnthonyM — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:56:26 GMT

Hi @marksouzacosta , that was more than I was hoping for.

Thank you!

Re: Autonumber

Vegar — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:53:43 GMT

I also endorse the use of autonumber at the end of script.

It is fast to implement, it executes fast (does not break any optimised loads from QVD), and it is easy to turn it on/off for troubleshooting purposes (either by en exit script just before or a simple line comment)

Re: Autonumber

F_B — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:49:05 GMT

Very clear and useful explanation, thank you!