Bug report: Outer set expression is not inherited if 1) the outset set expression selects an inexistant value, 2) there is an inner set expression

[sergiogiogio]

I would like to report what I believe is a bug in inner and outer set expressions feature (May 2023 patch 1), not sure if this forum can be a suitable location.

Given the the script, 

Fruits:
LOAD * Inline [
Type,Color,Quantity
apple,green,1
apple,green,1
apple,green,1
orange,orange,1
orange,orange,1
];

Consider the below formulae outputs, where we select apples (which exist in the data set) and kiwis (which do not exist):

Sum({<Type={'apple'}, Color={'green'}>} Quantity)	3	OK
{<Type={'apple'}>} Sum({<Color={'green'}>} Quantity)	3	OK
{<Type={'apple'}, Color={'green'}>} Sum(Quantity)	3	OK
Sum({<Type={'kiwi'}, Color={'green'}>} Quantity)	0	OK
{<Type={'kiwi'}>} Sum( {<Color={'green'}>} Quantity)	3	WRONG!! The outer set analysis is not inherited!
{<Type={'kiwi'}, Color={'green'}>} Sum(Quantity)	0	OK
Sum({<Type={'orange'}, Color={'green'}>} Quantity)	0	OK
{<Type={'orange'}>} Sum( {<Color={'green'}>} Quantity)	0	OK
{<Type={'orange'}, Color={'green'}>} Sum(Quantity)	0	OK
Sum({<Type={'kiwi'}>} Quantity)	0	OK
{<Type={'kiwi'}>} Sum( Quantity)	0	OK

As per the results above: outer set expression is not inherited if

1. the outset set expression selects an inexistant value,
2. there is an inner set expression

Could someone confirm this is indeed a bug and whether it has already been fixed in the recent version? Thanks!

[marcus_sommer]

Like hinted above I do also think that it worked as designed because from a technically point of view nothing else made sense. A set analysis is a selection which is in general an one-level-logic which just selects/excludes the chosen fields/values if possible without any extra logic to check if they exists or any kind of exception-handling.

This principle isn't changed if n selection-states are on the inner/outer-side combined/nested else they are simply performed in a certain order. Implementing any on-top logic would cost valuable performance and even more important disimproving the usability. The simplicity of the associated data-model and the selections of the chosen fields/values leads to a natively understanding colored selection-state is the biggest strengths of Qlik.

Nevertheless it's a big mistake from Qlik to announce the outer set-statement as simplification-feature and not exactly describing the functionality within the documentation. I assume it comes not directly from the developer else from more marketing-oriented people who didn't really comprehend this feature and/or wanted to give the impression that's a simple and general to use approach. IMO it's the opposite and it increased the complexity but it could be very valuable for specific use-cases.