Variable used in bookmark returns string when using GetFieldSelections()

[Felix_Koch]

Hi Qlik Community

I have used a variable for selection of current year in an application: '=Year=$(vCurrentYear)'

vCurrentYear is defined in the data load editor: 'set vCurrentYear = year(today());'

I have a number of KPI's that rely on which year is currentyly selected. I use GetFieldSelections(Year) for this. However, when the default bookmark is applied the KPIs don't work, as the set analysis then returns a string for GetFieldSelections(Year).

Is there a smart way to have the current year automatically selected by the default bookmark but also being able to reference the year that's currently selected in the Year filter?

Br.

Felix

[Or]

I'm not sure I followed that correctly, but if I did, perhaps Coalesce(GetFieldSelections(Year), $(vCurrentYear))? This will use a selection if one exists, and otherwise use whatever is in the variable.

[Felix_Koch]

Hi Or

I didn't know that function, really cool!

However, I think the issue remains the same. Coalesce(GetFieldSelections(Year), $(vCurrentYear)) returns '=Year=$(vCurrentYear)' when the abovementioned bookmark is applied. Apparently a strings is still recognized as a "valid non-NULL representation" for the 'Coalesce' function.

[Or]

I am a tad confused here - a default bookmark is applied before any user selections can be made, so how would the field selections even come into play in this regard? Shouldn't you just use =Year=Year(Today()) for the bookmark?

[Felix_Koch]

Maybe my explanation is just a bit unclear, I'll give it another go based on your point regarding the bookmark.

There is a default bookmark that selects the current year: =Year=Year(Today()).

Then there's a number of KPIs. Most of the KPI's show changes in amounts relative to Dec-PreviousYear. In order for the KPIs to understand which year is the previous year, they need to understand which year is currently selected (2022 should be compared to dec-2021 and 2021 should be compared to dec-2020). That part works when a year is manually selected, but when the bookmark is applied, the value returned for Year is =Year=Year(Today()) instead of 2022.

Hopefully the problem makes a bit more sense now.  Otherwise please let me know 🙂

[Or · Accepted solution]

Based on that explanation, shouldn't your KPIs just refer to Year directly? It seems that you require a single year to be selected, so you could just refer to the field rather than look at the selection (or you could use Only(Year) if you want to be explicit)...

[Felix_Koch]

Yay, looks like only(Year) did the trick for me!

Thank you!