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Feb 8, 2023 6:18:53 AM
Apr 2, 2013 5:16:51 PM
If you have never thought about integrating predictive analytics and QlikView, may this article pique your interest on the topic. If you have thought about the potential, but do not know how to get started, may this be the motivation to start your journey.
This demo example illustrates the art of the possible around the interoperability of the R statistics engine and QlikView 11 for enabling predictive algorithms within QlikView today.
R (http://www.r-project.org/) is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics, which supports predictive modeling and scoring. The example also introduces Rattle (Rattle: A Graphical User Interface for Data Mining using R -- http://rattle.togaware.com/). Rattle was used to create the predictive model and generate the R code implemented within the example QlikView application. The use of Rattle is not detailed here. It is left up to you to explore.
The example assumes you understand R and how to create predictive models in R and how scoring works in R. If you understand how to do those things in R and you know how QlikView works, this example should give you an idea of how:
- you could implement a compelling QlikView application for discovering trends in data as you have become used to with QlikView
- while adding the ability to predict outcomes using a proven, trained scoring model you have built in R
- and while showing actionable predicted outcomes at the point of decision
-- all without the end user having to leave QlikView.
As in the previous example posted by Elif Tutuk, "Integrating QV with R example kit.zip" (http://community.qlik.com/docs/DOC-2975), the example utilizes statconnDCOM. A slightly different approach in this example overcomes a break in functionality introduced into that earlier example by the changing in the behavior of one of the COM API methods in the most recent releases of statconnDCOM.
The integration is done using QlikView's built-in VBScript support to interoperate with the DCOM-based API. This is just one way to integrate with R. With a little research you can discover other potential opportunities for R integration (e.g., OpenCPU). Also, note that R is just one such example of a statistical engine being integrated with QlikView. Other solutions, such as commercially available statistical engines or predictive scoring engines may also be integrated in similar ways.
To get started with this example, save the attached file, QlikView-R_Predictive_Demo.zip, to your system. Open the zip file, and copy the enclosed folder (QlikView-R_Predictive_Demo) to a location of your choice. The location is not important as the example is portable and has no dependency on being placed in a particular folder on your system. Now navigate into the folder you just extracted and find the document named “Qlikview-R Integration Demo 20170310.pdf”. Open the document and follow the instructions step-by-step.
UPDATE (May 7, 2014): I updated the installation document (Qlikview-R Integration Demo 20140421.pdf) to eliminate the RAndFriends installer as it has been unavailable for some time. This edition of the document references R 3.1.0. Hopefully the instructions will continue to be a good guide for subsequent versions as well. I will continue to monitor for changes in R, statconnDCOM and other R components which could effect how the demo application works going forward. The example QlikView application itself remains unchanged. It is a Personal Edition version, so you should be able to explore it with a licensed QlikView Desktop or the Personal Edition. Thank you for your continued feedback on this demo.
UPDATE (September 21, 2015): Everyone who has been seeing the message "The license that is embedded in this document is not valid": I attached an updated version of QlikView-R_Predictive_Demo.zip. Ensure you overwrite the old QVW with the new one in this package. That is the only change. Please forgive this looooong overdue update. 
UPDATE (October 9, 2016): Updated the embedded license to work with QlikView Desktop Personal Edition.
UPDATE (February 2, 2017): Updated the embedded license to work with QlikView Desktop Personal Edition.
UPDATE (March 10. 2017): A dependency for this particular example is statconnDCOM from the team at autstat (http://www.autstat.com/). If you wish to utilize statconnDCOM, you will need to contact autstat directly and purchase a license or request an evaluation license for testing.
Hello QlikCommunity:
I see some folks are having difficulty with the demo application and the newer versions of R. So, I spent a some time looking at R v3.0.2 (most current version as of this writing) and the statconnDCOM API (3.5-1B2). What I found is that some things changed in the interaction between R and the statconnDCOM API. The QlikView demo application itself requires no changes. After uninstalling R 2.15.2 and installing R 3.0.2, I found the demo app didn’t work on my system, as others have reported. I heard from one person that R v3.0.1 did not work with the statconnDCOM API, either. Ensure you have at least R v3.0.2.
The information contained herein assumes you are familiar with the “Qlikview-R Integration Demo 20130226.pdf” guide, used to set up the demo initially. Rather than re-writing that initial set-up document right now (which I have on my todo list), I put this together to quickly get the information out about what I and others have done to get the R and statconnDCOM API working again. As R or the API gets revised, we could see the connection between them being broken again. The StatConnector Test utility (below) is a good tool to determine that is the problem, so you can troubleshoot accordingly.
Unfortunately, I learned the RAndFriends distribution is not available any longer. Now we have to do some manual steps. Also, according to this information on how to install R for use with statconnDCOM –
http://homepage.univie.ac.at/erich.neuwirth/php/rcomwiki/doku.php?id=wiki:how_to_install –
“R needs to be installed with the SDI display option (you are prompted for using either SDI or MDI during the custom installation of R). And you also need to tell R to write its registry entries during installation (you are prompted for that also).”
I set the SDI display option during the custom installation. I am not convinced the SDI display option is critical for our purposes, as someone I know did not set it and has a functioning demo. Better be safe and set it to SDI when you do a custom R installation, nonetheless. Also go ahead and select all the modules, including the Remote ones. With respect to the write registry entries prompt, I don’t recall being prompted. If you are prompted, make sure to tell R to write its registry entries – like mentioned above.
If you need to re install statconnDCOM, you can find it here: http://rcom.univie.ac.at/download.html.
I determined I was unable to connect to R via the API using the StatConnector Test utility found under Windows > Start > All Programs > statconn > DCOM > Server 01 - Basic Test. I was seeing this when I clicked on R32:
I figured out I didn’t have rscproxy installed (which btw is listed as a requirement for statconnDCOM, above). I installed it in the R console by running install.packages(“rscproxy”). One person had difficulty with this step because for some reason they didn’t have write permission on the library folder under the R installation folder. You should see a folder named rscproxy in the library folder.
After successfully having the rscproxy library in place I get this when clicking R32:
Remember to install Rattle into R as well for the demo app to work.
Finally, please ensure you set in your QlikView Desktop software the User Preferences for Export to ANSI encoding.
The QlikView application should now be able to communicate with R through the statconnDCOM API.
Thank you and best of luck.
-Brian
Hello Adam,
Hmm. If you followed along, I don't know what could be the matter. Did you ensure the rscproxy folder is in the library folder under the R installed folder?
Also, the statconnDCOM NONCOMMERCIAL version is 32-bit. Only the R32 button in the StatConnector Test will yield results.
-Brian
