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Not applicable

Can I link Qlik Sense to a 'live' data source?

Is it possible to link Qlik Sense to a live data source, for example MS Access, QuickBooks, MS Excel (assuming the files are on the same server (or hopefully in the same Dropbox folder) INSTEAD of importing the data so the visualization app always has the current data?

If yes - please point me to some resources - I haven't been able to find anything so far.

Thanks.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Josh_Good
Employee
Employee

Hi Jay,

You can use Direct Discovery to do this.  Note the intent of Direct Discovery is to select a few tables (e.g. the fact tables) for querying the data on each selection and having other tables (e.g. the dimensions) in-memory.

You may also want to consider frequent incremental reloads using QVDs.  Depending on your specific scenario, this may result in better performance for the users and less load on the database while still providing timely information

-Josh

Qlik

View solution in original post

5 Replies
kangaroomac
Partner - Creator II
Partner - Creator II

Hi Jay,

I don't think it will be possible (would be great though!).

If you think of the architecture - Qlik is in-memory. In order to become in-memory you have to do a reload of the data to create the data model.

johnpaul
Partner - Creator
Partner - Creator

Hi Jay,

I am not sure that Sense has the same capability as View; Direct Data Discovery, which is generally used for big data.

But when you say that you would like a direct link to a live source, I can't see a real need for that, as with Sense on a server, the reloading of the data is automatic and can be done continuously, so the data can be very fresh.

When you use QVD's, which are local data caches, then you will only be reloading the data from the database that's changed, which puts much less load on the database than a constant read.

Josh_Good
Employee
Employee

Hi Jay,

You can use Direct Discovery to do this.  Note the intent of Direct Discovery is to select a few tables (e.g. the fact tables) for querying the data on each selection and having other tables (e.g. the dimensions) in-memory.

You may also want to consider frequent incremental reloads using QVDs.  Depending on your specific scenario, this may result in better performance for the users and less load on the database while still providing timely information

-Josh

Qlik

Not applicable
Author

If I establish a connection via ODBC to an Access database (I've looked at the videos on how to do this and the OLE dB as well), when I open Qlik Sense Desktop today, does the script in the application I wrote last week with a connection to MS Access reload the data from Access today, including any new or changed data since I created the application last week?
This is what I mean by 'live' data, that the application goes back to the source file and reloads the data including any updates as of that time each time the application is used; as opposed to saving a snapshot of the data at the time the application was originally created that does not get reloaded/updated.
I am not expecting that if I have a Qlik Sense Desktop application open for 5 hours in one day that it will update/refresh the data from the sources during that 5 hour window, only that if I close the application today that it will reload the data from the same sources, including any updates, when I reopen the application tomorrow or next week.
Thanks.
Josh_Good
Employee
Employee

Hi Jay,

Assuming you are NOT using Direct Discovery, when you open Qlik Sense Desktop it will not automatically re-query your data source.  You need to manually tell it to do so by going to the Data Load Editor and pushing the "Load Data" button in the top right corner.  The means you can share you Qlik Sense apps with other who do not have access to the originating data source.

One thing to note, in the full version of Qlik Sense you would schedule the data refreshes so from the user perspective the data would automatically get updated.

-Josh
Qlik