Task does not refresh filter / variable properly in Qlik NPrinting

[Velvet_Crowe]

Hello Community,

I have created a pixel perfect report which should be send by a task every day. The Qlik Sense app is updated daily an hour before the report is generated.

Problem: The applied filter in the task does not refresh or not all variables from qlik sense

Example 1: Report is generated correctly with dynamic file naming but wrong e-mail date

1. Filename = Temperature_2021-08-08 (OK)
2. Report filtered with '>=08.08.2021 05:00:00<=09.08.2021 05:00:00' (OK)
3. E-Mail subject = [Noreply] Temperature - 07.08.2021 (WRONG should be 08.08.2021!)

Example 2: Report is genereted with wrong date completly

1. Today e.g. is 10.08.2021 but I get the 08.08.2021 (should be the 09.08.2021)

Filter: yesterday 05:00 to today 05:00

=Zeitstempel >=Timestamp(Today() - 1 + MakeTime(5),'dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss') and Zeitstempel <= Timestamp(Today() + MakeTime(5),'dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss')

(Zeitstempel=timestamp with date time value)

There is no other filter applied to the task or any user.

Variables:

• vMinDate (date for e-mail subject)

=Date(Min([Datum]), 'dd.MM.yyyy')​

• vMinDateFileNameFormat (date for file name)

=Date(Min([Datum]), 'yyyy-MM-dd')​

Current workaround:

• Create report in Qlik Sense with On-Demand
• Reload connection meta data and trigger task

Threads I already found:

• Solved: When should you Reload Metadata? 
• Solved: June 2019 MetaData reload not working properly 

The only solutions are for QlikView so it does not work for Qlik Sense. Do I really have to reload the meta data every time? Or could this be cause by something else?

[Lech_Miszkiewicz]

Hi @Velvet_Crowe ,

It is little bit murky water with this topic - you are 100% right. 

I also didn't find official statement in qlik help page nor in support articles if you need to regenerate metadata for the variable to flow through with the updated value. 

I guess it is time to make it official and we will need to ask our friends @Frank_S and @Ruggero_Piccoli for official guidence or even request clarification in documentation for the scenario:

1. I reload Qlik Sense app (App 001)
2. After Qlik Sense app is reloaded I use another app to trigger NPrinting Publish Task which uses data from (App 001). To allow for Qlik Sense App 001 to be saved and loaded I use Sleep() in my script to wait for few minutes
3. Since we are using task chaining Publish task gets triggered after those few minutes
4. At this time I have following questions:
   1. Do I need to regenerate metadata to have data updated in my NPrinitng report (inlcuding data model and variables)?
      1. My observations:
         1. data model data from Qlik Sense app does not require metadata refresh
         2. variable values - those sometimes flow through immidiately, sometimes they take few minutes and sometimes I have to regenerate metadata to get updated  variable values. It also was dependent on whether variable was calculate in the script or whether it was expression returning value based on data model data
         3. I noticed this mainly when using variables set in Qlik Sense script which then should be used as condition to run/not run a task or report.

Indeed this topic was nugging me and I was using metadata reload (using API and dependency) to avoid any conversation about it, but I think it is time to come clean. 

@Frank_S @Ruggero_Piccoli - would you be able to provide official comment from Qlik regarding this topic and/or update help documentation accordingly?

thanks - appreciate it!

[Frank_S · Accepted solution]

@Velvet_Crowe

It's summer silly season and therefore well-earned vacation time even here at Qlik!

In any case, I have been watching your question this week and have posted your question internally to the R&D team earlier this week and have not yet had a response. This is a good question and I will do my best to respond.

=========================================================

Regarding metadata reloads:

From https://help.qlik.com/en-US/nprinting/May2021/Content/NPrinting/GettingStarted/HowCreateConnections/...

Reloading connection metadata

Connection metadata contains information about the data and structures of linked QlikView documents or Qlik Sense apps.

Qlik NPrinting automatically uploads metadata when a new connection is created. Metadata must also be updated whenever you change the data structure or content of QlikView documents or Qlik Sense apps connected to Qlik NPrinting. This ensures that Qlik NPrinting is aware of these changes.

After the metadata is reloaded, all instances of QV.exe that are running on Qlik NPrinting Engines associated with the connection will automatically stop and restart to update them. Existing reports are not automatically re-run, so they may contain old data. Reports executed after a metadata reload will show the updated data.

Last cache update times are displayed relative to the time zone of the logged in user. These may be different than the time zone of the Qlik NPrinting Server. You can change your time zone by clicking on your user name in the top right, and selecting Settings.

=========================================================

So it seems that to answer your question, I will agree with your observation that it is necessary to reload the NP connection/metadata to update all data and structures of linked QlikView documents or Qlik Sense apps

I asked if this behavior would be changing in future NPrinting versions but again, I have not yet had a response. I suspect that there is no current roadmap in place to make this change at this time nor for the foreseeable future. So yes, scheduling reloads of your NP connection will be paramount to keeping your variable filters and all structures and data up to date.

If you wish, I would suggest posting your concerns here and adding a feature request.

Ideas | Qlik Community

I hope that I have understood the issue clearly and that the above at least provides insight into what you have been experiencing as well as next steps to undertake in order to mitigate the issue. In the meantime, I have added and internal help page update request with ID HLP-10623 to include Qliksense

ie: all instances of QV.exe and reporting_web_renderer.exe that are running on Qlik NPrinting Engines.

Kind regards...

[Lech_Miszkiewicz]

Hi @Frank_S 

Appreciate your time and happy holidays!

Since we are investigating this I guess it will be helpful to clearify with R&D all scenarios. There was no clear indication that you need to reload metadata each time (otherwise it would be better to have metadata reload kicking off each time Publish task starts automaticly, right?

So there is a particular scenario where at the moment metadata reload is necessary and I suspect it is in the scenario where we want to reflect variable whicha was set in Qlik Sense script during reload. Again this is only my suspicion and I may be far from the truth.

I would really like to understand when do we need to reload metadata. Then what will happen when I will not reload metadata? 

• Do all field values update?
• Do all variables update?
  • variable used as expression: like: "= Date(Today())"
  • variables already calculated in script with Let or Set statement which already have value ?
    • like below:
      • Let = vToday = Date(Today())
      • result = 14/08/2021 - will this tomorrow update to 15/08/2021?

Breaking it down and calrifying scenario will give us much clearer picture of when we must update metadata. It is not always necessary based on my experience, but in some scenarios i just was getting inconclusive results.

I am more than happy for everyone to come back from holidays and take a close look at this.

thanks again

cheers

Lech

[Velvet_Crowe]

@Frank_S  and @Lech_Miszkiewicz 

thank you for the support.

Reloading the metadata beforehand solved the problem. The data and variables have been correct since then.

[Lech_Miszkiewicz]

Hi @Frank_S  & @Ruggero_Piccoli 

What is the status of your investigation with R&D? Looking forward to hear back from you as this topic comes over and over again and it creates more and more confusion. 

thanks

Lech

[Frank_S]

R&D came back with the following help information. So they have stated (including internal conversations) that this is working as expected. A Qlik sense app reload is needed then a NPrinting reload is needed after the Qlik Sense app relaod

• https://help.qlik.com/en-US/nprinting/May2021/Content/NPrinting/GettingStarted/HowCreateConnections/...

I've asked them to improve the documentation to mention variables and QS app reload dependencies. It is up to them to manage the documentation on this.

I don't have more than this. If you wish I suggest putting in an 'idea' on the ideas site and mention any concerns or suggestions with your Idea request.

https://community.qlik.com/t5/Suggest-an-Idea/idb-p/qlik-ideas

Kind regards.

[Lech_Miszkiewicz]

@Frank_S - thanks for getting back to us and well I was afraid I will get such inconclusive answer which is obviously too vague and requires a lot more detail. We both know that very well!

What does it mean " Qlik Sense app reload" - I know that app needs to be reloaded but the whole point is whether or not we need metadata reload on NPrinting connection? I see it black and white (yes or no). If there is something in between which I believe there is, we also need to know what it is with all details and scenarios.

This is obviously taking too much time to get an answer, so I will be opening support ticket to get to the bottom of this. It should be very easy to present the case based on documentation that product is not behaving as described.

Thanks

cheers

Lech