Rename fields within an existing app without breaking objects?

[#1]

Hi,

The app I started building when learning qlikview has become surprisingly useful, and moderately big.  Before I set it loose on my users, I want to go back and apply a better naming convention to my fields.  Is there any easy way to rename fields within an existing app such that the name change doesn't bust objects using that field? 

In this case I'm thinking of chart and listbox objects, and especially bookmarks.

If there's not an easy way to make the change, is there an easy way to find the objects using the fields?

I'm guessing outputting to XML and doing a find/replace might work. - Christopher

[rwunderlich · Accepted solution]

Qlikview will usually update the fieldnames in object properties and expressions automatically when fields are renamed in the script. This works well when the only script changes are new names. Structural changes like adding or re-ordering fiedsl can make this less effective. So best to do your renames and reload before moving on to other changes.

The Settings, Expressions Overview dialog allows you to search/replace all expressions in your app. This is another way to make changes, or fix up those that were missed by the automatic process.

-Rob

http://robwunderlich.com

[bruno_m_santos]

Hi Rob,

I'm facing some problems renaming fields in script, because they aren't updated in objects.

In List Box objects works fine but in charts no.

Which is the procedure that you use?

Many Thanks

Bruno

[rwunderlich]

The automatic fixup of renamed fields will generally work if the field does not change it's position in the table.

When it doesn't work, I use the Settings, Expressions Overview, Search/Replace dialog to fix the stragglers.

-Rob