Yet Another QlikView Shared File Viewer [preview] - Version 0.2

[jzs]

About
What is it? What does it do?

This is a tool that I use to quick check shared file content and do some usual maintenance job on it. After playing with colleagues for a while, I think it'd be nice to share with the community and get some feedback about if/how I should proceed with this personal project.

This tool is a very simple one, it just can open both legacy ".Shared" and new ".TShared" formats of QlikView Shared File, show helpful info in it, and provide some very basic operations on shared objects (currently I have only add support for Bookmark because it's the most commonly used one day-today)

Why another Shared File Viewer?

There has been a Shared File Viewer already for quite a while (in PowerTools package)

The limitation of the existing one is it can't open the new "TShared" format that was introduced lately into QlikView. So if one wants to view new format, they have to convert "Tshared" to "Shared" first and convert it back afterwards, which is really annoying especially the shared file is *big*.

Another limitation for the current one is it provides small subset info of Shared file content and doesn't embed much shared file functions (cleaning, filtering) in it because its development toolchain is out of dated.

Lastly, I found it's not easy to run a Shared File Cleaner without GUI and want something more intuitive.

In short the legacy shared file viewer is inconvenient to use(to me at least 😅 ), especially when it comes to new "TShared" format.

So i think why not just write another tool myself to meet my need - here it comes.

Release Note
Current Stable Release: 0.2

You can find it in the attachment, where the zip file simply contains an exe file that you can run on Windows.

Features:

• Shared objects meta info overview
• Shared Bookmark
  • basic info overview
  • sort by Id, Name, LastModified, LastRecalled and Size
  • Export
  • Delete
• Convert "TShared" to "Shared" and backward.

Hopefully you have time to download and play with it, and, most importantly, give me some feedback about how you think of it, and what other functions you want to include in it in future.

NOTE:

this tool is currently under preview only. and please be CAUTIOUS if you use it with production Shared files. I know the shared content is critically important, so make sure you have backup before touching any Shared Files.

[Brett_Bleess]

Hey Jim, I think I may need some instructions to be sure I am using things correctly! 🙂  One odd thing is the command dialog window that opens up with the executable in the backgroun, would be good if that could be hidden I think to avoid confusion.  I figured out I had to use Browse button to browse to a file and then select and then click Open, but oddly, after creating an object in one of the sample apps, and then loading it, the bookmark does not show up, not sure why.  I can see the file size did change etc., but tool not showing any details or the bookmark itself.  

Neither the File or Help menus seem to do anything either! 🙂  Shout out directly if you have questions or want me to send you anything for review.

Regards,
Brett

[jzs]

Hey @Brett_Bleess, many thanks for trying it out.

- i will work on hiding the black console window in background, will be in next release.

- that's indeed odd. i tried it again and had no problem. could you send me 2 shared files that before/after you adding bm? so that i can try to see what's happening there. What about opening shared file that already contains bookmarks in it, can you see correct info in it?

- Empty "File" and "Help" menu is know 🙂 since there's no other complicated functions i think worthy put there yet, but definitely will add more in future. probably i should disable them in next release as well.

Cheers,

Jim

[Brett_Bleess]

Hey @jzs /Jim! 🙂  So, the thing I failed to mention, which may have been a stupid move on my part, was that I used the Retail Sales Performance sample app that installs with the product to test, so that seems to be the issue in my case, as when I created a new app via Ctrl-QQ etc., things are working, so something screwy with the sample apps it seems, and I am not sure it is worth digging into that aspect, but all I did was open the Retail Sales app, create a server bookmark via Ajax client and then opened the bookmark file via the tool and nothing showing.  I will email you the tshared file so you can have a look, but on that one, I do not have the before version, but I can test another sample app to see if I can replicate one of those.  

Cheers,
Brett

[dwh1104]

Jim,

I definitely think you are onto something.  I really like the capability of displaying the "LastRecalled" date/time.  Also like that it works with both .Shared and .TShared files.

Prior to QV 12.0, we could utilize the QvServerObjectConnector.exe within the Power Tools.  I created an app that could return all information on Shared objects, including ALL object types, object ID, Title, Owner, Modified Date, bookmark selections and chart expressions.  It could also tell me if the chart or bookmark was shared with another user.

Just wondering if what you have started with your Shared File Viewer can be modified to display some the information above.  Better yet, modify it to use as a connector, so I can update my QV app once again, now that I'm on version 12.40.

Thanks,

Dan

[jzs]

hi @dwh1104 

Many thanks for your feedbacks and really glad to know this tools is helpful to you! You do have many constructive ideas there that I will consider in my next update cycle. Please stay-tuned 🙂

Cheers,

Jim

[zarmoton]

hi to all,

Is there a way to read authorize names (DMS mode) store in META file ?

I'm in version 12.50 SR4

Both SFViewer and ShqreFileViewer 1.5.3 cannot give me this information

thk yu