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Data field names and formats

This topic describes the data field names and formats supported by NLG Apps and Arria Answers.

For app-specific data requirements — such as minimum and maximum number of dimensions and measures — see the NLG Apps Directory.

Measures

Note

A measure is a field containing measurable, quantitative values that can be used in calculations (e.g. Sales and Profit).

There are no restrictions on field names for measures. The aggregation type and data format requirements are:

  • Measures must be numeric and have one of the following aggregation types: Sum, Avg, Min, Max, orCount*.

  • Not all aggregation and entity type combinations are supported by every app. See the NLG Apps Directory for app-specific guidance.

  • Decimal separators must be periods; thousand separators, if used, must be commas.

*Arria Answers does not support measures aggregated by Count. See Query types for guidance on which aggregation types are required by each type of query.

Dimensions

Note

A dimension is a field containing non-measurable, qualitative values (e.g. Country, Product, and Date). Dimensions can be used to categorize measures and provide context to your data.

A time dimension is a dimension field that contains whole date, year, quarter, month, or day values, only. Time dimensions can be used to perform analysis over time or to categorize your data.

A dimension instance is a unique value in a dimension field. For example, Scotland may be an instance of the Country dimension and February may be an instance of the Month time dimension.

With the exception of time dimensions, there are no restrictions on the field names and data formats for dimensions.

The restrictions on time dimensions are described below. When data fields follow these conventions, Arria for Qlik Sense automatically recognizes them as time dimensions and changes their entity type to DateTime. You can also set the entity type manually in Step 2 of the wizard.

The following time dimensions are supported:

Supported field names

Date fields must be named as follows:

Naming Rule

Example Field Names

*date*

date, Date, DATE, Sales_Date, SALE DateTime

The asterisks (*) are wildcards that represent one or more characters, including letters, spaces, hyphens, and underscores. These rules are case-insensitive.

Tip

You can use the Alias field in the NLG Apps wizard and Arria Answers wizard to override field names.

 

Supported data formats

Any data field that is automatically recognized as a date by Qlik Sense is supported by NLG Apps and Arria Answers.

 

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Supported field names

Year fields must be named as follows:

Naming Rule

Example Field Names

y

y or Y

*yr*

yr, YR, Yr_Name, YR of Sales

*year*

year, YEAR, Year_Name, Year of Sales

The asterisks (*) are wildcards that represent one or more characters, including letters, spaces, hyphens, and underscores. These rules are case-insensitive.

Tip

You can use the Alias field in the NLG Apps wizard and Arria Answers wizard to override field names.

Note

The Arria extension recognizes the Qlik Sense Date > Year date hierarchy field as a year field.

 

Supported data formats

Year values must be a two-digit or four-digit number (e.g. 22 or 2022).

 

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Supported field names

Quarter fields must be named as follows:

Naming Rule

Example Field Names

q

q or Q

*qt*

qt, QT, Qt_Name, target qt

*qtr*

qtr, QTR, Qtr_Name, target qtr

*quarter*

quarter, QUARTER, Quarter_Name, target quarter

The asterisks (*) are wildcards that represent one or more characters, including letters, spaces, hyphens, and underscores. These rules are case-insensitive.

Tip

You can use the Alias field in the NLG Apps wizard and Arria Answers wizard to override field names.

Note

The Arria extension recognizes the Qlik Sense Date > Quarter date hierarchy field as a quarter field.

 

Supported data formats

Quarter values can be in alphanumeric or numeric form:

Quarter

Example Alphanumeric Values

Example Numeric Values

Quarter 1

Q1, Qt 1, Qtr1, Quarter 1

01, 1

Quarter 2

Q2, Qt 2, Qtr2, Quarter 2

02, 2

Quarter 3

Q3, Qt 3, Qtr3, Quarter 3

03, 3

Quarter 4

Q4, Qt 4, Qtr4, Quarter 4

04, 4

Any combination of the strings Q, Qt, Qtr, and Quarter followed by a number — with or without spaces — is acceptable, so Q4 and Q 4 are equally valid. Also, any mixture of cases is acceptable, so qtr1 and QTR1 are valid alternatives to Qtr1.

 

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Supported field names

Month fields must be named as follows:

Naming Rule

Example Field Names

m

m or M

*mon*

mon, MON, Mon_Name, payment mon

*mth*

mth, MTH, Mth_Name, payment mth

*month*

month, MONTH, Month_Name, payment month

The asterisks (*) are wildcards that represent one or more characters, including letters, spaces, hyphens, and underscores. These rules are case-insensitive.

Tip

You can use the Alias field in the NLG Apps wizard and Arria Answers wizard to override field names.

Note

The Arria extension recognizes the Qlik Sense Date > Month date hierarchy field as a month field.

 

Supported data formats

Month values can be in text or numeric form:

Month

Example Text Values

Example Numeric Values

January

January, Jan

01, 1

February

February, Feb

02, 2

March

March, Mar

03, 3

April

April, Apr

04, 4

May

May

05, 5

June

June, Jun

06, 6

July

July, Jul

07, 7

August

August, Aug

08, 8

September

September, Sep

09, 9

October

October, Oct

10

November

November, Nov

11

December

December, Dec

12

This requirement is case-insensitive, so "JAN", "JAn" and "jan" are valid alternatives to "Jan".

 

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Supported field names

Day fields must be named as follows:

Naming Rule

Example Values

d

d or D

*day*

day, Day, DAY, day_NAME, Day Name

The asterisks (*) are wildcards that represent one or more characters, including letters, spaces, hyphens, and underscores. These rules are case-insensitive.

Tip

You can use the Alias field in the NLG Apps wizard and Arria Answers wizard to override field names.

Note

Use the Qlik Sense Date > Date date hierarchy field when a day value is required.

 

Supported data formats

Day values must be a one-digit or two-digit number (e.g. 5 or 05). Ordinal numbers (e.g. 5th) are not supported.

 

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