Version 1.0.2 of the Add Sense Chrome extension is now in the Chrome Web Store. This is a small update: no new features, the change is only that it now supports iframe’s.
Add Sense chrome extension used in a page with two iframe’s
This means that if you are using tools like Qlik Sense single or embedding Qlik Sense objects using iframe’s you can now use the extension to troubleshoot it much the same way as in other scenarios.
And that includes Qlik Sense CloudKit, which utses an iframe.
For those of you already using the extension the uppgraderas should be more or less automatic.
One of the uses for the Add Sense Chrome extension is to check performance in your Qlik Sense app or mashup. To help you with this the info boxes show you a few numbers, collected as you use the extension. When you select to show the boxes, it will start collecting statistics, and you will se something like this:
Initial display with no values calculated
In this post I am using one of Qliks demo apps (you find it here, try it yourself!), so I don’t really expect to find any performance problems.
The Chrome extension will find all both objects defined in the app and session objects, but only ones that are shown on the page. For all such objects it will start collecting statistics:
number of recalculations made
latest calculation time in milliseconds
maximum calculation time
In the top left corner you will see the handle, that’s a number that the QIX Engine assigns to objects as they are opened. If you want to see the actual messages sent for a specific object in the web socket log you need this number. Since the handles are assigned in sequence, you will also get a grip of how many objects you are using in your solution.
Now to try this lets make some selection. Open the selection tool and click on show in the extension menu (yes the extension works in the selection tool too).Make some selections and you will see something like this (excuse me, it’s in swedish):
Selection tool with the Chrome extension enabled
Confirm your selections and close the selection tool. When you come back to the sheet probably only the app infobox will be visible. When Qlik Sense removes the objects from the page, the infoboxes disappear too. But the extension will continue to collect statistics, so click on show again in the extension menu, and you will se something like this:
Calculations have been made
Note that objects have only been recalculated once. That’s because the client only recalculate objects that are visible on the screen. The text object on the left should not be recalculated at all, since it was not affected by our selections.
So that’s what you need to do in a real situation:
enable timing for objects on the screen with the show command
make your selections, the extension wil register recalculations
if objects have been off screen, reenable the infoboxes with the show command
analyze the figures. Look for long calculation times or too many recalculations
Once you have started the timing, the only way to stop it is by refreshing the page, using the show command will not stop the monitoring.
The Chrome extension activated in the built-in Qlik Sense client
Some years ago I developed a Qlik Sense developer tool extension, mainly to help mashup developers with the problem of finding object id’s to use in their mashup. Over time we added more features to it, so you could now access script and variables, and use it as a tool (of several) for performance troubleshooting.
But it always had the problem that you needed to add the extension to the Qlik Sense app, something that is not always possible or practical. What if we could do this without needing to add anything to the app?
That’s the reasoning behind the Qlik Sense developer tool now available in the Chrome web store. It’s still an extension, but now a Chrome extension and not a Qlik Sense extension. That means if you install it in your browser, it will always be available.
Another advantage with this approach is that it also works with Qlik Sense mashups, using Qlik Sense Capabilities API.
The Chrome extension activated in a mashup
Still you can find object id’s with the extension, and explore properties for objects, sheets and apps. You can also read the script (provided you have access rights) and the variables. And you can now see what extensions and charts are actually used in an app, something that is not easy with the standard client.
