There are a number of functions and features in QlikView which whilst they are not revolutionary can make your life much easier.  One such little known feature is HidePrefix.

This post references QlikView but you can use HidePrefix in Qlik Sense in exactly the same way. It is even more useful there as users are more likely to use Global Search and see table keys and the like.

Often when loading data from complex data sources there are fields in the data model that are required to be pulled in that you do not want to be visible to your analyser users.  It may even simply be that there are so many of them that you don’t wan them in your own way all the time either.  Typically these fields may be join keys or fields that are only used in Set Analysis.

If this sounds familiar you will be pleased to know that these fields can be hidden from view and treated in the same way as the system fields.  As you probably know system fields can be shown or hidden using the check box on the Select Fields dialog.

System Fields

With HidePrefix you can make your own fields visible or not based on the same check box.

Simply decide which character you wish to use to prefix fields you wish to hide (I always go for the % symbol) and issue the HidePrefix statement:

Hide Prefix Statement

Once this has been done you simply need to name all fields that you wish to hide so that they start with that character.  Typically you will want to do this with an AS statement (as shown below) – but you can do it at source if you wish:

Rename Fields

Once the script has been re-run and the data has been loaded you will notice that the fields that were prefixed only appear in the field selection box when Show System Fields is ticked.

Similar to the actual system fields; the hidden fields can be used at will in expressions, they just can not be selected from the pick lists when defining dimensions or from the drop down when building an expression.

No more will join keys or system ID’s clutter your nice pick list of available fields.