Often I go onto a new (or prospective) client site and have a limited amount of time to impress any number of people from a cold start. It’s days like these I am pleased to have QlikView in my kit bag! But even with the right tools you still need something to give you that edge. I often find that QlikView themes can be that something.
Introducing QlikView Theme Files
For the uninitiated a theme file is a simple XML document that contains any number of settings that can be applied to a QlikView document at a global, sheet or object level. The most common use is for simple look and feel settings – but there is scope to use them for much more than that if required.
The beauty of a QlikView themes is that they can be prepared in advance with no access to client data or site. If you apply it as soon as you start; the very first list box you add to a page has a border in the corporate palette and is in a sensible font etc..
Getting Started With QlikView Themes
When starting a theme file I always start from one I’ve prepared earlier – often with a similar colour scheme to the one I am looking to produce. Once any client specific graphics are stripped out (using a text editor to remove the binary chunks and the tags around them) I could use the file as it stands. However, with about an hours work this can be transformed into something unique and impressive for the client.
The Tools of the Trade
The key to getting the theme right is to borrow from the company website – but apply some good design practice on top of that. To grab images I use TechSmith’s Jing, colours with a widget called ColorPix and image manipulation is with an old version of PhotoImpact – your tools of choice will no doubt differ.
Theme Design Advice
Ensure that you keep things clean and simple. I tend to have a 60px high banner as a wallpaper and a very near white background, all objects with the same caption colour – with the exception of the Current Selections box. Often I will have two or three versions of a client theme; as the logo tends to be nestled in the top right corner (keep it small and unobtrusive) and different themes are required for different target resolutions.
I won’t go into details of the how to create a theme here. Suffice to say though, for me, the investment of an hour or so before a new engagement can certainly be worthwhile.
Carry a Fully Loaded ToolBox
Also on the topic of themes, having a few theme files with specific purposes can be useful. I have QlikView themes for removing shadow from all objects, removing screen-junk from caption bars and setting charts to predefined sizes. Often you need to use a text editor to perfect these (or any theme file) but the XML is easy to navigate so this is not an issue.
Theme files probably deserve a tutorial blog post at some point soon (watch this space) but I hope this has given you some insight into why you should use them.
This blog post is part of the series where I give tips based on situations I have found myself in, which started with the post on Deleting Your QlikView Apps.
Look out for the next post on Exposing Your Data.
Hi Steve,
Have you posted the blog on Designing theme files which you have mentioned in this blog. Can you please provide the link if you have already posted.
-Shashidhar
Hi Shashidhar, I’m afraid I’ve not got around to a post on that subject yet – but thanks for reminding me about it. If you subscribe to the blog hopefully there will be a post on it soon – or contact me directly if you have a specific question.
Hi Steve,
I explored theme maker feature and learnt how to prepare .qvt file. I too want to contribute to the community so it would be of help to someone. Let me know how can I contribute in this site.
Best Regards,
Shashidhar
Hi Shashidhar,
The best place to contribute your own articles is to the QlikCommunity. You tend to get quite a lot of discussion and feedback on articles posted there.
HI Steve ,
can u upload a video on themes?
I created a new theme without color designing .
Thanx in advance…
Hi Koti – that sounds like a good topic for a video. I will add it to my list…
Hi, thx for the blog. I have two Questions:
1) If I want to create a “one for all” theme (include all settings), then I need an add on process in several steps (like background, listbox, objects etc.)?
2) If I created 5 different qvws from the same theme, and the theme changes, then I must first do the above steps again and I then need to manual change the theme in each of the 5 qvws ?
Hi Mikael,
1) That’s correct, you keep layering different settings into the one theme by adding things from different object types. Things like the caption bar (which are common between lots of objects) can be taken from one type of object to be applied to all. Other settings need to be taken from each type of object.
2) Again correct. Applying themes over the top of existing documents is relatively straight forward. Sometimes global changes to a theme (e.g. a caption colour) can be best made by opening the XML and doing a search and replace.
Thank you.
Concerning 2), I had hope there was a way to update the theme, so the documents using this theme would automatically update, so I dont need to open each document and apply the new theme on all documents.
There are a couple of things you can do. For colours you can always use variables – these can be set in an include file called by each app. Other settings can be modified if you use project files and change them with a text search and replace – not sure I would recommend that though.
yes, if it was just colours, variables would work fine. Though for all settings I think applying theme for each still is a better solution than replacing all xml files.
Thx for input.
Hi there,
When will you create a blog about Themes specifically? A guide on creating various types of themse would be useful.
Thank you
It is still on my list of topics, but it never seems to get right to the top. I’ve provided notes to clients before now, I just need to find some of those and tidy them up. Hopefully in the not too distant future…