Usually when you remove an app from a published folder it removes itself from the QMC. Sometimes however it remains, in upper case, at the end of the list of apps. This article advises why this happens and how to remove these rogue entries.

What Causes Orphaned Records?

Applications that show in upper case at the bottom of the list of apps on the Documents tab in QlikView Server are those that have been deleted, but still have hooks back into the QMC. Typically this is either a reload task or some Document CALs. If it’s the former then this task will run and fail on it’s old schedule – sending annoying failure mails. If it’s the latter then there are one or more CALs which can not be used on this app, or be re-assigned to others, wasting money.

Orphaned QlikView Apps

How Do I Remove Them?

In order to remove the orphaned records you simply need to remove the CALs or reload schedule. Unfortunately this is not always as easy as it sounds. It’s good practice to always remove reload tasks and document CALs before you delete or rename an app. However, sometimes this doesn’t happen.

Without the documents being in the correct location it is not possible to get to the Reload tab or the Document CALs tab, this prevents the removal of the CALs or tasks after deletion. If you have just deleted the file then you can simply restore it, then remove anything associated with it and then delete it again. This will put you back where you want to be.

If you can’t just restore the file, but you know where it used to exist, then you can create a new QlikView app with exactly the same name – this will put the app back in the correct place and allow you to reach the configuration pages. There doesn’t need to be anything in the file, you can simply right click in the folder and select New / QlikView Document and create the file. You will need to open it in QlikView and save it back again before it appears in the QMC – without opening and saving it is simply a zero byte file that the QMC doesn’t recognise.

How Do I Create A File If I Don’t Know Where It Used To Be?

If the prior location of the file has been lost then you will need to find out where it used to be on the server. If you have log files from when the file was previously reloaded or accessed through Access Point then these should point you to the location you need to recreate the file. A bit more detective work is required if not.

Fortunately there is an excellent tool, called the QlikView Server CAL Manager, by David Vasseur that can help. Full details of this product can be found in the Qlik Community thread here:

[Thread Removed].

Among the various options in this tool (including allowing the clearing down of un-used Document CALs) is the ability to create an XML file of all documents hosted in the QMC – including orphans with CALs attached. This could direct you to knowing where to recreate the files.

Things get a bit trickier if it is the Mounted Folder has been removed, but if you can find what the folder was called (either from Access Point Logs or the CAL Manager) then that mount can be recreated and the missing documents put within it.

Conclusion

Hopefully if you have been blighted with orphaned QlikView apps the advice above will allow you to remove them. If not please feel free to post specifics in the comments below and someone (myself included) may be able to assist.

Thanks to Bill Markham who posed the question about removing orphans to me, and prompted the writing of this piece.