Sense app introspection and metadata

Examples of how to extract metadata and structural information from Qlik Sense apps using Butler's REST API.

These examples show how to:

• List all apps on a Sense server
• Serialize a Sense app's internal structure to JSON
• Analyze app data models from within other Sense apps

List all Sense apps on the server

Get a list of all apps available on the Sense server, including their IDs and names.

This is useful for:

• Building app inventories
• Creating app monitoring dashboards
• Dynamically selecting apps for processing
• Automating app management tasks

Setup

Create a data connection called "Sense list apps" using Qlik's standard REST connector, connected to:

http://<FQDN or IP of Butler server>:8080/senseListApps

Load Script

The following script will load all app IDs and names into a table:

// "Sense list apps" is a data connection using Qlik's standard REST connector, connected
// to http://<FQDN or IP of Butler server>:8080/senseListApps
// The Apps table will contain id and name of all apps on the server

LIB CONNECT TO 'Sense list apps';

RestConnectorMasterTable:
SQL SELECT
    "id",
    "name"
FROM JSON (wrap on) "root";

Apps:
LOAD
    [id] 	AS [App id],
    [name] 	AS [App name]
RESIDENT RestConnectorMasterTable;

DROP TABLE RestConnectorMasterTable;

Serialize a Sense app to JSON and extract data model

Extract the complete internal structure of a Sense app as JSON, then load it into another Sense app for analysis.

This is useful for:

• Analyzing app structure and complexity
• Building app documentation automatically
• Comparing apps to identify differences
• Creating app templates or patterns
• Understanding relationships between objects in apps

Setup

Create a data connection called "Sense app extract" using Qlik's REST connector, against:

http://<FQDN or IP of Butler server>:8080/senseAppDump

This will generate several thousand lines of code in the Sense script editor, modeling a Sense app's internal data model. The Butler endpoint returns JSON, which the REST connector then transforms into a Sense data model.

Load Script

To dynamically control which app is serialized, use the "with connection" syntax:

LIB CONNECT TO 'Sense app extract';

let vAppId = 'abcd1234-5678-abcd-1234-abcd1234abcd';

RestConnectorMasterTable:
SQL SELECT
"loadScript",
...
FROM JSON (wrap on) "root" PK "__KEY_root"
WITH CONNECTION (
QUERY "guid" "$(vAppId)");
...

Result

Here is what the Sense data model can look like for a serialized Sense app:

Data model visualization of a Qlik Sense app's internal structure

The data model contains detailed information about:

• App properties and metadata
• Load script content
• Sheets and visualizations
• Dimensions and measures
• Variables and expressions
• Data connections
• And much more...

Use Cases

App Inventory and Monitoring

Load app metadata into a monitoring app to track:

• Total number of apps
• App sizes and complexity
• Last reload times
• App ownership and access

App Analysis and Documentation

Use the serialized app structure to:

• Generate documentation automatically
• Identify unused objects or fields
• Find performance bottlenecks
• Create dependency maps between apps

App Migration and Templating

Extract app structures to:

• Create reusable app templates
• Compare development vs. production apps
• Migrate apps between environments
• Standardize app structures across teams

See Also

• Sense demo apps - Example apps demonstrating Butler features
• Butler API documentation - Complete REST API reference
• Butler helper functions - Load script helper functions