Simply put, variables in QlikView are used to store data, either static or dynamic, and they can contain text, numbers, or any other data type. They are stored as a separate entity and are given a name to be able to reference them from any object in the whole document.
Even when one variable can store a single data value, their use can be extended to a much broader scope once we understand its inner workings.
At a general level, we can say that variables in QlikView are used in two different ways:
To store a value or string either static or based on a formula. This type of variable can also be used to receive and interpret input from the user.
To store an expression definition that can be used in charts. This is an approach we explored in Chapter 6, Building Dashboards.
The main difference between the previously mentioned options is that one calculates the output before sending it to the sheet object that makes use of the variable, whereas the other stores only the definition...
