Block Until Done not working lately? Also JOIN tool Selections fail

I think this is potentially only in the last release or two, but the Block Until Done ('BUD') tool does not seem to be working as expected.

I can't share it here due to the PII sensitivities of the workflows, but I was wondering if anyone else is finding that data simply is not passing through the BUD tool? A Browse tool just in front of the tool confirms that the data is ok up until there - in fact I can browse the data on the Input node of the BUD tool itself - it just never makes it through when the workflow has finished running.

Anyone else finding this?

I'm also finding that column selections I make in the JOIN tool are not being honoured: eg. despite deselecting ALL columns in JOIN then selecting only ONE to pass through - ALL the columns are still passing through. This is certainly a bug - just wondering how widespread the issue is and whether a ticket has been raised?

Assuming I've identified actual issues here, how/where do I check for existing tickets and raise a new one?

Workflow

Output

Bug

Join

Preparation

Interface Tools

Accepted answers

All comments

ChrisTX

For the Join, when you said ALL the columns are still passing through.... I'm guessing you mean through the J output anchor?

check for existing tickets: unfortunately we don't have any visibility to the list of known defects until they're fixed, when they're mentioned in release notes

raise a new one: at the top of this page: Support > Support > Contact Us > Submit a Case

CDunhill

Thanks for this. I'll wait for a short while to see if there are any other respondents having similar issues then raise ticket per your guidance.

CDunhill

And sorry - yes I meant all columns passing through the J output anchor. Again, frustratingly hard to replicate in a way to share here and I think I've fixed it by copy/pasting all tools into a new workflow, but still not ideal as you can imagine.

The other thing I've had to do to remedy it is use an additional Select tool.

ChrisTX

Does your workflow have the AMP engine turned on?

We had quite a few issues with the AMP engine, when testing version 2021.4. When we turned AMP off, most of the issues went away.

Chris

CDunhill

Interesting. Yes, I will check this. I've been migrating my workflows to AMP as I had understood that's the right thing to do.

This may well explain it. Thanks

ChrisTX

Which Alteryx version are you using?

Here's some information about AMP, from @TonyaS :

We have done extensive improvements to AMP especially for the 2022.1 Release where AMP Engine became the default for new workflows.

This post lists some challenges with AMP:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Issues-faced-when-using-Alteryx-AMP-engine/m-p/1005248#M248183

Chris

CDunhill

2022.1.1.40869 Patch: 2 - I think that's the latest, isn't it?

Good link though: I will try to re-run my workflows 'sans AMP' and I'll update my findings there if it works.

Tonya_Smith

@CDunhill

I'm interested to hear how it goes.

With AMP there is some extra awareness with using the BUD tool if your workflow has multiple branches. It's documented here: https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/alteryx-engine-and-amp-main-differences

Additionally, you may want to try using the "Engine Compatibility Mode" setting with AMP, especially with Grouping tools, in case your workflow expects data to be in a certain order. AMP uses a different sorting method, so record order may differ from the order returned with the original Engine.

That can be found below the "Use AMP Engine" setting on the Workflow Configuration - Runtime tab: