Comparing two Formula tools with numerous expressions

Question

Hello everyone,

I am wondering if there is a better way of performing one task in Alteryx and could use an expert opinion.

In my job, I often check a configuration of a Formula tool from a previous period. This Formula tool contains numerous expressions. I do this to determine how much of this previous configuration I can re-create in my current workflow. I cannot directly copy the old Formula tool due to some workflow differences. Process of comparing Formula tools from different workflows involves a lot selecting and deselecting each Formula tool. This causes a lot of time wasted on waiting for configuration window to load as well as for expanding expressions from each Formula.

Opening workflow in a different instance of Designer (to see two configuration panes at the same time) is something I would also like to avoid. Other solution that came to my mind would be printing all Formula expressions in one output file like txt or xlsx. Do you know if there is any smart and quick way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

DataNath · Accepted Answer

Hey @Duszko, hopefully I'm understanding the request correctly. If so, here's one approach you could take to speed things up. I've made a very simple example workflow here containing a Text Input and a small handful of basic formulae to demonstrate the concept:

Now, we save a second copy of this workflow, but as a .xml file:

Now, in a new workflow, we can simply bring this plain-text copy of our comparison workflow in via the Input Data tool (ticking option 8 to Return Outer XML):

From there, we simply Filter to only leave the records pertaining to the Formula tool:

Use the XML Parse tool, selecting the [Properties_OuterXML] field to process:

And finally, just tidy things up with a Select tool, dropping all unnecessary fields:

Hope this helps - please shout if you have any further questions! Have attached the packaged workflow demonstrated here for you to play around with.