How to use events / run command to execute another workflow on Alteryx Gallery

Hi Everyone,

I'm wanting to run another workflow on the gallery after the current one I run by using the events / run command tool. I found some documentation on how to issue the command (using AlteryxService.exe) along with the required arguments, but the problem I'm having is referencing the path to the workflow I'd like to execute on the server. I've tried a bunch of different things and the response I keep getting back is that the workflow cannot be found.

Does anyone know how I can reference the path of the workflow I'm wanting to execute on the gallery?

Workflow

Gallery

Schedule

Server

Scheduler

Chained App

Accepted answers

jrgo

@ccagle

Had a feeling it was because of the chained app timeout. Yeah, the fix is easy to do and something I've done in various environments. That change, however, does not persist when Alteryx Server is updated so it's something that you have to remember to reapply.

Another option to explore is to convert your secondary app into a macro. This would still give you the option to control the processes, assuming that's the reason for this in general.

It'll be easier to manage in the long run i think...

All comments

jrgo

Hi @ccagle

Is the workflow you're attempting to execute stored on a local drive on your Alteryx server or in a network location?

If it's on a network location, and the file path referenced in your command includes a mapped letter drive (e.g. W:\folder\workflow.yxmd), your issue is the mapped letter. The server does not resolve mapped letters because those are a local configuration on your machine. A fully qualified UNC path (e.g. \\server\folder\workflow.yxmd) when the service requires to read an asset that's NOT on any of it's local disks.

To complicate things a bit more, Windows Command does not accept UNC paths. There's workarounds (i.e. PUSHD), but it would make use of the command argument a bit more complicated as multiple commands are now needed so you may need to create a batch (.bat) file and have the run command execute that.

There's another another command to run workflows, AlteryxEngineCmd.exe, which runs a workflow without adding the workflow to your schedule queue (keeps your MongoDB clean). The same conditions apply as above in regards to referencing network files.

Alternatively, if your workflow DOES reside on a local disk within the Alteryx server, hard to say why it's not working. If you're able to, I'd suggest remoting into your Alteryx Server and run your workflow from there to see if it works or not. If it does work, then there may be a permission issue. Review the Alteryx System Settings to see how the "Run As" settings are configured and if the directory your workflows grant the necessary permissions to the service account (if set) to access the files.

Hope some of this helps!

Jimmy
Teknion Data Solutions

ccagle

Thanks for your response,

So I think this will make my question a little more targeted - I'm really trying to use the AlteryxEngineCmd.exe on the server, but I CANNOT figure out where the location of the workflow is on the server (and I saved it to the gallery just like any other workflow - so it's just a workflow somewhere in the gallery).

To get a little more detailed - if I could figure out how and where Alteryx is storing ALL the workflows we have on the gallery, then I think it would be easy for me to issue the AlteryxEngineCmd.exe and point to the workflow on the gallery. What I'm seeing (correct me if I'm wrong) is that these workflows are stored in some Mongo DB fashion and I can't figure out how to target a specific workflow. If I need to take the route of saving this on a separate drive or on the server itself as a workflow (and not in the gallery), I can do that, but of course that is not optimal at all. I really just want to run 1 workflow on the gallery, and then run another one (same gallery, saved the exact same way) as a chain (one after the other) using the run command.

Any help would be appreciated. As a side note, I've tested this functionality on my desktop and it works fine, so I understand where to find the executable, how to issue the command and point it to correct workflow to run, it's just the gallery issue above that I'm having trouble with.

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