Putting data file in Alteryx server and use as input or output file

Question

Hei everyone,

I have a analytic app that let user to browse and upload their latest monthly data for union/join with data of previous month(compile_data). I want to publish the analytic app in Alteryx Gallery but I have question;

can we save/upload an excel file in Alteryx server/gallery so that it can be use directly with the Analytic app in Gallery and update every time user run the app? (like creating database in gallery that allow user to add data and download latest data)

anybody have any idea?

jrgo · Answer

Hi @akmalfarid

Apologize for the delayed response. Yes, a workflow can read in a file and write back out to it. To ensure that the process does not attempt to start writing back out to the Excel file before the Input (to the same file) has released it, use a Block Until Done tool. I typically place it right after the Input, but it can also be placed right before the output.

As I had mentioned before, this will not work if you're trying to update a static file that you've selected as an asset to be included in the package when publishing to your Gallery. While this logic would work, but every time the job is executed, the input file it'll use will ALWAYS be what it was packaged with.

This method will only work if the file the workflow reads is in a network share in which the Servers "Run-as" account has access to.

Hope this helps!

Jimmy
Teknion Data Solutions

akmalfarid · Answer

hi @jrgo

thanks for your advice. But can the static excel file be update and resave again at the same location?..it is possible?

jrgo · Answer

Hi @akmalfarid

You can include Excel files as assets with your app, but they remain static. You'd have to store your file in a shared drive, however, for this scenario, using an actual database is going to be your best option.

Using Excel, you may get situations where two runs end up conflicting and one of the jobs will get errors that the file is currently open.