(.yxmd) Files Not Opening (AMP Engine?)

Hello,

Recently I have been having an issue where I am unable to open saved workflows (.yxmd). When I open the file I can see the workflow and tools but the loading does not stop, I am unable to click on anything, and eventually the screen splashes white. No error report is reached.

I've recently started using the AMP Engine to run heavier workflows, could this be what is causing my issue?

I can 'resolve' the issue by rolling back the file versions save by save but this is hardly a satisfactory solution. The autorecovered files also seem to resist opening. Furthermore other users with the same version of Alteryx as me are also unable to open my workflows. If anyone in the community has an idea of what might be causing this error or knows of a potential solution I would appreciate your sharing.

My version of Alteryx: Alteryx Non-Admin Designer Version: 2020.4.5.12471

My Windows: Windows 10 Enterprise, Version 1809, x64-based processor system type, 16GB RAM

Thank you!

Workflow

Accepted answers

wimeems

I decided to open up the .yxdb causing issues as an xml so I could open and compare it to the xml of a file I could load. I went chunk by chunk and then line by line till I reached this single line of code that, when True, caused the file to splash out on loading. Turning the following line of code to False (or just deleting) opened up all the files I had not been able to open. The line can be found under the properties tag (towards bottom of xml file).

Change to

Interestingly, the line only seemed to appear when I saved with the AMP Engine activated. I don't know the reason for the error but deleting it seems to solve all my issues (in all files with this problem).

Hope this helps anyone with the same issue.

All comments

echuong1

The use of AMP should not make a difference when opening a workflow, since a workflow is essentially just settings. The AMP engine comes into play when you actually run the workflow.

I suggest trying to downgrade your version of Designer. You can download the installer for a previous version at downloads.alteryx.com. By running the installer, it will automatically uninstall the version you currently have. Hope this helps!

wimeems

Thank you for your quick reply.

I'm not sure that downgrading is an option for me currently as everyone I collaborate with runs on the newest version of Alteryx. I also don't understand why downgrading would solve the issue as I am the only one to have saved and edited this WF (and my version hasn't changed).

Tonya_Smith

This was not tagged with the "AMP Engine" so I am just noticing this now, apologize for the delay in response.

That xml property is what tells the Engine to use AMP or not. The pre-release name for AMP was "e2" so they are synonymous.

It does not make sense to me why specifying AMP or not would have any effect on opening a workflow, as @echuong1 mentioned it should only come into play when running a workflow. AMP was originally made generally available with the 2020.2 Release version, so 2020.4 was early on with AMP. I have not heard of this issue coming up in Customer Support defects, so it is likely that it was eventually solved with some other work.

I will add that we have made significant improvements to AMP in recent releases, including fixing multiple memory deadlocking issues. I would suggest that users intending to use AMP heavily try to use at least version 2021.4 or newer. With 2022.1, AMP is the default for new workflows that users build and if you start from the beginning with AMP enabled things may go more smoothly than trying to migrate older workflows to AMP that were built with the original Engine.

With the upcoming 2022.3 Release, we will have a new tool available for download from Gallery that will allow users to compare runs of the same workflow between using original Engine and AMP by pointing to a folder containing multiple workflows. It will output a report that will show whether the results match or not and provide other details about what did not match so that users can have confidence deciding whether to migrate specific existing workflows to AMP.