Crew Runner Conundrum

Question

I heavily use crew runner macros but am perplexed on the mess I make moving the work from one machine to another. In the snip below you can see I've got 3 instances of the runner installed but the workflow isn't finding any of them.

How can I

1. Uninstall duplicate instances on this machine?

2. Get an instance installed in a common location on all machines?

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience!

patrick_digan · Accepted Answer

@hroderick-thr Under the hood, the most common ways for macros to show up in your toolbar is via an ini file. I would check this folder:

C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\DataProducts\AddOnData\Macros

You should see several ini files in there. When you open them up in notepad or other text editor, you should see them pointing to where it's trying to find the crew macros.

Note that you can also go to user settings >> macros and should be able to see the same thing.

To fix it, I would first delete all of the crew INI files (which can also be done in the user settings and deleting all of the macro repos). Then if you download the crew macros zip folder and unzip the folder to your network location, you can run the installer from there and it should then point to your network directory. You can go to user settings >> macros and check that it got pointed correctly.

ChrisTX · Accepted Answer

Ahhh, macro management. Always a fun topic. /sarcasm

See these links from the Alteryx knowledge base:

Sharing Macros in Alteryx Designer and Server
https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Knowledge-Base/Sharing-Macros-in-Alteryx-Designer-and-Server/ta-p/250140

Can The Macros Path Visibility Be Hidden To Other Users?
https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Can-The-Macros-Path-Visibility-Be-Hidden-To-Other-Users/ta-p/680719

========

We store all of our shared macros in a network folder, and push an INI file to every machine.

The INI file has a pointer to the network folder.

The INI file is stored in folder C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\DataProducts\AddOnData\Macros

Instructions to our users include:

* Under Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings > tab for Macros: ensure you do NOT have an entry with a Search Path that includes \network_folder\Permanent\Alteryx_Macros\ or any sub-folder below this folder. Because this path will be specified by the INI file. If you DO include this Search Path or any sub-folder, your macros will be prefixed with a folder name in your workflow definition files (YXMD, YXMC, YXWZ). Your macros should ONLY be prefixed with a folder name if you are using a macro from a Department-specific folder or a DEV folder. Your macros should NOT be prefixed with a folder name if you are using a shared global "gold-copy" macro.
* Add Macro search paths for your Private Department Production Macros and your Private Development Macros* You can add any path(s) you want, except for the folder or any subfolders listed in the INI file above.
* In Alteryx Designer, go to menu path Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings > tab for Macros
Click the + button, type the word "Macros" (without the quotes) in the Category box, and add path to your Private Department Production Macros

Chris

patrick_digan · Accepted Answer

Oh and since it's finding the runner macro images in your toolbar, it means that your alteryx is connected to the macros and your workflow is just not pointed correctly. So you may want to open your broken workflow in a text editor (notepad or notepad++) and search for yxmc to see the filepath where it's pointed to your macros. When at look at one of my workflows, it looks like this:

Since it just has a filename, alteryx will first look in the workflow directory. Since it doesn't find the macro there, it will next go through all of the ini file locations and look there. Depending on how you added the macro to your canvas, it could have an absolute path, like:

In this case, Alteryx just checks that specified location and will return that black box that you're seeing if it can't find it. It unfortunately doesn't realize that this macro is installed in your toolbar (several times). In this case the "easiest" fix is to delete the macro and pull a fresh one from your toolbar once you have your macro repository setup. This could be a challenge if you have a large amount of workflows with this issue.

MarqueeCrew · Accepted Answer

@hroderick-thr,

Hello @hroderick-thr ,

A little background on the Runner Macros first.  These macros were built at a time when server didn't exist as a product.  They allowed a desktop to automate before automation was a SKU.  They were wonderful add-ins to the product.  Currently, support for the macros moved from CReW to Alteryx.  That being said, I'll still give you my two cents on resolutions to your conundrum.

1.  Location of installed CReW macros:

C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\DataProducts\AddOnData\Macros

Look in this folder and you'll find CReW.ini

[Settings]
DefaultFolder=CReW Macros
MinimumAlteryxVersion=10.0
Path=D:\CReW Macros\Macros

This is where Alteryx will expect the macro to exist.

If you want to put them on a network, it might make things easier for you but it will also be a potential performance risk.  I'd like to see the macros installed in the same physical folder on all machines.  That does require a little bit of administration, but like Alteryx itself, you don't install one version of software for all machines to access.

The original macro pack contains an uninstall option.  You can use it to start fresh.  We are considering creating a new macro pack install, but that isn't coming up too soon.

Cheers,

Mark