Reading and Writing Files Dynamically

Question

I have a shared folder which has files which are manually created in a shared folder like below, I need to read the COB file and compare it with previous file and create reconciliation exception output with today's date.. Could you help me?

I tried using input tool using *, remembered this from my core exam and dynamic input tool but it gave an error and skipped file, what do I need to do in dyanmic input tool?

atcodedog05 · Accepted Answer

Hi @vinayak_naidu

Its a known issue. Sadly there is nothing that done about that a slight format difference skips the file. You can refer the below post to build a batch macro to read the files.

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/The-Ultimate-Input-Data-Flowchart/ta-p/20480

Hope this helps : )

dhavaldoshi · Accepted Answer

Hi Vinayak,

You would need to create a batch macro for your input files if the schema keeps changing, I would advise this especially in cases when someone is creating these files and they are not coming from a system. How do you read multiple files with varying schema is available here below:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/CS-Macro-Dev-Reading-in-Multiple-Files-with-Different-Field/ta-p/13370

In your case you'll need a date formatting on file name and finding latest and latest-1 file details before passing the output of directory tool to the macro shown in the post above. Something like this should help

Once you are done with all your functions, configure your output tool to create a new sheet using a field, create that field using formula tool

Look at the configuration shown above on how output tool is configured. Hope this helps! 🙂