topic Re: Left and right output anchors of join tool not updating when removing fields? in Alteryx Designer Desktop Discussions

Left and right output anchors of join tool not updating when removing fields?

Adriankp — Tue, 18 May 2021 14:36:34 GMT

In my workflow, while joining two tables I want to remove four fields from all outputs. These four fields are present in both tables, so to do this I've simply unchecked both the left and right inputs for these fields in the join tool. However, after doing this and the updating/rerunning the workflow, only the J output is updated. In the right and left outputs those four fields are still present in the table, even though they have been unchecked in the join tool.

What really is driving me crazy is that the same type join in another part of the same workflow works just fine. There the four fields are removed from all three outputs. Is this a bug in Alteryx, or am I doing something wrong?

Re: Left and right output anchors of join tool not updating when removing fields?

cplewis90 — Tue, 18 May 2021 14:56:40 GMT

Hello @Adriankp

As far as I know, when you make adjustments to the items in a join it should only affect the "J" output. If you want any changes to the "L" and "R" outputs you would need to adjust it with a select tool either before or after the join.

Re: Left and right output anchors of join tool not updating when removing fields?

ChrisTX — Tue, 18 May 2021 15:11:27 GMT

As @cplewis90 mentioned, the select/de-select and the re-name functionality only affects the J output anchor.

Records output through the L and R outputs are passed through unmodified, including fields that are deselected in the Join tool.
the L and R output anchors will always retain the original input field names and all fields will be “selected” for output

Even the Tool Mastery article doesn't mention this "feature": https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Tool-Mastery-Join/ta-p/29814

Chris

Re: Left and right output anchors of join tool not updating when removing fields?

Adriankp — Thu, 20 May 2021 06:23:47 GMT

Yeah, that makes sense. I think I was just confusing it with another issue I was having.

Thanks a lot for the quick reply.