Allow field mapping with different field types in File Browse interface tool

I'm trying to build an app that has a number of required fields to map, but the incoming data might have those fields in different data types (e.g. "RecordID" may come in as a string or an integer). I can't control in the files that people will be using to upload into the app. I have the "Enable Field Mapping" selected in my File Browse interface tool, but of course it requires the mapped field from in the incoming file to be the same field type as my sample data - and that won't work if the incoming files are different.

Is there a way around this? Obviously once I get the data into the workflow I can make sure it's all the data types I need, but I'm not sure the easiest way to get the data in at the moment.

Thanks,

Alexandra

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Accepted answers

Maskell_Rascal

Hi @Alexandra_Mannerings

I tried the example you described, and the analytic app works as expected. No issues with mapping a double to a string field.

Not sure why you are experiencing a problem on your end, but there is a way to solve it. Its just more labor intensive on your end.

Step1: Turn off Field Mapping on the File Browse tool.

Step2: Add a boat load of Drop Down/Action Tools to update Select tool fields.

Step3: Configure Drop Down tool to accept both Strings and Numbers, and also add text/question to be displayed.

Step4: Configure all the Action tools to their field.

Now when the app is ran, it doesn't ask for a String or Numeric field.

Attached is a zipped version of the app for you to try.

Cheers!

Phil

DifferentFieldTypes with File Browse.yxzp

All comments

messi007

@Alexandra_Mannerings,

My recommendation is to convert all the columns to string and than do the joins:

You can do it with multi-field formula as configured below:

Hope this helps!

Regards.

Alexandra_Mannerings

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear in my post. The issue is with the File Browse interface tool in an analytic app, not the standard File Input tool in a normal workflow:

So if someone uploads a file and their record IDs are all numbers, Alteryx recognizes it as a number data type and then won't allow them to map it to the ClaimID field (which is a string in my test data), and vice versa if I were to make my test data a numeric ID and someone had a string ID field. I need to get around the fixed data type in the Field Mapping option in the File Browse interface tool.

messi007

@Alexandra_Mannerings,

If you could share a sample workflow of what you're trying to do and what do you expect to have will help to give you the solution 🙂

Below what I understand

1- User chose the file

2- You take all the column from that file and insert them on the drop down list

3- Use the selected column for calculations...

Below how you can keep them always as String :

Hope this helps,

Regards.

Alexandra_Mannerings

But the dropdown menu won't update with the new fields from the uploaded file until after the users run the workflow, so your solution doesn't work... But I could set it up as a chained app. I was just trying to avoid that...

The issue is before anything every gets into the workflow, when the user is loading the file into the app. I've attached a dummy file, but this is true of any File Browse tool in any analytic app. I'm not trying to keep everything as a string or as a number, the issue I have is that if a user tries to map a field that is a different type that the field in the data I use to build the app, it won't work. When I browsed to any file you have that has numeric fields, and attempt to map one of those fields to any of the string fields (or vice versa) in the sample app I attached, it doesn't work. It will only give options in the field map dropdown for fields that are the same type as that original field in the workflow.

New Workflow1.yxzp

New Workflow1.yxwz

Maskell_Rascal

Hi @Alexandra_Mannerings

I tried the example you described, and the analytic app works as expected. No issues with mapping a double to a string field.

Not sure why you are experiencing a problem on your end, but there is a way to solve it. Its just more labor intensive on your end.

Step1: Turn off Field Mapping on the File Browse tool.

Step2: Add a boat load of Drop Down/Action Tools to update Select tool fields.

Step3: Configure Drop Down tool to accept both Strings and Numbers, and also add text/question to be displayed.

Step4: Configure all the Action tools to their field.

Now when the app is ran, it doesn't ask for a String or Numeric field.

Attached is a zipped version of the app for you to try.

Cheers!

Phil

DifferentFieldTypes with File Browse.yxzp

Alexandra_Mannerings

Yeah, that's exactly what I ended up doing. I don't know why you can do that no problem and it won't let me? It doesn't even give me the option in the dropdown of fields that aren't the same data type. What version of Alteryx are you on?

Thank you for your help.

Maskell_Rascal

I'm on version 2021.2.2. I did notice you are on 2021.3.1, but I don't know why that would be causing an issue.

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