Alteryx won't recognize strike-through data in cell from Excel

[Verenala4]

Hi everyone,

This might be a random question but I will try anyways:

I am working with an Excel file that has one column with dates. Basically, my team uses it to keep track of a series of dates where the most current date will be on top and the history of "old dates" will be below (same cell) but with strikethrough (see picture below). 

So the dates are in ONE cell (separated on individual lines) and when I try to import it, alteryx just spits out "Null" for those that have more than one date in the cell.

Is there a way for Alteryx to recognize this data (and not lose it)? I need this field to for a formula but they also want to keep the "date history" in the output.

I tried data cleaning, text to column, etc but nothing has worked so far.

I really appreciate your help!

Thank you,

V

[RishiK]

Have a look at the attached sample workflow.

The strike through date and the active date are delimited by a newline in the actual cell in Excel.

You need to parse the data in the cell in Alteryx via the Text to Columns tool with a '\n' delimiter (newline) and split to rows.

[geraldo]

Hi,

What is the Altreryx import data type?

Already imported as string.

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[benakesh]

Hi @Verenala4 ,

Hope this helps

[Verenala4]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your fast replies!

@geraldo The date is imported as a string

@RishiK I tried using the Text to Columns tool but it does not work. For some reason it doesn't recognize the strike-through in the next line. It just shows the first date that is it but I would like to keep the "history".

@benakesh I tried using your worfklow but for some reason everything after the tile tool is "null". I am not sure why. I have the dates split in rows but everything after that is just "Null".

Any idea why?

Also, do you know if I can do strike-through in alteryx? Because I am only using the first date as a filter but would like to keep the full "history" in the output.

Thank you,

Verena

[benakesh]

Hi @Verenala4 ,

You can check the tile tool configurations .  The tile method is 'Unique value'  and unique field is  'id '. 

This is used to identify  first  date value  .  Formula  creates Status field i.e  first  date is  'Active'  .

[Verenala4]

Hi @benakesh !

This is exactly what I put for the tile tool but it just spits out everything as "null". No data comes through whatsoever. I am not sure why at this point.

Verena

[benakesh]

Hi @Verenala4 ,

Attaching  package  instead of workflow . Hope this works .  

[geraldo]

Hi,

Copy the line that has more than one date and paste it into notepad ++ and check the character you are separating. He has the option to see the characters

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[estherb47 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Verenala4 

+1 to @geraldo 's suggestion to paste into Notepad to see what is separating the data in your "dates" column.

Once you have that, you can set up Text to Columns on that character, separating into Rows. I add a Record ID before the Text to Columns in order to recognize the original rows.

A Tile tool assigns a unique counter number to each row within each Unique Record ID. Be sure to set it up like this:

Then filter for the Tile_Sequence Numbers that are 1. The T output of the Filter will have the records needed for the formula, and the F output will have everything else. You can rebuild the table with all of the historical dates with a Union tool.

Incidentally, if you want to use the dates as dates in Alteryx, you'll need to convert them from string into date format. This is easily done with the Date Time Parse tool.

Let me know if that helps.

Cheers!

Esther