Automatically Populating the "Description" Field in the Select Tool

[Burak_Kilinc]

Hi Alteryx Community,

I am looking for a way to automatically populate the Description field in the Select tool instead of manually entering descriptions for each column. I have a separate list (e.g., in Excel or a database) that contains field names along with their corresponding descriptions. Instead of adding them manually, I would like to dynamically integrate these descriptions into the Select tool.

Has anyone tackled a similar challenge before? Are there any existing workflows, macros, or XML modifications that could help achieve this?

I asked chatgpt and it suggested following:

• Using a Join tool to merge metadata before passing it into the Select tool

• Modifying the workflow XML to inject descriptions

• Creating a macro that pulls descriptions from an external source

I really don't want to go through the hussel to edit the xml each time. Isn't there any other simple method?

For referece here are some screenshots.

I would then have a Lists of descriptions.

Column	Description
ABPER	Period
XXX	Some descriptions
ACC_NUM	Account Number

The advantage of this would be to know in each step and tool what abbrevations stands for what. To replace the column names wouldn't help either because some descriptions are just too long to qualify as a column name.

I am using Alteryx Designer Desktop x64 Version: 2024.2.1.41 Patch: 1

Any insights, best practices, or examples would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Luke_C · Accepted solution]

Hi @Burak_Kilinc 

Have you tried the dynamic rename tool? This can update descriptions

[KimLamNg]

Dynamic Rename tool can do this. You just need to feed in the mapping between the column name and description to the R of the Dynamic rename.

[KGT]

The solutions above are probably the best way. 

I thought I would comment on another way. I use this option to update field names to a standard at times, or to use an Auto-field, and then save the config, remove the Auto-field, and load the config.

In the Select tool, there is an option to Save/Load Field Configuration. This will create a yxft file that could be templated to load the configs. It's menu driven though, so not automated.

Only mentioning it, because it may fit some cases like this.

[Burak_Kilinc]

Hi Luke,

THANK you a LOT! How did i managed to oversee the other drop down option... nevertheless a really simple solution to a overcomplified problem. Also thanks to the other guys.

br burak