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Alteryx Designer Desktop Discussions

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Block Until Done not working lately? Also JOIN tool Selections fail

CDunhill
8 - Asteroid

I think this is potentially only in the last release or two, but the Block Until Done ('BUD') tool does not seem to be working as expected.

 

I can't share it here due to the PII sensitivities of the workflows, but I was wondering if anyone else is finding that data simply is not passing through the BUD tool? A Browse tool just in front of the tool confirms that the data is ok up until there - in fact I can browse the data on the Input node of the BUD tool itself - it just never makes it through when the workflow has finished running.

 

Anyone else finding this?

 

I'm also finding that column selections I make in the JOIN tool are not being honoured: eg. despite deselecting ALL columns in JOIN then selecting only ONE to pass through - ALL the columns are still passing through. This is certainly a bug - just wondering how widespread the issue is and whether a ticket has been raised?

 

Assuming I've identified actual issues here, how/where do I check for existing tickets and raise a new one?

8 REPLIES 8
ChrisTX
15 - Aurora

For the Join, when you said ALL the columns are still passing through.... I'm guessing you mean through the J output anchor?

 

check for existing tickets: unfortunately we don't have any visibility to the list of known defects until they're fixed, when they're mentioned in release notes

raise a new one: at the top of this page: Support > Support > Contact Us > Submit a Case

 

 

CDunhill
8 - Asteroid

Thanks for this. I'll wait for a short while to see if there are any other respondents having similar issues then raise ticket per your guidance. :)

CDunhill
8 - Asteroid

And sorry - yes I meant all columns passing through the J output anchor. Again, frustratingly hard to replicate in a way to share here and I think I've fixed it by copy/pasting all tools into a new workflow, but still not ideal as you can imagine.

 

The other thing I've had to do to remedy it is use an additional Select tool.

ChrisTX
15 - Aurora

Does your workflow have the AMP engine turned on?

 

We had quite a few issues with the AMP engine, when testing version 2021.4.  When we turned AMP off, most of the issues went away.

 

Chris

CDunhill
8 - Asteroid

Interesting. Yes, I will check this. I've been migrating my workflows to AMP as I had understood that's the right thing to do.

 

This may well explain it. Thanks

ChrisTX
15 - Aurora

Which Alteryx version are you using?

 

Here's some information about AMP, from @TonyaS :

We have done extensive improvements to AMP especially for the 2022.1 Release where AMP Engine became the default for new workflows.

 

This post lists some challenges with AMP:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Issues-faced-when-using-Alteryx-AMP-en...

 

Chris

CDunhill
8 - Asteroid

2022.1.1.40869 Patch: 2 - I think that's the latest, isn't it?

 

Good link though: I will try to re-run my workflows 'sans AMP' and I'll update my findings there if it works.

TonyaS
Alteryx
Alteryx

@CDunhill 

I'm interested to hear how it goes. 

 

With AMP there is some extra awareness with using the BUD tool if your workflow has multiple branches. It's documented here: https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/alteryx-engine-and-amp-main-differences 

TonyaS_0-1667333834830.png


Additionally, you may want to try using the "Engine Compatibility Mode" setting with AMP, especially with Grouping tools, in case your workflow expects data to be in a certain order. AMP uses a different sorting method, so record order may differ from the order returned with the original Engine.  

That can be found below the "Use AMP Engine" setting on the Workflow Configuration - Runtime tab: 

TonyaS_1-1667333940353.png

 

Here are more materials related to using AMP Engine. Take a look and see if there are any that might interest you:

•Help Documentation

https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/alteryx-amp-engine

https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/Alteryx-Engine-and-AMP-Main-Differences

https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/AMP-Memory-Use

https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/tool-use-amp

https://help.alteryx.com/20221/designer/engine-compatibility-mode

https://help.alteryx.com/20221/designer/performance-profiling-amp-engine

https://help.alteryx.com/20221/server/amp-engine-best-practices

 

•AMP Engine Webinar (32 minutes)

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Analytics/AMP-Engine-Discover-the-Untapped-Performance-of-Your-Anal...

 

•AlterEverything Podcast

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alter-Everything-Podcast/66-The-Alteryx-AMP-Engine-Explained/ba-p/5...

 

•Community Blog posts

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Analytics/Accelerate-Your-Analytic-Processes-with-the-New-AMP-Engin...

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/AMPlify-your-Workflows/ba-p/617590

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Best-practice-with-the-new-Multi-threa...

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/AMP-Engine-Technical-Deep-Dive-Part-1-Why-AMP/ba-p/570...  

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/AMP-Engine-Technical-Deep-Dive-Part-2-Key-concepts-of-...  

Tonya Smith
Sr. Technical Product Manager, cloud App Builder
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