Change to Input File Field Name Affecting Full Workflow

[Roisinmm]

Hi there,

I have a workflow that pulls from an excel input file.

The input file has recently changed so that one of the columns/field is re-named.

Is there a way to update my whole workflow to the new name and ensure it's selected in all select tools/ formulas/ joins without having to go onto each one by one?

Also, could someone provide some best practice guidelines to ensure I don't have this error again?!

Thanks in advance!

[Aguisande]

Hi @Roisinmm

What I tend to do is to have the structure of the Excel file in a custom dictionary (like a text input tool with two columns, ORIGINAL NAME FIELDS and DESIRED NAME FIELDS), and use a dynamic rename tool at the very beginning of the workflow, to rename the columns accordingly.

The "renaming Dictionary" may be something like this:

The Excel file (or any input file) may be something like this:

And the Workflow (And the Dynamic Rename Tool) is configured like you see here:

The results will look like:

This assures me that I'll carry all the workflow with the desired field names, and if something changes, I only have to change the custom dictionary.

Hope this puts you in the right direction.

Best,

_AG_ 

[Roisinmm]

Thanks AG - think this is a great safety net for future workflows.

Any clues on how to update this one now? It's a pretty long workflow and going into each tool to edit is going to be extremely time consuming!

[Aguisande · Accepted solution]

Add this @ the beggining of your actual workflow, and rename the [NEW COLUMN NAME] to the OLD one, so you don´t have to change anything of the workflow. You'll be using the old name through all the workflow. In case you need to rename the output to the [NEW COLUMN NAME], just rename it back at the end of your workflow.

Just add Annotations and Comments where you do this steps, to keep you and any other persons that uses the workflow aware about this.

[Roisinmm]

Perfect! Thank you! :)