Disabling Containers & Join Tool Errors (Left & Right Inputs Must Have Connections)

[MojoRisen]

Hello Alteryx Community. I have a workflow that joins multiple Inputs that I am joining and appending into a single file. For example, 10 different files, joined then appending into one output file. However, sometimes I may not have or need 2 of the 10 files, so I might only have 8 files I need to join/append at times. When I disable the containers for those input files I don't need,  the workflow wont complete because there is no input in the join tool and I get the "Left & Right Inputs Must Have Connections" error. How can I prevent this is instances where I will be missing some of the inputs but I still want to join/append the inputs that I do have?

[cpet13]

@MojoRisen have you tried the join multiple tool?

[ChrisTX]

Read about Control Containers here:   Control Container Tool (alteryx.com)

Posting a sample workflow would be very helpful.  Will your optional files exist, with no data?  Or will the files just not be there?

See attached workflow using Control Containers.

 

Chris

[MojoRisen]

Thank You. The Files sometime will not be there, which is to be expected. In your example, if I create a container for the join tool and disable it, would that resolve the Left and Right inputs error? I have a separate join tool for each of the input files, but I do not have those join tools in their own separate containers. My containers are before the join tools. 

[terry10]

Are you using AMP?  I encountered the same issue, but only when using AMP. As a workaround, I unioned in a data set with 0 rows and no fields with a flag for "No Output". Not graceful, but it worked.  

[ChrisTX]

Since the files sometime will not be there, I think you should focus on the Dynamic Input tool and Control Containers.

You can use a Count tool with a Filter to control if a downstream Control Container (that includes a Dynamic Input) runs.

Search this forum and Learn > Academy > Videos for examples of Dynamic Input.

Chris