Dynamic Input Tool Not Reading Txt Files

[ContinuousLearning]

Hi Alteryx Community,

I have an input tool that I connected to an excel file. Also, I have a Dynamic Input tool that is trying to read a set of data sources listed in the excel file. When data sources are in excel format, my workflow opens and reads the files with no issues. However, if the files are in txt format, I get an error. How can I get my workflow to open the txt files? Or is there a work around it?

Thank you for your help!

[Qiu]

@ContinuousLearning 
Most likely, it can be resolved by a delimiter change when reading text file.

Can you share a few sample text files of yours?

[danilang · Accepted solution]

hi @ContinuousLearning 

Like a regular Input tool, a dynamic Input tool needs to be told what driver to use to open a file.  That's what you do when you specify the File Format option in its config.  If you set it to .xslx, it will only read actual Excel files.  If you take a .csv or .txt file and give it an .xlsx extension, you'll get a file read error.    

Since you're getting the list of files from the initial excel file, you can filter by extension and send the results to multiple Dynamic Inputs, each configured to read the proper file type.    Of course, you'll still have to ensure that all the files that pass through any specific Dynamic Input have the same schema.

Dan

[ContinuousLearning]

Thank you for your help. As suggested, I set the Input Data Source Template field to a txt file and my workflow is reading the data as expected. 

Have a great one!