EXCEL MULTI-TAB OUTPUT

[delucaeb]

Just want to output to multiple tabs within the same Excel workbook at the same time within my workflow.

1) Let me STOP you UNTIL you're DONE reading this entirely - STOP UNTIL DONE will not work, as I do many different reports that are where one tab output is from a TRUE output vs a FALSE (naturally splits into two data streams). BUD seems to only work when you have a single workflow that is a derivative of one another.

2) The WAIT A MINUTE CREW macro isn't really helpful, I've used it before. The functionality pauses x seconds between each RECORD, which isn't helpful for massive data sets.

3) I do not believe in containers. I do not wish to open and close those individually. The point of workflows in my case is to hit RUN and then YOU'RE DONE.

Essentially it would just be a test prior to output

LOOP 

IF         Target.xlsx is locked

THEN   wait 10 seconds

DO UNTIL tab writes successfully

Anyone have an idea how I can incorporate that kind of logic simply into each of the steps before my outputs ?

To be honest, I have no idea how on earth this has not become a built-in functionality of Alteryx.

[binuacs]

@delucaeb If you are writing into the same excel in a different tab I think you can create a unique variable for each tab and update in the path then in the output tool use the below option. Attaching a sample workflow 

[delucaeb]

Generally my use case(s) revolve around generating the same reports on a recurring basis with new data.

So I'm just overwriting the original tab, not creating new ones.

What I believe is happening on the backend is that Excel is 'locking' the excel in it's entirety when it goes to overwrite TAB 1, then TAB 2 goes to write and sees that the Excel file is LOCKED, and then says 'I cannot find this file'  

[binuacs]

@delucaeb The sample workflow which I provided also does the same functionality. Can you run that workflow and see you are able to see the results ?