Find Nearest tool in 2023.2

[patrick_mcauliffe]

What happened to free form number entry of nearest points and max distance in the Find Nearest tool?

Is there a new way to enter your own number without using a preset that I'm just missing?

[alexnajm]

You aren’t missing something - a few of us noticed this unfortunate change with 2023.2 :(

[patrick_mcauliffe]

@alexnajm  that's utterly absurd.  Thanks for the info. I made my own version to subvert their changes.

[OllieClarke]

Hey @patrick_mcauliffe,

You can still do this in 2023.2, although it's less visible.

If you turn on display XML in your user settings:

Then you can edit the xml of the Find Nearest tool. You can write whatever number you want in the MaxDistanceValue=

This will then be reflected in the normal tool properties:

Hope that helps,

Ollie

[alexnajm]

Other threads where this became prevalent:

• Find nearest tool - can't set custom distance - Alteryx Community
• Re: Find Nearest Tool range restriction - Alteryx Community

Cool workaround @OllieClarke - hoping they'll fix it though in a patch or for 24.1!

[patrick_mcauliffe]

Thanks @OllieClarke. Yeah, editing the XML is an obvious solution.  But it adds too many steps at scale.  That's sorta the point of having these tools built out in a quick and easy to use fashion - to avoid extra steps, like coding something manually.

[patrick_mcauliffe]

Thanks @alexnajm.  It appears that I either don't know how to use the search function anymore or they made similar improvements in the way that functions too.

[alexnajm]

Funny @patrick_mcauliffe! Just wanted to show you are definitely not alone in this annoyance.

[patrick_mcauliffe]

I appreciate it.  Gave me something to go upvote.

[OllieClarke]

@patrick_mcauliffe oh for sure, I absolutely agree. Was sharing the workaround if others needed it for one off pieces for now though