How to reference to one criteria (date) in multiple filters of the workflow

[RadAlt]

Hi everyone!

I m working on a data set which includes billing information from the last few years. Every time I seek to retrieve data for a particular month I need to manually update the filters with the specified date I need the information for (Invoice Period: YYYY-MM).

For example, in Feb I need the information from Jan, so in more than 10 filters I manually update the date to "2022-01": Contains([Invoice Period], "2022-01"). If I need to revise Nov data, I need to change them all to 2021-11.

Is there a way to create a reference point where I could update the date just once and this would be picked by all the formulas in the workflow?

I am looking for something similar to Excel's functionality of referencing to a cell "=A2" (where A2 is 2022-01), and all the formulas in the worksheet take the value in A2. So we look for one reference point feeding to multiple filters of the workflow. Does such functionality exist in Alteryx? 

I will be very grateful for you help! 

Thanks a lot,

Rad

[JosephSerpis · Accepted solution]

Hi @RadAlt put your date in a Text Input tool which will create a field and then use a Append Field tool to append this date into your data stream and then reference this field in all of your filters. Therefore you would only need to change the date in the Text Input tool in your workflow.

[binuacs · Accepted solution]

@RadAlt similar to @JosephSerpis approach

[NikyN]

Hello @RadAlt,

If you are always looking always for data from month ago/or days/weeks/years ago then I would suggest you to use dynamic filter.

DateTimeFormat(DateTimeParse([YOURDATEINTHESOURCEFILE],"%Y-%M"),"%B, %Y") = DateTimeFormat(DateTimeAdd(DateTimeToday(),-1,"month"),"%B, %Y")

In case that you would like to manage/update the date yourself anytime you running flow --- I would with solution below.

1) First Input would be your billing file with all transactions.

2) Second Input would be your date/reference you will be pointing to

3) Join Tool is really handy to be also usable as filter. So if you will be joining both files together based on the dates -- in JOIN anchor you will get only those transactions for your month/date you entered. 

In this case you can add multiple rows/dates --- you need to be shown in the billing file.

Best Luck!

Niky

[RadAlt]

hi hi, why does Append Fields duplicate the rows? Is there any way to avoid that?

[RadAlt]

I think I figured it out, thanks