Inputting multiple files with wildcard- is the size of the Vstring a problem?

[chickenlicken]

I have a wildcard input set up to import a specific sheet from 10 .xlsm files with what I thought were identical schema, but I am getting the error message that they have different schema than the 1st file and will be skipped.

When I set up 10 inputs + browse tools, the only difference I can see in the Field types is that one particular Field comes in with a different size VString for each file - 276, or 274, or 278.  I think this is to do with it being a very long string in the cell in question.

Is this likely to be a problem that is causing the error?  And if so, is there anything I can do about this?  

Thanks

[Thableaus]

Hi @chickenlicken 

As far as I know, field with longest size is selected when you run into this kind of situation, so this should not be a problem.

But...I think we'd need more details to go further in this question. Could you give us printscreens of the workflow, or at least provide 2 or 3 files of this set of files?

Cheers, 

[mmenth · Accepted solution]

Hi @chickenlicken,

I have a workflow to do this for multiple sheets with different schemas, I'm sure you could adjust it a bit to have multiple files. Essentially it's just loading in the files through an iterative macro rather than just the dynamic input tool.

Best,

mmenth

[RolandSchubert]

I think, the different sizes of the field are causing the problem. If the file you use as a template contains the largest field,
everything willl work fine, but if the field has more characters in another file, the sheet will be skipped. What about creating
a "template file" with maximum possible field size and use this as a template? This could solve your problem (hopefully).

[chickenlicken]

Thank you very much for your replies. 

I used an approach similar to what @mmenth suggested and used this batch macro which seems to get around the problem https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Knowledge-Base/CS-Macro-Dev-Reading-in-Multiple-Files-with-...

@RolandSchubert , I'm going to test what you suggest and see if it resolves it, but I am not sure I can anticipate which file will have the longest field in future - so batch macro seems good.  If this is the problem then it is definitely a weakness of the wild card input method.