No data coming through with Dynamic Input

[rachcamp7]

Hi there,

I am still new to Alteryx and so excuse me if my question seems juvenile.

I am trying to use the Directory and Dynamic Input tools to pull the most recent file every month to run in my workflow. I was about to use Directory > Sort (by creation date/descending) > Sample to 1st record > Dynamic Input.

Now, I don't know if I used the DI tool correctly.  I was a little confused with where I was supposed to point it, so I chose the file I'm trying to pull in (maybe this is where my problem comes in). It runs fine, but it is only pulling in the column headers and none of the data. I've attached for reference.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[CharlieS · Accepted solution]

For a new user, you're off to a great start by utilizing the Directory/Dynamic Input combo. 

What's causing your trouble is the "initialization" of the Dynamic Input tool. When I opened your workflow, it appears to have been configured on an ".xls" file. the file path ended in ".CSV.xls" (??) and the File Format below was set to ".xls" (automatically determined by the end of the file path. 

Change that example/initializing file to a .csv and make sure the file format is updated to .csv and this should work just fine. After that, the only thing you'll have to worry about is consistently named/formatted fields between files.

[tcroberts]

EDIT: See below answer, I completely missed the extension

[rachcamp7]

Thank you for your help. You were right and I hadn't noticed the file type/names. That seemed to work which is awesome, I just have one more issue.

Since this is a workflow that would run each month, how do I configure the dynamic input tool to choose the current file as well? I get how I was able to use the directory to sort by creation date, then select the first record, but in the input tool you have to select a file, and it doesn't seem to change based on those first three tools (if that makes sense). How do I configure this to input the designated file from the sample tool?

Also, the tab name on this file is also different every month (there is only one tab in this file and it is the same name as the file). Is that going to be an issue?

Sorry if this doesn't make sense or is a silly question. I'm sure the answer is super easy and it's just going over my head. :) 

[tcroberts]

As long as the file schema is the same from month to month (column names), that input file in the Dynamic Input tool shouldn't need to change. It's just to give a template for what Alteryx should be looking for. 

The tab name should not cause an issue. In order to test this I created two files: test123.xlsx with tab name "test123" which I used as my template, and ran the workflow.

I then created test1234.xlsx with tab name "test1234" and re-ran the workflow. Both runs completed with no errors and read in the data.

The important bit is that the schema for your data is the same, or can be coerced to the same schema (i.e. names like Date vs. date)

Don't worry about asking silly questions, we all do until we get experience working with the tools and using the community often is the best way to learn Alteryx

Cheers!