Simple blocker

[BenMurrells]

Alteryx newbie.  Long time Excel user.  😂

Whilst running through the getting started learning path I've tried to mimic the tutorials using real world company data.  When doing so on the Interactive Learning 2 module I cannot seem to complete a Dynamic Input without errors.

For example:

Source Data file is called X.  Sheets within X are called CompanyY and CompanyW.

Field headers within CompanyY and CompanyW are identical in terms of characters, placing and position.

Data within CompanyY and CompanyW differ in terms of row count.  Y being 300, W being 2,500.

I'm unsure where this is falling over but for me the learning 2 module doesn't suitably explain 'template' and it's meaning.  Is it suggesting you create a designated template design (ie Excel based on the field headers above) in a different file or can you use CompanyY or CompanyW as a template.  Or am I missing somethig entirely.

Every error seems to suggest that CompanyY has a different schema but it doesn't and therefor only CompanyW data is imported.

Trust this makes sense.

[mceleavey]

Hi @BenMurrells ,

the template in the Dynamic Input tool is what is used to define the schema of the incoming file. All files must be in exactly the same format as that template file. Now, you're using Excel, which means it definitely won't be the same schema across all files, because Excel.

However, assuming they are (you'll find out soon enough as you will get a schema error if not), simply select one of the input files and tabs. If all tabs are the same format, then you simply need to select one as a representative template.

If you have two tabs and they are different from each other, but are the same across all files (tab1 is the same on all files, tab2 is the same on files etc) then you will need two input templates, so you will need to split the stream into tab1 and tab2.

I hope this clears up the template thing.

M.

[DataNath · Accepted solution]

Hey @BenMurrells, welcome to Alteryx! Your assumption on templates above is spot on - the initial file/sheet that you select is used as the template i.e. sets the expected schema of everything else you try to import via the Dynamic Input. So yes, you can just use one of your 'Company' sheets as the template.

If you're getting the error that the schema are different then luckily there's only a limited amount of things to check. As you have mentioned that both sheets contain the same fields and that their names and order are the same, I'd double check the data type of the fields, as this is another component of the schema. For example if you have an [Employee ID] field in CompanyX that is stored as a number, but this same field in CompanyY is being stored as a string then that would constitute a different schema.

One other thing that we sometimes see when working with Excel files is blank/dummy fields. If you bring in the two sheets individually with an Input Data tool, there's a chance that as well as the columns you're expecting, you'll also see extra [FieldN] columns that are just completely null/empty. If you go into the Excel file itself and delete them, that can often remedy the issue.

[BenMurrells]

Brilliant thank you.  That's exactly it.  It appears a few cells out of the 10,000+ records have differing formats within a field type.

This has cured the problem.