Very Strange Workflow Issue

[AlterRexRyan]

Hi All - apologies for the vague title.

I'm experiencing a very strange workflow issue: every time I create a new tool, I have to run the entire workflow in order to make edits to that tool. For a very large workflow with thousands of tools that takes multiple minutes to run, this is extremely frustrating and makes simple edits very cumbersome.

When I simply open the workflow in designer, tools appear like this:

Select Tool (Field Names hidden for privacy):

 

The same thing happens for things like Joins, etc. Once I actually run the workflow, there are no errors and these tools appear as you'd normally expect.

However, once I want to make edits to the workflow, more problems arise. For example, when I add in a Unique Tool, I'm presented with a blank interface:

It's only after I run the workflow once again that I'm able to select from columns here.

Has anyone ever run into this issue, and pinpointed a cause or been able to successfully troubleshoot?

[Luke_C]

Hi @AlterRexRyan 

I've seen this behavior when the fields are being created dynamically upstream (dynamic renames, cross tabs, etc). 

[AlterRexRyan]

@Luke_C  - thanks for the reply. This makes sense theoretically - the downstream Select Tool doesn't yet know which fields to display since it's contingent on values getting passed through upstream.

Does this still explain the secondary issue where even after running the workflow, new tools aren't usable until another rerun of the workflow? You'd think that once the workflow is run, the fields are "set" at least temporarily, and you can then freely add new tools and logic to the process.

I'm hoping there is a fix to this rather than just treating as something to "accept" (although it does make sense given your explanation).

[Luke_C]

Hi @AlterRexRyan 

I'd be curious for other's thoughts. I personally can't think of a silver bullet on this one, just something I've observed.