Windows 7 vs. Windows 10: Output tool changes to 'create table' in Windows 10

[Cedric]

Hello, community:

I have a pretty strange problem that I need to discuss to see if there is a fix for. Let me set things up with a little context.

Context

I work in a small team; there are three users and we often work on Alteryx flows in tandem. The newest member of our team was exploring and learning about our new flows, but if he tried to run them, they would result in an error. We've come to the strange conclusion that it is because he's using Windows 10 and the other two of us are using Windows 7.

The Issue

I have an illustration of this. But here's the short synopsis: When a Windows 7 user opens a workflow and it writes to a database, in Windows 7, the configuration options retain our last known state in Alteryx. Most of the time, we're doing an 'Update, insert if new' or the driver-equivalent of that.

Our poor Windows 10 user will open the same workflow from the same location immediately after a Windows 7 user saves it, and the output tool defaults to 'Create a new table'

If he runs that flow without explicitly changing the output tool, he receives an error message. Worse yet, if he saves the workflow unwittingly, it will throw an error when we schedule the workflow as a part of a larger batch of jobs we run. So, essentially, he's off-limits to saving workflows or even opening certain workflows currently due to this strange bug. 

Here are pictures:Windows 7 view

Windows 10 view of the same file

 Additional details

While the example above is using the Teradata bulk loader protocol, the same issue happens if the Windows 10 user is using an ODBC protocol.

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 Has anyone had this problem before? And, better yet, does anyone have a solution or workaround?

Our current plan of attack is to downgrade the user to Windows 7. We have some other issues with Windows 10 that necessitate this. But I thought I would bring it up to the community to alert Alteryx to this problem as well. 

Thanks,

Cedric

[jgo]

Hi @Cedric,

Looking at the screenshots you provided, the "Options" showing on Win 7 vs. Win 10 are different. Can you review the version of Alteryx the user with Win 10 has installed vs. what Win 7 has (Help > About)? 

Also, can you review the Teradata driver that's installed on both machines and compare version there as well (ODBC Data Source Administrator > Drivers tab)? It's possible that it may not list a Teradata driver since Alteryx does package it's own.

My guess is different Alteryx versions, and if so, upgrade to the same version or you can downgrade the Win 10 machine.

If those still dont seem to be the issue, if you can send over (PM if preferred) a copy of the original workflow and a copy of it that was saved by the Win 10 machine, I can compare the 2 and see what's being changed between the 2 copies and hope that reveals the issue.

Hope this helps!

[Cedric]

Hi @jgo:

Thanks for your response.

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Looking at the screenshots you provided, the "Options" showing on Win 7 vs. Win 10 are different

Yes. That's the crux of the issue! That's exactly why I wrote this message.

Can you review the version of Alteryx the user with Win 10 has installed vs. what Win 7 has

The Win10 machine is using 10.6.8.17850. The Win7 machine is using 10.6.8.17850.

Also, can you review the Teradata driver that's installed on both machines and compare version there as well

The Win10 machine is using Teradata 64-bit (and 32-bit) 15.10.01.01. The Win7 machine is using a 64-bit Teradata driver version 15.00.00.01

or you can downgrade the Win 10 machine.

That is definitely in our plan, but if you can solve this issue or know about it/anticipate it in the future, I would like to let Alteryx know about it. I assume we're not the only company with a variety of operating systems and slight driver differences.

Thanks for your help thus far. Any further ideas are welcomed.

-Cedric

[jgo]

Hi @Cedric,

What I meant by downgrading the Win10 machine was more in reference to downgrading to the same version of Alteryx of the Win7 if they didn't have the same version installed, but you confirmed that it does.

Downgrading the machine to Win7 I dont think will have any impact as my computer is running on Win7 and I have the same version of Alteryx installed and my output options show exactly as what the Win10 machine is showing.

Another thing I noticed from your screenshots was that you're using Aliases to configure your DB connections. Would you be able to send a screenshot of each computers Alias Manager window (PM to me if you'd prefer)? Images below shows where you can locate. The "Connection" string might suggest what the issue could be.

[Cedric]

If this is a driver issue, and Win10 doesn't have the same drivers available to it, we are forced to downgrade to Win7. That's our current issue with the Oracle connections. Unless you have a better workaround?

[jgo]

Thanks for sending those screenshots.

On the Win10 machine, re configure the TD Prod alias to use the 32-bit Teradata connection. It looks like it (and all the others) were configured to use 64-bit connections.

Ive already stepped away from my computer so unable to verify on my end that the options are different between the two bit versions, but willing to bet that this is the cause.

[jgo]

@Cedric,

So just to add a bit of context to why you see the difference... 

Alteryx supplements your Teradata driver with enhanced I/O operations, but are only available if 1) you have x64 version of Alteryx installed and 2) you use the 64 bit option to connect to DB's.

When you use the 32bit option, those enhanced options aren't compatible so it shows the standard options.

My recommendation would be to modify the Win7 aliases to use the 64bit option, but if it might cause more heartache, as I mentioned in my previous post, modify the Win10 to use the 32bit connection.

[Cedric]

Win10 has the distinction between 32- and 64-bit drivers; it is not so clear in the ODBC interface in Win7. I thought the Win7 machines were using 64-bit; how can I tell?

[jgo]

Yes, Win10 did make it a lot easier to identify which is which. Win7 does have both and the flavor that's opened when you navigate to Control Panel > Admin Tools > Data Sources (ODBC) is the 64bit version (assuming OS not 32bit). There's still a 32bit version of the ODBC manager (odbcad32.exe), which is found in "C:\Windows\SysWOW64".

That said, in Alteryx, and referencing the screenshot in my previous post, depending on which option you choose, will determine which bit version of the DB driver will be used and which ODBC manager will be opened. In Alteryx, you can identify which connections are using 32 or 64 looking at the connection string, which is illustrated below.

[Cedric]

It seems that the Alteryx aliases are fine:

I don't see 32-bit strings here... but...I do see 32-bit drivers here on the Win7 machine (note, this is the 64-bit ODBC interface I'm looking at).

I think that the OS, DLL, and Version of the drivers probably need to match? Or at least the drivers need to be referencing the same bit granularity in the DLL?

Here's the Win10 version of the interface:

Win10 Drivers interface

I don't see a serious misalignment here; the TeraData driver is slightly different in version, but other than that... yeah. I'm stumped.