how to deactivate part of a flow for testing?

[brendafos]

Say you have several threads of workflow, you want to test one without the others running.  Is there a way to de-activate, temporaryly, part of a workflow?  How?

[JohnJPS · Accepted solution]

I use a Tool Container, and then disable the container, which will exclude anything in it from the workflow.

When disabled, the container minimizes, but don't worry - everything is still there...

(Along those lines there is a product idea already created here to not do that minimizing... feel free to star it... :-)

[brendafos]

Yes.   I will learn to use Containers.  Thanks.

[MarqueeCrew]

i agree with @JohnJPS regarding the disabling of the work via a container, but also use DETOURs in the process.  The logic for the RIGHT output might include a sample, where the left doesn't.  You can also use USER variables in the process that define things like the source (directory path) for QA vs Prod.

in the case of an application or macro, you can direct the logic based upon the testing status and keep a single source code that runs for both testing and production.

Thanks,

Mark

[brendafos]

Containers is working for me now.  But very interesting ideas.  I have a lot to learn about Alteryx.  Thanks.

[boomhauer]

When I put tools into a tool container, it does not deactivate them. They all still run with the same functionality as in a normal work flow. This is true when I "deactivate" them by clicking on the corner of tool container and minimize them. They still run even when "minimized". What else is going wrong?

[boomhauer]

Does anyone know why this occurs? The container does not actually deactivate the calculation, contrary to the "solution" here

[MikeSp]

Hello @boomhauer,

You'll need to actually "disable" the container to keep the items in it from functioning. Minimizing the container only hides the tools from view (potentially to help clean up your canvas a bit if you're working on a complex workflow, or want to hide items to focus on different parts of your workflow without disabling tool functionality). In order to disable the container, click on the container itself on the canvas, then check the "Disabled" box in the configuration window.

This will disable the container, and when you click on another tool or on a blank spot on the canvas the container will also be minimized automatically.

More on this here in our documentation: https://help.alteryx.com/current/index.htm#ToolContainer.htm?Highlight=disable

I hope this helps!