Adjustable Delay for Control Containers

[cjaneczko]

Allow users the ability to add a delay on the connection between Control Container tools. I frequently have to rerun workflows that use the control container because the workflow has not registered that the file was properly closed on outputting from one output tool to the next. The network drives haven't resolved and show that the file is still open while its moved on to the next control container. Users should have an option in the Configuration screen to add a delay before a signal is sent for the next container to run. 

In the past I was able to use a CReW tool (Wait a Second) in conjunction with the Block Until Done tool to add the delay in manually. But I have since converted all of my workflows over to Control Containers. Since then half of the times the workflow has run I encounter the following errors.

[fmvizcaino]

Great idea!!!!

[cjaneczko]

Is there a work around anyone is aware of? Tired of re running the workflow 5-10 times just to wait for that one flow to run smoothly without any lag between one Control Container to the next. 

[NeoInfiniTech]

This would be a good idea to implement, provided that each output tool in the separate control containers are only outputting a single sheet for a given Excel file.

Additional implementations would be needed for the scenarios that involve output tools writing to multiple sheets of an Excel files at once, but that would be another subject for a new idea (also a case that I recently encountered for a file that needed to be generated in a network location).

For scenarios such as these where each control container outputs a single sheet, I would like to share a sample workflow you can adapt to your use case.

While you cannot usually use the Throttle tool with AMP Engine enabled (mandatory when Control Containers are being used), it is still possible to use it given it is placed before a Download tool.

In the attached workflow, I set the Throttle tool to process 12 records per minute (1 record every 5 seconds) and pointed the Download tool to a local file, using a file with no spaces in its name, with forward slashes and prefixing the path with "file:///". You can set the speed of the Throttle tool as you need. Each new record you add to the Text Input tool will multiply the waiting time, in this example workflow 10 seconds will pass before the next Control Container activates (2 records * 12 rpm = 10s) which should be enough time.

Caveats:

- One sheet output per Output tool

- 2023.1 or higher with the latest patch (to fix all Control Container issues)

- Throttle tool must be placed last (or Download tool won't recognize the incoming field from Text Input) or you can copy & paste the entire process as necessary.

Of course it would be the best if there was an option to delay Control Container output signal as necessary like it was mentioned in this idea but until such a feature is implemented, I hope this might be of help for your use case.

As Ideas post doesn't let users attach a YXMD file, you can copy & paste this into a new TXT file, then change its name to "Control Container Throttling.yxmd" and open it in Alteryx Designer.

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