Data Cleansing - treat string as number

[spainn]

I often have to process strings as number, i.e. read a number from a csv as a string and then have to convert to number.  I would like to be able to use the data cleanse component and say treat as number format and then select the format, e.g. fixed decimal.  I would then expect the cleanse component to strip out any characters that would prevent the string from converting to the number format, i.e. strip out the commas but leave the full stops.

[SeanAdams]

Interesting!

So - when you have an input file - deliberately mark different fields as Types - and then the input tool could either do auto-cleanup or send some rows out to an error output.

That would certainly speed things up!

[Community_Admin]

The status of this idea has been changed to 'Inactive'. This status indicates that:

1. The idea has not had activity in the form of likes or comments in over a year.

2. The idea has not reached ten likes.

3. The idea is still in the 'New Idea' status. 

However, this doesn't mean your idea won't be implemented! The Community can still like and comment on this idea. With enough renewed interest, this idea can be brought back into the 'New Idea' status. 

Thank you for contributing to the Alteryx Community and the Alteryx Product Idea Boards!

[DataMeister]

Spainn and Alteryx Staff: The reason this excellent idea has few likes is because there's no efficient way to get it in front of Alteryx users. Professional knowledge workers don't read suggestion boxes as a hobby--we're busy! I ran into it while searching for a solution to a ridiculous problem with Alteryx.

Back to the idea--it's just one of many ideas which point to the need to automate Alteryx where it really counts, down in the trenches where we waste our time doing repetitive work. Alteryx is a trailblazer but shouldn't rest on their laurels; now is the time to refine and focus on true automation that frees us from drudgery. Bragging about predictive this & that is no substitute for intuitive tools that reduce our busywork and let us get results faster.

Someone at Alteryx needs to count the clicks it takes for us to do things. Then program Alteryx's tools to do more of it for us; we shouldn't have to specify so many things to this app.