In-DB Connection

[jjones2]

When I setup an In-DB connection I need a way to select only the tables I want to see. Basically a way to favorite the most frequenently used tables and also the ability to add a description of the information that resides in that table. Use Case: Because we have so many irrelevant tables with no data dictionary in some of our databases this would save a ton of time to narrow down the tables I can select right off the bat.

[BenG]

There are two ways you can currently get some of the functionality you are looking for.  

First, and available in current releases, we are now caching the specific table names we find in the database under your user settings folder.  If you do not want to get into building macros, you can go into C:UsersuserAppDataRoamingAlteryxVQBCache and find txt files that contain the specific tables found in the database.  Each text file represents a specific connection string being used within the input tool.  You can delete lines out of the text file and they will be removed from the query builder.

Second, you can create an "Input Macro" that encapsulates a connection into a specific database table.  At its simplest, you create a macro with the input tool configured for the database connection and table with a Macro Output tool.  Once you create this macro, the user will have no configuration for that tool when using it in a module.  You could create a different macro for each of the common tables users access the most.  Additionally, you can add username and password fields for a specific user to enter their credentials.  Maybe a little more advanced, you could create this input macro with a list of just the specific tables you want the user to pick from.  This ability is currently available for regular db connections and our next release introduces the ability to do the same thing for In-DB connections.

Thanks,

Ben

[jjones2]

Hi Ben,

I have to admit that your ideas got me thinking. We have a database table that logs when the most commonly used tables are updated so I took the names of the tables from there to formulate the SELECT * string and created the macro as suggested. Great idea!

I couldn't resist creating the icon too ;-)

Thanks again I can't tell you how much easier this makes things!

Justin

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