Table Selection in Output Tools

[DultonM]

When connecting to a database (Oracle or other) with an Input tool, Alteryx gives you the ability to select a table from a list of available tables in the database. The Output tool has you type the table name in. What if you want to write to an existing table but type the name wrong by mistake? You could unintentionally write to a table that doesn't exist or write to the wrong table . I think it would be valuable for the Output and Write Data In-DB tools to have the option to pick from a list of available tables in the database just like the Input tool.

Extension: It would be great if Alteryx could compare the meta data of the data stream coming into the Output tool and the meta data of the database table itself to see if the data that will be written to the database table misaligns with the configuration of the database table. In other words to prevent the following from occurring: I was replacing the .yxdb output of a large process to output to an existing Oracle table instead. Alteryx successfully deleted the entire contents of the Oracle table, but when it began to write records, it errored because the field lengths of the Oracle table were not long enough. This wouldn't be a big deal except that the workflow takes 20 minutes to run and the database tables were wiped before the error was fully realized! I've heard that other ETL tools warn you against data that may violate the configuration of the database table that you're trying to write to.

Thank you for listening!

[Community_Admin]

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