Version Control for Alteryx Designer

[jordancarson18]

Currently if one wants to compare different alteryx files or different versions of the same file - one needs to compare the XML files. If you are not very familiar with navigating XML, this poses a risk as one may not be able to identify all changes.

It would be a great addition to Alteryx to integrate Alteryx with Git, Subversion, CVS, Mercurial, and GitHub as this tool is becoming the go-to tool for data processing for data analysts and even programmers.

This additional functionality to compare previous versions (diff) and also to merge alteryx workflows if two people are working on the same workflow, and also to easily see what changes have been committed/ made by other developers and when would make Alteryx a much more powerful tool and would open doors to other types of users, as essentially you can run anything through Alteryx.

[Michal]

Is there any progress in the version tracking in Alteryx Designer?

[Harbinger]

we've seen clients use TFS strictly as a repository solution. developers simply check in the workflow XMLs.... any one else doing anything similar?  

[DawnR]

Would really like the ability to check in / check out not just version control in the Gallery.  Our biggest concern is multiple users editing the same workflow without realizing it and overwriting changes.

[SeanAdams]

absolutely agree with the check-in/check-out idea.   That would really really help in a multi-user environment.

[Atabarezz]

any updates on this isn't this on the roadmap yet?

[mcarrico]

 @jordancarson18 - see the command line diff tool and similar ideas posted in this idea forum post.

[JulieM]

Thanks for all of the great feedback.  I'm updating this post as under review while we investigate this internally but we'll be sure to keep this post updated.  Thanks!

[AlexKo]

Thanks for the idea @jordancarson18!

We're considering how to improve versioning for future versions, so it would be great to get a sense of the highest priority features you'd like to see from Alteryx. This way we can focus on incrementally improving the experience as we plan for the future.

For those who have expressed interest in this idea, could you elaborate a bit on your common use cases where you're itching for more versioning support?

What are the big hitters in your opinion?

Thanks!

Alex

Product Management

[stephs]

Ok, interesting and topical topic for us. We’re about to take on a complex proof of concept using Alteryx workflows to model some elaborate requirements. This work will be conducted by a team of half a dozen devs over the course of a year. We’re attempting to replicate a suite of custom .Net apps where source control techniques are well established and helpful using tools like Git, Bitbucket etc. Our concerns are the same for Alteryx as they are for .Net – we need:

• To be able to complete some unit of work (i.e., in the workflow) and be able to check it in at regular intervals, presumably when the dev has deemed the workflow to be at some point of stability.
• To be able to revert to some previous checked-in version of the workflow should we change our minds.
• To be able to freely create experimental branches that can be gracefully merged into the main branch of workflow should the experiment pan out.
• Some way to visualize diffs between versions of workflows.
• Some way to label a release – a snapshot of all workflow + assets frozen for all time.
• Full auditing of who changed what so that the appropriate individual can be mercilessly held to account.

I’ve never looked at Alteryx Server so forgive me if some of this is supported there.  My instinct says no since the type of versioning described above is notoriously difficult to implement. It would probably make the most sense to provide integration support within Designer to integrate directly with something like Git. I suppose one challenge would be the representation of diffs between workflows as diffs at the XML level would be less effective. It would be great if Designer had a way of doing that visually at the workflow level.

[neerajupadhyay]

Is Alteryx have the ability to track code change management and version control and show history also Comparison of code change like TFS