Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

All the other file types have different coloured icons and it works well to differentiate them in a directory. Its impossible to differentiate workflows and database icons currently. 

When you have an Alteryx workflow open, Alteryx seems to by default try to keep you up to date on what might be happening with your data when it runs through your workflow. So if you for example add a misconfigured tool (a filter not connected to an input) and click somewhere on the canvas it'll presumably try to compile the code and then figure out that the new tool is misconfigured and it'll tell you why. A major thing it does seems to be that it tries to figure out if macros included in the workflow have changed and to take such changes into account so that it can notify you if there's a problem somewhere e.g. with the macro's output schema or whatever. I know it's doing this kind of thing because the moment I add a macro to the workflow I'll have to spend a 15-20 second 'tax' every time I touch the workflow canvas, a formula, when I click on a join, etc. Sometimes it's 30 seconds, sometimes you get lucky and it'll only be 5 seconds. This delay is by now from my perspective considered a fixed cost of adding a macro to a workflow. I'm assuming similar processes also take place in the context of other dependencies (main one probably being queries inside input tools) and that they may also cause problems for similar reasons.

I'm assuming part of the reason for the long delays is that the macro repository where we usually save macros in my organisation is saved in a server location which is close to the Alteryx server executing the in-production workflows/macros, but not close to me when I'm developing in my office. Yes, I could save the macros I develop elsewhere (locally) and then only save them in the repository when they're 'complete' (...we all know exactly when that's the case; we're never in doubt about that, right? ...and you'll still have problems if you need to modify a workflow which includes macros later, even if you're not touching the macro itself). I'm actually doing that in some contexts where the above user experience has been frustrating enough to justify such a step, and I'm always trying to find ways to just outright kill Alteryx' live connection to the macro (e.g. by caching the output) if it's not critical. But these things are not solutions, they're poor workarounds some of which are adding complexity and the potential for errors as a result of a problem which really shouldn't be a problem.

It would be desirable to have the option to pause these kinds of 'background processes'/'semi-live compiling'/'whatever', make Alteryx do this kind of thing less frequently, add an 'only update meta-data when running' option, or some fourth option of a similar nature. Debugger-mode is implicitly always on, why not give the option of turning that off if the user figures s/he can handle that? Give me the error when I try to run the workflow, don't try to have the software figure out if the code will run with an error every time I even touch it - this is not always helpful, it's in some contexts causing a huge waste of developer time.

It would be nice to have an option to distribute tools with the fixed default space of three in between each tool. Now it just distributes based on the available space, which can be inconsistent throughout the workflow.

The idea is to have a Run option, where the workflow runs everything up to the selected tool (Like the Cache functionality does).

You select the tool, hit Run Up and the workflows executes everything "before" the selected tool.

That'll make developing much easier, specially when dealing with big workflows and constant changing data.

I'm Left handed and use my mouse in my left hand.  As such I use the following right-hand keyboard operations in the programs like Excel etc; CTRL-INS (Copy), Shift-INS (Paste), and Shift-DEL (Cut).

In Alteryx Designer these don't work for me in the Workflow window (but do in say the meta Info window) - is there a setting so I can enable them for the Workflow Window, or can the feature be added.

A "Filter" that would work like a "Formula" - where you can add multiple criteria in one space, and for each criteria, you would get an output anchor.  I use Alteryx to manage master data from several factories - each needing to have separate workstreams.  Stacking Filter criteria functions, but it would be much cleaner to have it managed within a single tool.

It would be oh so nice to be able to copy a container's properties and paste those formatting options onto other containers.  It could be accomplished through a Paint Brush icon on CTRL-Copy and Right Click to paste format.  either way it would save setting the Color (multi-step select), Margin, transparency.

Cheers,

Mark

When packaging a workflow, or uploading to a Server environment the ability to manage the assets which need to be included is critical, particularly in more complex solutions which may have numerous dependencies. 

The asset management display should be modified to present two column with the first showing just the file name and extension of the asset, and the second column can then show the full path of the asset. This easy change would would prevent the need for scrolling left and right to see the file name when longer paths are utilized. 

An alternative approach would be to allow the window to be resizable so the user could see everything without the need to scroll.

The ability to filter/sort the assets by type would also be useful with the following categories: Macros (.yxmc), Data Files (supported file types from file input screen), Other Assets.

There have been requests for "parts of this request" - but not all in one task.  Would like to have a "Deploy", "Cleanse", "Align", or "Scrub" tool. 

When added to a workflow it would remove all fields that were developer remnants from changing source objects, joins, etc.  Any field that is no longer is the source objects feeding it - would be deleted.

-Ken

So there's a shortcut for running a workflow but for the life of me I can't seem to find a shortcut for running a workflow as an analytic app.  Surely there should be one? 

Ctrl + Shift + R seems like an obvious choice.

Shifty

Please add undo or the option delete an added field when adding a file that has fixed width columns. If I select one position wrong, I have to start from scratch. This is not ideal. 

Either as part of the Alteryx Easter Eggs (found in  Help>About) or as part of the canvas,  we should have an ability to enter the Konami code and see magic on the screen.  The workflow moves, Space bends, something creative.

Cheers,

Mark

Let's be honest here, almost no one add new tools from the right click menu. And few people use the Recommended tab. However, if those two are combined so the recommended tools will appear with a right click and then just one  click away to add the tool, it'd improve by a lot the user experience and make development faster.  

Please introduce functionality whereby users can pull up a listing of all input data connections leveraging database queries. This would be exceedingly useful in instances where users can either individually or bulk edit various connection configurations, such as:

1. change connection query
2. change data connection source 
   • for example, if a connection configuration has changed via a new setup

This would be far more useful than scanning through the canvas looking for all of the input tools. Especially if the workflow is highly complex leveraging multiple inputs to various data sources. You could also incorporate a link for users to click on to take them to the point in the canvas where the input tool is located.

I recently downloaded version 2021.2. I noticed in the results when filtering that there is now a "data cleanse" feature in addition to the "filter" and "sort" features.  The data cleanse filtering feature should be an optional addition.  This feature is not necessary within the results to perform a quick filter on the results.  Adding this feature decreases functionality and efficiency as the user now has to pass over this option to get to the "filter" and "sort" features.  If anything, this option should be put below the filter and sort features.  Please consider making this feature within the results section optional or put the feature below the more important features of filtering and sorting.  

If I paste or insert a tool in a connection, tools to the left will sometimes vertically move a few pixels. I have to realign them and it is a nuisance. Please move only the tools to the right and only horizontally.

On Canvas settings, in the screenshot below, the entire context is visible, but still have a scroll bar. It should automatically adjust:

The double click to insert is great. I believe one cool addition to that would be if I have multiple tools selected on the canvas and double click on tool to add it, it could add to all the tools that were selected. 

I got so used to double click the tool on the tool pallet to insert it on the canvas that whenever I search for a tool, I keep double clicking it in the search results and, of course, nothing happens.