Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

Hi there,

 

I noticed that here: https://help.alteryx.com/current/DataRobotAutomodelTool.htm it is mentioned that the number of workers can be set, and that the default is 2. However, this option seems to be removed, and the default seems to be max.

In a short workflow, this might not be necessary as the information related to each tool is spelled out in the progress windows.  However, in a complicated and lengthy workflow, tracing such msg can be a tedious task. In addition, using a tool with multiple outputs and only one output is selected while the residual outputs may be used to validate the result in the selected output; for example, joint tool where left or right output should be zero, a visual queue could be a quick way to alert operator on any potential problem.  Certainly, a browse tool can be added but in a big workflow, couple with a large data set, it might be a drain to the system resource. What if there is a tool that would activate a visual alert, like a light bulb, based on a preset condition to tell user that something is wrong and perhaps additional work needs to be done to either remedy or to account for the residual data. As in the case of a joint where 100% match is desired, any unmatched row would require an update to the reference list which maybe an additional adhoc process outside the current process. Certainly, an additional steps can be added to first explore the possibility of unmatched data and to update the reference list accordingly.  The workflow would in hold until 100% match is achieve. This would require additional system resource in order to hold; especially with large set of data and lengthy workflow.  If the unmatched situation rarely occurs, just a lightweight visual queue that 'pop' while allow the process either to break or to go through might be a sensible solution.  Just a thought.

The challenge:

We have hundreds of SOAP based Salesforce (SF) connectors in our scheduled modules that were created with Alteryx 9.0-9.5. Alteryx 10.0+ is now using REST API based SF connectors. We have to replace all of these connectors when we move to 10.0+.

 

Proposed idea:

Alteryx creates an automated process for converting SOAP SF connectors to REST API SF connectors, so that when you open an old module in 10.0+, they are automatically updated.

 

This seems feasible as the information supplied by Alteryx users for the SOAP SF connectors is sufficient for the REST API SF connectors to work (i.e. URL, username, password, security token, table name, fields, WHERE clause, etc...).

 

Thanks,

Jeremy

Workflow Dependencies is a great feature. It would be even better if you can save several configurations so that you can switch between them with 1 click only, saving the effort to copy and paste. For example:

 

Configuration Name	Local	Test	Production	Custom
Dependency 1	Path 1A	Path 1B	Path 1C	(Null)
Dependency 2	Path 2A	Path 2B	Path 2C	(Null)
Dependency 3	Path 3A	Path 3B	Path 3C	(Null)

 

 

Something similar to the Field Configuration (Field Type Files) for Select Tool.

 

Another option is you save several dependencies there so that you can choose them in the drop-down list of Input and Output tools.

 

This would facilitate sharing and deployment.

In the Configuration section of the Formula tool, the “Output Column” area is resizable.  However, it has a limit that needs to be increased.  Several of the column names I work with are not clearly identifiable with the current sizing constraint.  I do not think the sizing needs to be constrained. 

Currently you get an "Unexpected error" if you try to connect to a table with numeric fields, the solution now is to make a custom query and cast all numeric fields as string and then use a select tool to make it a double.
But to make things easier for everyone, the support for numeric fields is needed.

 

(It would also be great if we could connect to views without having to use a custom query....)

When a tool's input connector is already attached to a data stream that only accepts a single connection, attempting to attach a 2nd data stream with the same fields should automatically insert a Union tool.  This would be similar to the way an Action tool is automatically added when you connect an Interface tool to another tool.

 

I use detours to bypass areas when I do not need them in the loop and it would be great if i just had a enable button (kind of like how you would control in a macro).  That way i dont have to disable 3 detours but just disable "button."

Same button should work with tool container 'disable' and/or collapse.

My organization is considering a move to a Microsoft Azure platform but requires support for Bring your Own Encryption (BYOE) or Bring Your Own Key (BYOK). As such, leveraging alteryx on this data lake would require this level of support.

 

I would like to see Alteryx support this in the future, ensuring that we are able to leverage the power of alteryx designer within this platform.

Please test/certify Teradata 16.2 for designer, server, scheduler, and Gallery applications.  

I would love to see a multi-output filter for cases where I want to route records to different places for processing based on the value of a single field. 

 

For example I want to filter each letter to a different destination:

Letter	Number
A	1
B	1
C	1
D	1
E	1
F	1
A	2
B	2
C	2
D	2
E	2
F	2

 

I would love to see a single tool that can send each letter to a different destination. See the attached screenshot for a concept of what this could look like. 

After the upgrade to Alteryx 2018.4, the publish to tableau server tool no longer has the feature to get the authorization header to make subsequent calls in the workflow.This feature was present in the older versions of the tool i.e Publish to tableau server 1.09,1.08.1 but not in the new version 2.0.0

I think this feature should be present in all the versions of the publish to tableau server tool.

 

Cheers

Would be great if we could right click on an input and in addition to having "convert to macro input" there was an option for "convert to dynamic input".

If you have a field length of say 10 in a Select Tool, then you use a Left Join tool and change that length to say 4. This turns that field red - as it should.  Then add a Select tool after the Union.  It should say 4 in the second Select tool.  But instead it says 10.  If it was changed to 10 (and it wasn't) then the field s/b red.

It would be great if we could change the name of a variable upstream it follows through in formulae etc.

I haven't needed to do this for over a year, but I just tried in 2018.4 and the functionality is not there any more 😞 

 

I'm trying to open an Excel file and customise the SQL used to read the data.

 

I've found this in other posts:

 

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/How-do-I-get-row-range-in-Excel-format...

 

then I found this one 😞 

 

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Ideas/Input-Tool-2018-1-Excel-Range-Feature-Remove...

 

Hopefully this feature will be re-instated soon 🙂

Hello!

 

There this very handy functionality in Alteryx that when you drag files from a Windows explorer onto the Canvas, the tools automatically convert to Input Tools. When making Alteryx smaller using this  - button, the canvas gets minimalized to nothing. This means I cannot drag files onto the canvas. The suggestion is to always keep a little bit of canvas space here to drop files onto. Just another small QoL issue. 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Marco 

Our company deals a lot in .dif, .kat, and .px7 files for importing into our softwares. Would it be possible to add these additional output types since it would save the additional step of re-saving the Excel file as a .dif.

Hi,

I have a large dataset (~200k) of routers with the utilisation figures per month over 36 months. What I have been doing till now is using the TS Model Factory to config and TS Forecast Factory to generate the forecast for the next 6 months grouping by router. Great! Except the values returned per device are exactly the same for the next 6 months. Obviously by not using the ETS / ARIMA macros I lose the ability to configure in more detail.

What I would like is be able to set the parameters of the ETS/ARIMA model in advance then run the batch macro for the number of routers and return a 6 month forecast that takes into account all the parameters.

Happy to supply data if required!

Thanks in advance

Mark