Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

Copy & paste from my post here.

 

The Python SDK offers a possiblity to automatically install Python packages through pip when installing using the requirements.txt. Some changes to the virtual environment of the tool might not be covered by this: For example, downloading and configuring language models for spaCy cannot be solved through the requirements.txt alone (similar for training corpora for NLTK).

 

So, as an idea for future versions of the SDK: Allow us to specify a Python script that is run when a tool is installed. This way we might be able to set up the environment, load additional tools etc.

Hi Alteryx, 

 

I am not sure if there already is an easy solution to sharing workflows between people using different language settings in Alteryx, so here goes.

 

My colleague is using the German version of Alteryx and both I and our server is using the English version of Alteryx. When he shares a workflow with interface tools, all connection strings disappear. This is due to the references in the script behind Alteryx are different. So in the German version, the connection is supposed to connect to a tool called "Aktion", but for the English version it needs to connect to a tool called "Action". The same example with "Frage" and "Question". It is funnily enough only an issue if at least one of the connection tools is an Interface tool. If it is not Interface tools, then the original connection remains as if it auto-detects and changes the language.
The solution as is now is opening the Alteryx flow with a text editor and search for the German word, e.g. "Frage" and replace it with "Question". After saving and opening with Alteryx again, it works. However, we would like to avoid this little detour into the text editor. So, if it is possible for Alteryx to auto-detect and adjust the language for Interface tools as well or if it is possible to adjust the settings regarding language for a specific flow/macro, then this would be great. 

 

Please let me know if another solution is already available. 

 

Best regards, 

Jeanette

When using an App from the gallery, I would like to keep track of how many (Allocate dataset) checkboxes a user has toggled real-time by having a counter on the same form. Functionality would be the same as a winform which may contain a label control that contains a counter that updates every time a checkbox is (un)toggled. Then I would make the ‘Next’ or ‘Continue’ button active when a certain threshold is reached by the counter. So it needs to be dynamic. Maybe in general make the forms/Apps more dynamic so you have to do less chaining of apps?

It would be handy to have a tool that mirrored another specified tool in the workflow.  I frequently use the same regex or filter configurations in multiple parts of my workflow.  If I could just update one of those tools and have every other one where I want the same logic applied to automatically update, that would make things easier. 

 

Users would just have to enter the tool ID of the tool they want mirrored.  

I collaborate with a team using Git. We commit all of our work automatically with the exception of the Alteryx Alias file. It must be moved manually into the repository and then other teammates must move it out of the repository manually into their local folder and overwrite the old file. This is not an enterprise-friendly solution. If we could configure the location of the Alias file in Designer, we could set it to live in the repository. That way, everyone could automatically have the latest file with tracked changes. Please create this functionality. Thank you.

The actual Mongo output tool does not allow to specify field type (except for the primary _id field).  The tool just assumes that all fields are string.  Many of our CSV files incorporate string representation of ObjectId (ex: "56df422c08420b523aa00a77"). 

 

When we import those CSV we have to run a an additional script that will convert all the id into ObjectId fields.  Same thing with the date -> Mongo Date.

 

If the tool would allow us to do this, it would save us a billion time across all our ETL processes.

 

Regards,

 

Currently SharePoint List Input tool can only pull out Date/DateTime values in UTC

DateToLocal formula can be converted back to local time but it has the issue for Date Only values.

It will be great if Alteryx allow user to select to pull Date/DateTime values in UTC or Local Time.

I know this is a reach, but it would be nice to have the ability to drag around points or lables on the map before outputing them.  Specific example, plotting competitor stores that are at a Mall, all of the points stack on eachother.

Not sure if this has been submitted... or if this option is already in a newer version.

There should be an option, after correcting an issue/error within a workflow for users to start again at the error point instead of running the entire workflow again.

This option will help users to streamline the process of building workflows and avoid wasted time spent waiting for large complex workflows to complete or error out.    

A suggestion for the designer product...

 

When one right clicks on tab showing a workflow, an option should come up to duplicate workflow/macro/etc.

 

Add some sort of highlight to an input data icon that currently has a record limit set.  Maybe an orange exclamation point on top the icon visually queing the analyst that the setting might need to be adjusted after process is complete.

I have found a post where the grid size in the Grid Tool can be update using an interface tool -- which is really wonderful.

What I would love to see is the grid size text entry box being able to accept a field name/variable, so that this can be modified without needing the interface.

 

This would be useful because I have users uploading shapes to be analyzed -- they don't necessarily know the size of the shape so I would rather the grid size be automatically calculated based on the square mileage of the shape.

 

Our development team prefers that we connect to their MongoDB server using a private key through a .pem file, instead of a username/password. Could this option be built into the MongoDB Input?

Create the ability to randomly sample X number of records. For example, randomly select 16 samples from a data set.

For new users (and sometimes even veterans) understanding what an error message means can be a challenge.

 

I think it would be great to be able to right click on an error message (or warning) in the results window and have the option to "Search Community for error". 

 

There should be a page like this one for every error message:

  

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Knowledge-Base/Error-Type-mismatch-in-operator/ta-p/34149

 

 (Nice job @AndrewL )

 

Or, if the Help had documentation on common error messages and their resolution then an option to "See Help document for this error". Currently the help has nothing that I could find.

 

Cheers,

Bob

 

Cheers,

Bob

 

When testing an app, I always use the Debug Mode.

However, if I have any files in the app that are using a relative reference (and are not being updated by the app), they continue to have that relative reference in Debug mode.  But in Debug Mode, this Debug workflow is located in a totally different computer location that my app - C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp

So when I try to run the workflow in Debug mode, it can no longer find my files that used a relative reference path.

Can you make it so that when you are in Debug mode, the relative references are changed to absolute references so the files can be found?  I find it really inefficient to have to either:

1 - repoint my files that have a relative reference to their locations so they can be found when the workflow is run

2 - save the debug workflow to where the app is located so the relative reference works.

 

Thanks

I think it will be useful if I have an option to add field description when new fields are being created (eg. formula tool, transformation tools etc.)

 

The case for this is I tend to create a lot of calculated fields by combining fields and applying transformations for exploration predictive possibilities, I want to capture description of the fields while they are being created (its not always possible to set the names descriptive enough)

 

As of now I think I can add description using select tool but that's not optimal

 

 

Thanks,

Option to add a description for each newly created filed in all data preparation and transformation steps. Although a description can be added in the select tool but that's an additional tool in already cluttered (most workflows).

My use case for this is I tend to create a lot of fields (dummy, interaction and transformation) for predictive modelling to come up with a best model. I can not always name the same filed in such a way that is descriptive enough but I want to capture my thought on why I created a particular field right when I am creating it.

 

Thanks,

Ashish Singhal

It would be very helpful to be able to export your entire workflow to a poster-sized paper, either in paper or PDF format.  When explaining a workflow to others, or getting feedback, the ability to see the entire workflow or lay it out on a table is very helpful