Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

Feature: If an instance of Alteryx is already running then on double clicking a *.yxmd file in Windows Explorer it should open in a New Tab of existing instance instead of launching another instance of Alteryx.

 

Issue: Each new instance of Alteryx puts load on the system memory due to an additional AlteryxGui.exe process.

 

Workaround: Currently we can drag & drop the *.yxmd file from Windows Explorer onto the running Alteryx instance to open in a new tab of the current instance but the same behaviour on double clicking the *.yxmd would be highly appreciated. 

It seems that version 10.6 (still in beta) will have easy to use linear programming tool... We'll be able to allocate assets optimally, optimize our marketing decisions by inputting the predictions we had with predictive tools etc.

 

But when it comes to Non-linear models what happens? The idea is to add Alteryx designer an evolutionary optimization capability as well...

 

I've used a similar tool in excel which was very useful called Evolver; http://www.palisade.com/evolver/ It will be awesome to see that in the coming versions...

To note that one optimisation method does not rule them all and evolutionary algorithms are the slowest probably,

But I believe it will enable us to optimize hyperparameters of our models and greatly get better results...

 

 

In the Formula Tool, there is an Average() function which can be used to take the average/mean of multiple columns or expressions. This function treats null values as zeroes. This was a surprise/dissapointment to me as I am used to other applications & systems where nulls are ignored, for example Excel. It would be useful to have either an AverageIgnoreNulls() function or an optional extra parameter to Average() which specifies that nulls should be ignored rather than treated as zeroes.

 

When wishing to average a small number of columns and ignore nulls, a formula can be constructed using Iif(IsNull([Column1]),0,[Column1]) for each column to calculate the total, and Iif(IsNull([Column1]),0,1) for calculating the count. This quickly becomes unwieldy for more than 2 or 3 columns.

It would be very helpful if Alteryx allowed us to manually configure the IP and port number of a web proxy in instances when we are accessing online services. 

I'm only just starting to explore the python and html sdks, but I think this functionality would be really useful for Alteryx tools.

I foresee cases where a custom tool is developed and we want to install it for 20+ users.  Rather than having each user manually open and install the file, and troubleshooting for each of them (which could also become challenging if we want to deploy an enhancement to a tool in the future), I'd like a method (preferably via command line) to automatically install a tool for a user without any interaction/input.

This would allow for targeted tool deployment as well as large-scale tool maintenance as custom Python tools mature in the enterprise space.

Right now - if a tool generates an error - there is nothing productive that you can do with the error rows, these are just sent to the error log and depending on your settings the entire canvas will fail.

 

Could we change this in the Designer to work more like SSIS - where almost every tool has an error output, so that you can send the good rows one way, and the error rows the other way, and then continue processing?    The error rows can be sent to an error table or workflow or data-quality service; and the good rows can be sent onwards.   Because you have access to the error rows, you can also do run stats of "successful rows vs. unsuccessful"

 

This would make a big difference in the velocity of developing a canvas or prepping data.

 

Can take some screenshots if that helps?

Rather than giving the users a big list of different date formats to choose from, allow the user to construct their own format with syntax of the incoming date that they are dealing with.

Currently I need to do a string function moving dates around to match a predefined syntax...

I often use the formula component to change the data type of a column, e.g. convert a string to a datetime.  What I normally have to do is create a new column and then use a select to drop the old column.  I would like to be able to do all of this in 1 operation, i.e. make the greyed out 'Data Type' active so I could choose to convert to data type datetime.  Would also be useful to rename the existing column in this operation too.

 

In the map input tool, it would be really nice if I could type in an address or a geography (like "Boulder County"), and the map would be zoomed to that location, and maybe even draw a point for me (if it is an address) or draw the geography polygon so that I can use that for downstream analysis.

Our company is still using 9.5 so if this is addressed in 10....I appologize.

 

Currently the Join Tool Options drop down has [Select-->Select All] and [Select-->Deselect All]. I think an additional [Select-->Select All Left] and [Select-->Select All Right] would be handy.

 

Thank You

I would like to see documentation around the Wildcard options for the Event Email triggers. Some of the options I would like to see include:

 

1. FileName (not the directory location, for the Subject Line)

2.Specific Message Type Log (Errors Only, Warning Only, etc)

3. Total Runtime

4. Workflow Version # (From Gallery)

5. Alteryx Created Version

6. Files Created (Full Directory location so it is clickable)

 

Currently there are the following fields available:

 

"Alteryx": %AppName%

Full Directory Location: %Module%

User: %User%
Computer Name: %ComputerName%
Working Directory : %WorkingDir%
Error Count: %NumErrors%
Conversion Errors Count : %NumConvErrors%
Warning Count : %Warnings%

Full Log: %OutputLog%

 

Hello all,

I suggest a new string function Repeat()

 

Repeat() forms a string consisting of the input string repeated the number of times defined by the second argument.

Repeat(text[, repeat_count])

 

Repeat('to',3) gives tototo

It's also a standard SQL function
https://www.w3schools.com/sql/func_mysql_repeat.asp

Best regards,

Simon

The are a lot of SQL engines on top of Hadoop like:

• Apache Drill / https://drill.apache.org/
  Schema-free, low latency SQL Query Engine for Hadoop, NoSQL and Cloud Storage
  It's backed up at enterprise level by MapR
• Apache Kylin / http://kylin.apache.org/
  Apache Kylin™ is an open source Distributed Analytics Engine designed to provide SQL interface and multi-dimensional analysis (OLAP) on Hadoop supporting extremely large datasets, original contributed from eBay Inc.
• Apache Flink / https://flink.apache.org/
  Apache Flink is an open source platform for distributed stream and batch data processing. Flink’s core is a streaming dataflow engine that provides data distribution, communication, and fault tolerance for distributed computations over data streams. The creators of Flink provide professional services trought their company Data Artisans.
• Facebook Presto / https://prestodb.io/
  Presto is an open source distributed SQL query engine for running interactive analytic queries against data sources of all sizes ranging from gigabytes to petabytes.
  It's backed up at enterprise level by Teradata - http://www.teradata.com/PRESTO/

 

My suggestion for Alteryx product managers is to build a tactical approach for these engines in 2016.

 

Regards,

Cristian.

Using the Output tool to send data to a formatted spreadsheet apparently doesn't preserve formatting if the entire column is formatted.  I'd love this changed to keep the formatting when its applied to an entire column.  See this thread in Designer Discussions. 

Hi UX interested parties,

 

 

Here are some ideas for you to consider:

 

1.  These lines are BORING and UNINFORMATIVE.  I'd like to understand (pic = 1,000 words) more when looking at a workflow.  

• A line could communicate:
  • Qty of Records
  • Size of Data
  • Is the data SORTED
    • What sort order
  • Quality of Data 

If you look at lines A, B, C in the picture above.  Nothing is communicated.  Weight of line, color of line, type of line, beginning line marker/ending line marker, these are all potential ways that we could see a picture of the data without having to get into browse everywhere to see the information.  If we hover over the data connection, even more information could appear (e.g. # of records, size of file) without having to toggle the configuration parameters.

 

2.  Wouldn't it be nice to not have to RUN a workflow to know last SAVED metadata (run) of  a workflow?  I'd like to open a "saved" workflow and know what to expect when I run the workflow.  Heck, how long does it take the beast to run is something that we've never seen unless we run it.

 

3.  I'd like to set the metadata to display SORT keys, order.  Sort1 Asc, Sort 2 Desc ....   This sort information is very helpful for the engine and I'll likely post about that thought.  As a preview, when a JOIN tool has sorted data and one of the anchors is at EOF, then why do we need to keep reading from the other anchor?  There won't be another matched record (J) anchor.  In my example above, we don't ask for the L/R outputs, so why worry about the rest of the join?

 

4.  Have you ever seen a map (online) that didn't display watermark information?  I think that the canvas experience should allow for a default logo (like mine above, but transparent) in the lower right corner of the canvas that is visible at all times.  Having the workflow name at the top in a tab is nice, but having it display as a watermark is handy.

 

5.  Once the workflow has RUN, all anchors are the same color.  How about providing GREY/White or something else on EMPTY anchors instead of the same color?  This might help newbies find issues in JOIN configuration too.

 

6.  If the tool has ERRORs you put a RED exclamation mark.  I despise warnings, but how about a puke colored question mark?  With conversion errors, the lines could be marked to let you know the relative quantity of conversion errors (system messages have a limit)

 

Just a few top of mind things to consider ....

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

Tools should not error with Zero rows, often when working with macros it is possible to have a scenario where zero rows or columns is legitimate. Some tools are fine with this and some are not. In my case the Select Tool does not allow it so I have to create a Work around with a Text Input tool.

 

Alteryx Server is great, but very costly.  Having the ability to install the Alteryx engine without the Designer, thus allowing you to share Workflows/Apps with users directly.  This could be licensed on a per user basis as well, but a reduced cost.

This also allows for some more advanced workflows that do not work in the Gallery.

There is an extensive need from customers to be able to create emails but not send them (right away at least).

I'm in the banking sector and I have been seeing many banks using Alteryx and Alteryx server in their routines. Also, when it comes to sending automatic e-mails in this sector, its very risky. We need a "four eyes check" when dealing with clients information. Currently there is no workaround that could be applied to e-mail tool when used in Alteryx server as well.

My idea is to simply create a button "Save in draft" in e-mail tool to create an .eml format as output. This .eml can be read by outlook and thus, it creates a draft.

This also should be taken into account when dealing with drafts in alteryx server, so that any user can run the workflow and get the desired draft.

Thanks

Hello, 

 

This is one thing that my OCD cannot cope with. 

 

Some tools, like the Union tool, allow you to 'Ignore warnings', like when fields are missing. 

 

Some other tools however don't give the option. Date time tool for instance. Sometimes I feel like yelling at Alteryx that "I know that field already exists! I want to change it!". Or the join tool, when you join on a double. 

 

I know that these warnings don't really affect anything, and they may be useful to highlight something that may be best to be changed, but pleeeeaaassee give us a tick box or something like the union tool where we can ignore warnings. It makes my workflow messy. 

 

(I'm on designer v 2021.1 btw, so if this has already been done, then please ignore my rant. 😁 )

 

Thanks

 

Edit: What I'm talking about