Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas
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Hello all,
As of now, you have two very distinct kinds of connection :
-in memory alias
-in database alias
It happens than every single time I use a in-database alias I have to create the same for in memory since some operations cannot be realized in in-database (such as pre-sql or interface tools)
What does that mean for us :
-more complex settings operations/training/tests
-unefficient worflows that have to deal with two kinds of alias.
What I propose :
-a single "connection alias", that can be used either for in-db either for in-memory,
-one place to configure
-the in-db or in-memory being dependant on the tools you use
Best regards,
Simon
I sometimes have to swap (change the order of) two tools in a flow. It is a bothersome task, especially when there are many connections around them. I would like to suggest two new features for such a situation. It would help if either could be realized.
Swap tools
Select two tools, right-click, and select "Swap" option.
Move and connect around
Drag a tool holding down Alt key (or something) to move it from the stream and connect around. After that, we can drag and drop the tool to the right place.
Hello all,
As of today, we can easily copy or duplicate a table with in-database tool.This is really useful when you want to have data in development environment coming from production environment.
But can we for real ?
Short answer : no, we can't do it in these cases :
-partitions
-any constraints such as primary-foreign keys
But even if these ideas would be implemented, this means manually setting these parameters.
So my proposition is simply a "clone table"' tool that would clone the table from the show create table statement and just allow to specify the destination path (base.table)
Best regards,
Simon
Hello!
I am just making a quick suggestion, specifically for the Formula tool within Alteryx.
Often when I am working on a larger workflow - I will end up optimising the workflow towards the end. I typically end up removing unnecessary tools, fields, and rethinking my logic.
Much of this optimisation, is also merging formula tools where possible. For instance, if I have 3 formulas - its much cleaner (and I would suspect faster) to have these all within one tool. For instance, a scaled down example:
to this:
This requires a lot of copy and paste - especially if the formulas/column names are long - this can be two copy and pastes, and waiting for tools to load between them, per formula (i do appreciate, this sounds an incredibly small problem to have, but on what I would consider a large workflow, a tool loading can actually take a couple of seconds - and this could burn some time. Additionally, there's always potential problems when it comes to copy/pasting or retyping with errors).
My proposed solution to this, is the ability to drag a formula onto another - very similar to dragging a tool onto a connection. This integration would look like:
Drag to the first formula:
Release:
Formula has been appended to the formula tool:
I think this will help people visually optimise their workflows!
Cheers,
TheOC
Hello all,
As of today, we use the good old alias in-memory to connect to our datasources in in-memory. We have several environments so we use constants in order to change the name of the in-memory alias during execution.
To illustrate :
Depending of the environment, the constant « v_gp_contexte » will take different values :
- GP_DS08_SIDATA for la dev.
- GP_EE_SIDATA for prod.
Sounds nice, right? But now, we would like to use DCM and the nightmare begins :
We can't manually change the name and set the question :
if we look at the xml of the workflow, we only find an id so editing it is useless :
(for informationDCM connections are stored in some sqlite db in C:\Users\{yourname}\AppData\Local\Alteryx
So, I would like to use the DCM inside the in-memory alias (the in-memory alias is stored and can be edited), just like for in-db connection alias.
Best regards,
Simon
In some cases, the information about incoming columns to tools are (temporarily) forgotten, e.g. if Autoconfig is switched off, if the incoming connection is temporarily missing, or if column names are generated dynamically and the workflow has not been executed, yet.
Many tools deal with that situation well, e.g. Selection, Formula, or Summarize. In these cases, the tools tell the user that they cannot find incoming columns, but they preserve the configuration so that the user still can (at least partially) work on these tools and important information on the configuration is not lost:
Example Select Tool
- First step: Connections present, configuration typed in:
- Second step: Connection cut, confguration opened. The configuration looks screwed up but implicitly contains all settings:
- Third step: Connection re-connected. The configuration is as before:
Other tools behave the opposite, for example Unique or Macro Input (an for sure many other tools). If the incoming columns are currently unknown to the Designer and you click once on the symbol, the entire configuration of this tool is lost. You might try to get the configuration back by pressing undo. This, in most cases does not work. Or, even worse, you find out what happened later when it's too late for undo. In this case, you either have an old version of that workflow to look up the configuration or you have to re-develop it. In any case, this is unnecessary and time-consuming software behaviour.
Example Unique Tool
- Step 1: Connections present, configuration typed in:
- Step 2: Connection cut, confguration opened. The configuration is empty:
- Step 3: Connection re-connected: The entire configuration is permanently lost:
I wasn't sure whether I should report this as a bug or a feature enhancement. It is somehow in between. Two aspects tell me that this should be changed:
- Inconsistent behaviour of different tools for now reason,
- Easy loss of programming work, resulting in time-consuming bug fixing.
Please make sure that all tools preserve their configuration also if information on incoming columns is temporarily lost.
Hello all,
We all have experienced these last years the now famous concept of hide/unhide password :
Here a few examples of it
I would like this exact principle everywhere we have a password on Alteryx.
Best regards,
Simon
Hello all,
ADBC is a database connection standard (like ODBC or JDBC) but specifically designed for columnar storage (so database like DuckDB, Clickhouse, MonetDB, Vertica...). This is typically the kind of stuff that can make Alteryx way faster.
more info in https://arrow.apache.org/blog/2023/01/05/introducing-arrow-adbc/
Here a benchmark made by the guys at DuckDB : 38x improvement
https://duckdb.org/2023/08/04/adbc.html
Best regards,
Simon
Hi everyone,
Add two additional features to a directory tool. Something like this:
Use cases:
1. Since it is not possible to use a folder browse on the Gallery, this could help a basic user create a list of possible folders to select from with the help of a drop-down
2. Directory analysis for cleaning purposes - currently, if you want to get a list of the folders with Alteryx, it takes forever for big file servers since Alteryx is mapping all the files
Both are achievable today through regex or a bat script.
Thank you,
Fernando Vizcaino
If the tables in the config window has lots of rows, it is quite complicated to find those of interest.
Please add a filter or search option (e.g. by the field name) to display only the relevant rows.
It would also be helpful to select or deselect multiple selected rows with one click.
Find an example from the "Select-Tool":
Hello all,
Here the issue : I have a workflow in my One Drive folder
In that workflow, I use a macro that writes a file with a relative path (..\6_Big_Data\EN\.csv ) :
Strangely, it doesn't work and the error message seems to relate to a folder that doesn't exist (but also, not the one I have set)
ErrorLink: Output Data (1): https://community.alteryx.com/t5/*/*/ta-p/724327?utm_source=designer&utm_medium=resultsgrid|Cannot access the folder C:\Users\saubert\OneDrive - Business & Decision\Documents\B&D_Market\6_Big_Data\EN\.
I really would like that to work :)
Best regards,
Simon
Hello all,
As you all know, you can use API with the Alteryx Download tool. However, this tool is not that easy to configure.
On the other hand, the API world use a lot tools such as Postman or Bruno (an open source clone) which allows easy test, debug... I use it everytime I had to work on a rest API and then I try to translate it to the final tool (such as the Alteryx Download tool). Both tools offer "collection", a set of request, and also environment configuration. Here are some examples on the project I'm working on :
And you can even get some code
I would like to leverage those collections in my download tool configuration, that would be quite easier to use !
Best regards,
Simon
Please improve the Excel XLSX output options in the Output tool, or create a new Excel Output tool,
or enhance the Render tool to include an Excel output option, with no focus on margins, paper size, or paper orientation
The problem with the current Basic Table and Render tools are they are geared towards reporting, with a focus on page size and margins.
Many of us use Excel as simply a general output method, with no consideration for fitting the output on a printed page.
The new tool or Render enhancement would handle different formats/different schemas without the need for a batch macro, and would include the options below.
The only current option to export different schemas to different Sheets in one Excel file, without regard to paper formatting, is to use a batch macro and include the CReW macro Wait a Second, to allow Excel to properly shut down before a new Sheet is created, to avoid file-write-contention issues.
Including the Wait a Second macro increased the completion time for one of my workflows by 50%, as shown in the screehshots below.
I have a Powershell script that includes many of the formatting options below, but it would be a great help if a native Output or Reporting tool included these options:
Allow options below for specific selected Sheet names, or for All Sheets
AllColumns_MaxWidth: Maximum width for ALL columns in the spreadsheet. Default value = 50. This value can be changed for specific columns by using option Column_SetWidth.
Column_SetWidth: Set selected columns to an exact width. For the selected columns, this value will override the value in AllColumns_MaxWidth.
Column_Centered: Set selected columns to have text centered horizontally.
Column_WrapText: Set selected columns to Wrap text.
AllCells_WrapText: Checkbox: wrap text in every cell in the entire worksheet. Default value = False.
AllRows_AutoFit: Checkbox: to set the height for every row to autofit. Default value False.
Header_Format: checkbox for Bold, specify header cells background color, Border size: 1pt, 2pt, 3pt, and border color, Enable_Data_Filter: checkbox
Header_freeze_top_row: checkbox, or specify A2:B2 to freeze panes
Sheet_overflow: checkbox: if the number of Sheet rows exceeds Excel limit, automatically create the next sheet with "(2)" appended
Column_format_Currency: Set selected columns to Currency: currency format, with comma separators, and negative numbers colored red.
Column_format_TwoDecimals: Set selected columns to Two decimals: two decimals, with comma separators, and negative numbers colored red.
Note: If the same field name is used in Column_Currency and Column_TwoDecimals, the field will be formatted with two decimals, and not formatted as currency.
Column_format_ShortDate: Set selected columns to Short Date: the Excel default for Short Date is "MM/DD/YYYY".
File_suggest_read_only: checkbox: Set flag to display this message when a user opens the Excel file: "The author would like you to open 'Analytic List.xlsx' as read-only unless you need to make changes. Open as read-only?
vb code: xlWB.ReadOnlyRecommended = True
File_name_include_date_time: checkboxes to add file name Prefix or Suffix with creation Date and/or Time
========
Examples:
My only current option: use a batch macro, plus a Wait a Second macro, to write different formats/schemas to multiple Sheets in one Excel file:
Using the Wait a Second macro, to allow Excel to shut down before writing a new Sheet, to avoid write-contention issues, results in a workflow that runs 50% longer:
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