Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

I use the cleanse tool a lot to remove extra spaces before and after my data.  Since most of my work is done in-DB, I have to datastream out, cleanse, and then datastream back in.  Would love to see an In-DB Cleanse tool added.

Before 2019.3, you could edit the default annotation that Alteryx generated, but now if you go to change the annotation it's either 100% your own annotation or 100% the default annotation left by Alteryx.

I found it useful to retain a portion of Alteryx's default annotation (e.g., a long table name when setting up a database connection) while being able to cull the superfluous portions (e.g., didn't want to see the Source / Catalog). Now, if I want to retain the Table name I have to type it out.

API Security requirements are constantly evolving and strengthening.  As API architectures migrate from traditional authentication models (Basic, OAuth, etc.) to more secure, certificate-based models, like MTLS/MSSL, leveraging Alteryx Designer will become increasingly difficult, especially for larger organizations trying to scale the use of Alteryx across a large user base, with vastly diverse skillsets.

I realize issuing API calls with certificates is possible via the Run Command tool.  We consider this a temporary workaround, and not a permanent, strategic solution.  The Run Command tool can be clunky to use when passing in variables and passing the output back into the workflow for downstream processing.

Therefore, I would like to request a more scalable approach to issuing MTLS/MSSL API calls.  Can an option be added to the Download Tool to allow for certificates to be passed on API calls?

Hello,

While working with Predictive models, I got confronted with this situation: 

The highlighted traces are linked to the box even though you click on an anchor.

It'd be much simpler to trace this spaghetti if, when we select an anchor, only what is connected to it stay highlighted.

IDEA: Click on the box, keep all output visible in blue, click on an anchor, anchor's output is visible in blue, the rest remains in black.

Like this:

(Drafted with powerpoint, not the best representation)

While there are ways to accomplish using multiple tools, it should be a pre-setting within the dynamic input.

Default setting should be TopLeft vs TopCenter for Comment Tool.  If you have 10 comment boxes in a workflow: 9 will be comments or instructions or notes and will be TopLeft and one will be the Title and it will be Center.  I always find myself having to change to TopLeft or Center.  TopCentered instructions, notes and comments can be hard to read.

To measure the computational complexity of an Alteryx workflow, you need a unit of measure. Because the execution time depends on hardware performance, execution time is not suitable for comparison on different PC's. I temporarily named this to Alteryx Calculation Score (ACS).

ACS is useful for:
1. For troubleshooting purposes, I want to compare my workflow ACS and execution time between my PC and another PC. If the workflow overflow PC's memory, ACS is same but execution time goes worse.
2. I would like to compare the workflow ACS for Weekly Challenge with other people's workflows.
3. When you want to choose the suitable Alteryx tool for your purpose, ACS will be good guide.

ACS is roughly proportional to execution time without DISK and network I / O. Each Alteryx tool has a fixed ACS value because its computational cost depends on the data and settings.

I believe ACS will improve the performance of Alteryx and its workflow.

Oracle (https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28318/datatype.htm#CNCPT413😞

• DATE = yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss
• TIMESTAMP  = yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.ssssss (6 decimal seconds .. and timezone?)

Alteryx (https://help.alteryx.com/2018.3/Reference/DataFieldType.htm😞

• DATE = yyyy-mm-dd
• DATETIME  = yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss

In an ideal world the Alteryx DATATIME would map to the Oracle DATE ... and only to the Oracle TIMESTAMP if it had fractional seconds.

Currently DATETIMEs get mapped to Oracle TIMESTAMP.

It would be great if there was an output option for excel files where you could overwrite the data in the sheet, but keep the formatting in the sheet. Similar to how the Paste Values option works in Excel. This would allow me to create a template with data validation, conditional formatting, column widths, cell fill colors, etc and set a workflow to run on a schedule and just paste the data into the existing template.

To get around this right now I have to output it to a separate tab and then paste the columns as values over the existing template. This is fine unless I am out of the office and need to bother someone else to do it. I know there have been many times where i wish this was an option outside of the report I am currently building. I am honestly surprised I couldn't find an idea already submitted about this!

Thanks,

Wes

This isn't a huge issue, but when I have multiple workflows open, I continuously find myself trying to save it by right-clicking on that workflow's tab. I then realize I have to go up to file and click save. Would it be possible to add that save feature on individual tabs? That just makes more sense in my mind!

Can Alteryx create a native connector to connect to SSAS TABULAR Cubes.

It would be nice to have an option for annotations to be hidden and then show when the tool is selected or hovered over. Long annotations are distracting in normal use but may be necessary to inform new users. Currently, our only option is to always hide or always show them. Having an option to allow annotations to be hidden and then appear when a tool is hovered over, or selected, would allow for a more sleek canvas and not deter users from writing long annotations. This is similar to how comments in excel work. Having a canvas wide setting and then an override option on a tool by tool basis would be ideal. 

Can we have some support monitoring information added to the summary of each tool during/after a workflows run so we can determine how much memory is being used per component and per workflow run.  Not just what is the default minimum.  This will help to identify where in our workflow we can improve and/or help us by adjusting the default memory usage for sort/join tools on a workflow basis.

If we have similar workflows within the gallery saved and we need to make slight changes in the process to all of them, it would be helpful if we could open all workflows from the gallery by either mutliselect or using a checkbox next to those workflows that we wish to open all at once.  

As an Alteryx developer building ETL workflows for Salesforce, I want to use the successes and errors from a Salesforce Output tool in a workflow to feed other tools in the same workflow.

When you go to the web portal for downloads - it only allows you to download the latest release of a given major version.

For example - 2019.2 had 2 releases:

- 2019.2.5.62427

- 2019.2.10.64688

However when trying to download previous versions of 2019.2 (e.g. 2019.2.5) - the only version available is the latest version

Please can you allow server admins to download ANY public released versions?

Many thanks

Sean

I think it would be great to introduce something like Ghost Input Data tool. The tool would refer to an Input Data tool that is used in the same workflow multiple times but is placed far from several other tools it needs to be connected to. This way the data would have to be loaded once and annoying and distracting connecting lines can be avoided.

Would it be possible to allow for a search field within View Possible Connections menu? This would make it easier for very large workflows when adding on new tools running independently in separate streams, but using the same input or core work stream, without having to scroll up/down the list manually when you have hundreds of tools/connections.

It would also be beneficial to be able to connect to interface tools through View Possible Connections as well. Example: Output Folder tool to connect to an Output tool from the View Possible Connections. Currently, this isn't an option.