Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

I have used the SharePoint List Connectors with our SharePoint 2010 (on prem) instance for some time now. It works great and has become invaluable. Unfortunately, I have been told that these connectors do not work with a Cloud instance or an instance that is not on prem. We need this capability since Microsoft is pushing coporations to move to the cloud instance and there is talk that on-prem may not be available past the 2016 version that is coming soon. Many companies including mine have either completed or are close to completing a full migration which has rendered the current SharePoint Connectors useless. While this is the most important part, another piece that is missing is a SharePoint Document Library connector (similar to the Amazon S3 Download/Upload). Currently I must use the UNC path to my SharePoint folders and an easier more reliable way to save files out to OneDrive and SharePoint Online would be very beneficial.

The function isnumber(<arg>) (in formula-like tools) does not do what I would expect from it:

It returns whether the data format of the argument is numeric. It does not return whether the argument actually represents a number (even though it might be a string).

Currently, you would have to help yourself by something like

REGEX_Match(<arg>, "^[+-±]?\d*([.,]+\d*)?([eE][+-]?\d+)?$")

which is quite clumpsy.

 

From my perspective, the right setup would have been:

• isnumber(<arg>) returns whether the argument is a number (even if it might be of type string)
• isnumeric(<arg>) returns whether the argument is of a numeric data type

I understand if the functionality of isnumber(<arg>) needs to be preserved. Then, a new function could be called isfloat(<arg>): "Is the argument something which could be converted to a float?" That would still be misleading but better than nothing.

 

When I run a Standard Workflow in the Designer, I can continue to work on other workflows, I can even run two workflows in parallel.

In contrast, when running an Analytical App in the Designer, the entire program is blocked and neither another workflow can be edited or run.

 

I propose to allow access to the Designer GUI also when running Analytical Apps.

 

MemSQL is a very popular high-velocity; high scalability database which is often used for analytics: https://portal.memsql.com/

 

However, when attempting to make a connection to MemSQL, Alteryx throws the error "Get Table List Error: Error opening "SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'aurora_version'": No Columns Returned."

From discussions with the support team at Alteryx - it appears that this is due to Alteryx presuming that the database is a MySQL database (because MemSQL also uses the MariaDB ODBC driver) and then sending a followup query to identify system version before making a connection - however MemSQL does not support this value so the connection fails.

 

Request:

- Please can we add the ability to connect to MemSQL without this error (i.e. trap this error and identify the DB version)

- Please can we give an advanced view to Alteryx users so that they can see this additional traffic and change this where needed?

          NOTE: By providing an advanced view - users can understand and diagnose / fix behaviours that Alteryx assumes by default, but which are not always relevant or useful.   An example of this is that on MS SQL Alteryx tries to open a cursor on columnstore tables by default and you have to use a workaround - please can you give us the ability to see and change these under-the-covers behaviours that are presumed by default.

- It may be useful to the Alteryx corporation to reach out to MemSQL and add Alteryx to the list of applications that can be used with MemSQL:  

 

https://docs.memsql.com/v6.8/guides/client-and-application/third-party-integrations/introduction/

 

 

To replicate:

- Fire up a MemSQL cluster (easiest is to get a trial cluster using the link above, or use an internal DB)

- Connect to this DB using the MariaDB ODBC connector (as recommended by MemSQL)

- Test this connection works with an ODBC compliant app like Tableau; Excel; etc

- Then attempt to connect using Alteryx  - see screenshot below.

 

 

 

 

In a multi-person BI team; or where you have a multitude of different flows hitting similar data - it's easy to loose track of the right connections; the right data sets etc.

 

Could we please add to the Alteryx toolset, the ability to:

- Register a set of connections with readable names

- Register a set of data-sets which are community managed.

 

Connection Registration:

I frequently connect to 5 different datastores to bring together analytical results.   Because Alteryx remembers the connections once-used I don't have to keep on building these connections from scratch, but these don't have a human-readable name; and they cannot be shared among the team to make workflow creation easier.

Suggestion: 

• Create the ability in Alteryx Designer to set up a data-store connection, with a human-readable name (e.g. "Timesheet Server").   
• Allow me to share this connection list with my team
• Allow me to either do pass-through password (i.e. don't save a password in the connection); or embed a password but make sure it's masked & encrypted so that the receiver cannot use this to get the password for the DB
• For enterprise customers - it would be great if I can connect to the enterprise connection store and use known good connections that way too...

 

Known Good Data Sets:

The other part of this is the community effect once a large number of people in the company start to get data-savvy.    for e.g. One person has found a good way to query the actual timesheet data (username; project; hours) - and another person has found a good way to query the HR systems to get user demographic information (username; location; contracted working hours).   

• Can we add to the Alteryx server, in the same way as Tableau and IBM Cognos / Watson have done; to allow users to publish a data-set connector which is known to work.
• That way - if I want timesheet data - I just browse the known good data-sets through Alteryx designer, and if I have questions I can go back to the connector owner
• additionally - the central administration team can then identify the ones that are certified as "golden source" or "clean; valid; governed data", and which ones are in a state of "user supplied - use at own risk"

 

For enterprise customers - this would transform alteryx from a stand-alone tool where everyone is re-inventing the wheel every time - to a Data Platform where each additional piece of work done increases the net value of the full ecosystem in a virtuous cycle.   It would also MASSIVELY accelerate every workflow build.

 

Happy to talk through this live with the Alteryx team if that's appropriate and helpful.

 

Thank you

Sean

 

 

I would like to be able to email attachments to fileshare sites.  I can't because the email that Alteryx sends out is missing the required header data that tells the fileshare there is an attachment.  

 

This is what the email should have but it does not.  

 

X-MS-Has-Attach: yes

 

I worked this issue with Alteryx support probably a year ago and had hoped to see this as an improvement, but it's not there.

 

There are other ways to get data to fileshare sites, and every single one of them has failed for various reasons. Email would by far be the simplest way if the right header data were included.

When I'm working with a new data or tool set, I'd find it helpful to know which tools other analysts are using.

I'm envisioning an optional, dockable window where a list of tools (and possibly percentage/probability rank) exist to suggest the next tool most users add after the selected tool (or blank canvas).

For example, I open a new workflow and the window shows the following suggestions of tools:

 

 

Next, I add a File Input.  While the File Input tool is selected, the list updates to show the most utilized tool after a File Input:

 

 

If I click back onto the blank canvas though, the suggestion window reverts to:

 

 

Ideally, there would be the option of the Community stats and/or your local server/enterprise stats.

 

 

 

 

Alternative data sources are key for enriching data. one source is social media.I believe Alteryx lacks in social media analytics.

 

• I would like to propose a YouTube connector...
  
• Crawl comments and video definitions (useful for text analytics)
  
• Impression and likes/dislikes... (time-series data)
  

 

If you are into #media, #advertising, #marketing analytics, #influencer analytics please support the idea by seconding...

 

There is an API called YouTube DATA API

https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/getting-started

 

 

 

I'm loving the ability to read from a zip file! However, I would love the ability to read all file types. For me, I don't see .accdb or .flat, and I assume other folks might be missing other file formats that they use. I find it confusing that the input tool accepts a lot of file types, but selecting the zip format then limits my choices. I believe @Aguisande mentioned this issue in the 10.5 beta.

 

Thanks!

can we have a formula tool to refer multiple field (especially dynamic as well) 

 

 

i KNOWN we can use transpose and crosstab tool. but it silly to do one thing with two tool.

 

Problem

 

To sum all the fields in the file. so now is A-D. 

 

 

I can use formula tool to do it. easy. But, what if fields add / delete frequently?

 

Now, it sum A-E, what if G-F tomorrow, and B-Z after tomorrow, i do not want to update workflow every time.

 

suggestion :

I hope we have a tool that similar to multiple field tool, but it output to a new field only.

 

I KNOWN SUM() is not alteryx function but just an example. we can expand further other formula for string and date.

 

 

 

 

Hi Alteryx,

 

Can we get the R tools/models to work in database for SNOWFLAKE.

In-Database Overview | Alteryx Help

 

I understand that Snowflake currently doesn't support R through their UDFs yet; therefore, you might be waiting for them to add it.

I hear Python is coming soon, which is good & Java already available..

 

However, what about the ‘DPLYR’ package? https://db.rstudio.com/r-packages/dplyr/

My understanding is that this can translate the R code into SQL, so it can run in-DB?

https://docs.snowflake.com/en/release-notes/2015-09.html#snowflake-extension-for-dplyr-pre-productio...

Could this R code package be appended to the Alteryx R models? (maybe this isn’t possible, but wanted ask).

 

Many Thanks,

 

Chris

 

Goal: My goals is to pull Marketo Lead Data via the Marketo Input SOAP API Connector and have specificied only 3 columns to pull for 1 day. 

Issue: It appears that the Marketo Input SOAP API Connector needs to go through all 500 + columns of lead object data before it filters out the specific request I indicated.  What this means is that to process 1 day of lead data for 3 columns of data, it takes 45 minutes plus and not ideal.

Client Services indicated that there is a limitation with the Marketo SOAP API tool and it would be best to utilize the Download tool and build a custom connection to the CRM System (Microsoft Dynamics) to get a predefined list of Lead IDs and then use that as a filter via the Marketo Input SOAP API connector. 

Request:
1.  Add Microsoft Dynamics Connector
2.  Try to innovate a better Marketo Service Connector to just grab the defined fields as opposed to go through the entire processing for all records to only filter back down to. 

Eric  

Currently the Save Field Configuration, when used with fields in a different order does not give any indication that the ordering will not be saved and reused. It is possible people may use this option without realising.

 

This should be in the help at a minimum, perhaps in a warning box when used too, but ideally the renames and types should be applied to the columns they came from by Name - not just based on the order of the fields.

Consider, for a moment, Standard Macros as old-school Subroutines in which you would have a library of Subroutines that could be invoked from numerous code sets.  Each Subroutine could have any number of arguments, and when the Subroutine is invoked, the calling code provides the arguments and their values to the Subroutine.

 

You can do this in Alteryx - but with a very large but.  The source field names being passed to the Standard Macro have to be the same field names the Standard Macro is expecting.  To make the Standard Macros more "library friendly" - allow the calling workflow to alias fields in the dataset for the sole purpose of sending them to the Macro.

 

Example:  Standard Macro that returns a Vendor ID based on a Location and Item Number.

Macro Input: Location ID, Item Number

Calling Workflow has: Purchase Location and Item Code

 

The Macro on the calling workflow would have a mapping:

Data Set Object	Macro Input Object
Purchasing Location	Location ID
Item Code	Item Number

At work I use a laptop and two external monitors. (L, EX1, EX2) <- that's how it's set up

 

When working in Alteryx I put my main window of Alteryx on EX1 and Results/Configuration tab on EX2

 

Sometimes I need to unplug my laptop, go to the meeting - or, what I have been doing lately, go to one of the meeting rooms and use standing desk to work there.

 

Problem is when I disconnect my laptop from the docking station (where external monitors are connected) other windows "jump" to the laptop screen, apart from Alteryx external tabs - meaning I can't "reach" it, even if I disable/enable or restart Alteryx.

 

It's not really a complaint of any sort but just a discussion if there is a way for this to be improved?

 The Download tool is so much more than Downloads. Think about the situation where you are using the Download tool to upload invoices and try explaining that to co-workers. "Oh yes - I'm going to implement the API to upload the invoices using the Alteryx download tool..." Could we call it the Curl tool or something?

This should be for all tools where formulas can be written and should work for all formulas as well, but I will give you my specific pain point as a easy to understand example.

 

When I write any formula where I am using CONTAINS, i am always thinking through the issue and writing the formula at the same time so I think [Name] contains "Test"

and I write [Name] and have to go back and add the CONTAINS before it, but when you do that instead of automatically wrapping itself around the field it does this:

 

Contains(String, Target)[Name] 

 

Can we get an enhancement that sees if you are writing a formula up against a FieldName it will automatically "ingest" the field name into the syntax and leave you with something like this:

 

Contains([Name] , Target)

 

That will leave all the other variables which still need to be completed, but it will save time of having to clean up the text of the formula itself.

 

 

****Hopefully this makes sense.  If you need me to expand on this, let me know.  Otherwise hopefully other folks feel my pain and can add their commentary in here as well.

 

Thanks

In Powerpoint, you can right-click on a picture and replace it with a different picture without losing formatting.

 

Similar functionality would be useful for replacing custom macros.

• I would like to be able to switch an old version of a custom macro with a new version in situ, without losing the connections to other tools, interface tools, or location in a container. 

Currently, the only option is to insert the new custom macro and then reset all incoming and outgoing connections. Some downstream tools (e.g., crosstab) lose their existing settings and that has to be reset too. On complicated workflows, this can introduce silent errors.

 

This capability would be especially helpful for team coding, where different team members are revising different modules for a parent workflow.

 

Currently:

Right-clicking on the canvas shows Insert > Macro > (choose from list of open macros)

Right-clicking on an existing macro shows Open Macro

 

New functionality:

Right-clicking on an existing macro shows Replace/Change Macro > (choose from list of open macros)