Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

Hello,

As of today, there are only few packages that are embedded with Alteryx Python tool. However :
1/Python becomes more and more popular. We will use this tool intensively in the next years
2/Python is based on existing packages. This is the force of the language
3/On Alteryx, adding a package is not that easy : you need to have admin rights and if you want your colleagues to open your workflow, it also means that he has to install it himself. In corporate environments, it means loosing time, several days on a project.

Personnaly, I would Polars, DuckDB.. that are way faster than Panda.

Hello,

There are several dozens of data sources... maybe it would be useful to have a search in it?

Best regards,

Simon

Hi there

My idea is to have an option to copy and paste a tools configuration to a different tool of the same type somewhere else on the canvas.

Example:

Say I have four summarise tools dealing with four different data streams, I envision a 'Copy Tool Configuration' option after right clicking on a tool and then a 'Paste Tool Configuration" which can be applied across the multiple instances of the summarise tool by overwriting. This would preserve the tools anchors incoming and outgoing connections.

Benefit:

This would increase the speed of developing workflows. Naturally this would be significantly quicker than copy and pasting tools, and then re-wiring anchors. Additionally, this would potentially reduce human error when iteratively developing workflows.

Regards - Rhys Cooper

Currently the dynamic select tool let's you choose fields you want select or not, however it would be useful to have other features in the select tool i.e change data type/field size. This can be done via the multi field formula tool, but would be useful if it could be done via formulas/selection of a specific data type

Hello all,

We all know for sure that != is the Alteryx operator for inequality. However, I suggest the implementation of <> as an other operator for inequality. Why ?

<> is a very common operator in most languages/tools such as SQL, Qlik or Tableau. It's by far more intuitive than != and it will help interoperability and copy/paste of expression between tools or from/to in-database mode to/from in-memory mode.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello,

As of now, you can't choose the DCM connections to synchronize. It's either all or none.

However, I have one designer and two servers (Sandbox/Production). Most connections must be common, but not all.

Best regards,

Simon

For the Output Tool it would be very beneficial to be able to pass a password in order to populate a password protected Excel spreadsheet. It appears there is a decent amount of interest based on the Community feedback pertaining to the subject.

Currently when a unique tool is used, and a field is removed upstream then the workflow fails to move forward. If you have one or two unique fields being used then it is no big deal, but when you have a very complex workflow then you have to click into each one of those tools in order to update. This can be very problematic and creates a lot of time following all the branches that is connected after the 1st unique tool is used. My suggestion is to make this a warning instead of a fail or have an option to select fail or warning like the union tool is setup. This way people can decide how they want this tool to react when fields are removed. 

The idea behind encrypting or locking a workflow is good for users to maintain the workflow as designed. 

However, when a user reaches a level of maturity equivalent to that of the builder or more, or even when changes are required - the current practice is to keep a locked and unlocked version of the workflow so that it allows for a change in the future. 

It would be much simpler if we can have the power to lock and unlock workflows with a password. Users can then maintain and keep the passwords so that they can continue with the workflow. 

Not everybody is on Server yet so this feature is very helpful for control before Server migration. Otherwise it’s just password protecting a folder containing the workflow package, then re-locking a new save file each time a change is made or when someone new takes over on prem. 

Hello all,

When using in-database, all you have in select or formula are the Alteryx field types (V_String, etc..).

However, since you're mostly writing in database, in the end, there is a conversion of Alteryx field types to real SQL field types (like varchar). But how is it done ? As of today, it's a total black box. Some documentation would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello all,

It's really frustrating to have an "alteryx field type" in In-Database Select. It doesn't even make sense since we're manipulating only data in SQL database where those types does not exist. What we should see is the SQL field type.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello,

A lot of tools that use R Macro (and not only preductive) are clearly outdated in several terms :
1/the R package
2/the presentation of the macro
3/the tools used

E.g. : the MB_Inspect

Ugly but wait there is more :

Also ; the UI doesn't help that much with field types.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello all,

As of today, you can only (officially) connect to a postgresql through ODBC with the SIMBA driver
help page :
https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/data-sources/postgresql.html#postgresql

You have to download the driver from your license page

However there is a perfectly fine official driver for postgresql here https://www.postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/releases/

I would like Alteryx to support it for several obvious reasons :
1/I don't want several drivers for the same database
2/the simba driver is not supported for last releases of postgresql
3/the simba driver is somehow less robust than the official driver
4/well... it's the official driver and this leads to unecessary between Alteryx admin/users and PG db admin.

Best regards,

Simon

Sounds simple :

Best regards,

Simon

We all know and love the Comment tool. It's a staple of every workflow to give users an idea of the workflow in finer details. It's a powerful tool - it helps adds context to tools and containers, and it also serves as an image placeholder for us to style our workflows as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

Now, the gensis of this idea is inspired by this post and subsequent research question here.

The Comment Tool today allows you to:

• Write your text and provide context / documentation to your workflow
• Style its shape
• Style its font, colour, and background colour
• Align the text
• Put an image to your workflow

But it would provide way more functionality if it had the capabilities of another awesome Alteryx tool that is not so frequently mentioned... the Report Text Tool!

What's missing in the Comment tool that the Report Text tool has?

1. The ability to add active data records from the workflow to its text
2. Its wider range of styles which allows for more functionality such as with its Special Tags functions
3. Its ability to hyperlink
4. Text mode options!

Now, whilst I understand that the Report Text tool is just that, a tool that needs to be connected to the data to work, so too does the Comment tool (to a lesser extent).

It would be awesome to have the ability to connect the data to the Comment tool as it was a Control Container-like connector. It can also be just like the Report Text tool with an optional input, thereby making it like a normal Comment tool.

To visualize my point:

The benefits of doing so:

• Greater flexibility to the user
• Styles are endgame
• Users can use the comment box as a checksum or even a total count / checker to ensure everything is working as intended
• Makes the comment tool more powerful as a dynamic workflow documentation tool

I think it'll be a killer feature enhancement to the comment tool. Hoping to hear comments on this! 

Kindly like, share, and subscribe I mean comment your support. Thanks all! 😁

-caltang

Hello! It would be great if I could "favorite" a tool when I search for it in the search bar in Designer. Currently, I can drag and drop it to the Canvas, but if I want to "favorite" it, I have to remember the icon and color, then go find it in the right tab. This would be a nice enhancement!

When working within the Table Tool, there are many options to help users format the width of their columns (i.e. Automatic, Fixed, or Percentage).

It would be nice to see an option added to disable word-wrapping.  Meaning, expand to encompass the header or data within the field so that each row is of uniform height regardless of the option:

Fixed:  The rest of the data would just be masked like in excel:

Percentage:  Same as fixed (above), but relative to the variable width...

Automatic:  Resizing to the required width, regardless.

• It would also be nice to have options under automatic, akin to constraints
  • Automatic, but with a maximum width of...
  • Automatic, but with a minimum width of....
• But regardless without word-wrapping

Why this matters:  When producing automation, especially for finalized outputs such as reports and tables; having maximum control over the output format is vital to ensuring downstream users don't have to continue to manipulate the output to suit their needs.  Maybe this isn't best practice, but when has customer demands ever taken a backseat to best practices!  😉

Allow users the ability to add a delay on the connection between Control Container tools. I frequently have to rerun workflows that use the control container because the workflow has not registered that the file was properly closed on outputting from one output tool to the next. The network drives haven't resolved and show that the file is still open while its moved on to the next control container. Users should have an option in the Configuration screen to add a delay before a signal is sent for the next container to run. 

In the past I was able to use a CReW tool (Wait a Second) in conjunction with the Block Until Done tool to add the delay in manually. But I have since converted all of my workflows over to Control Containers. Since then half of the times the workflow has run I encounter the following errors.