Alteryx 2021.2 spontaneously adding fields to tools

[mja65]

I've noticed what appears to be an issue with Alteryx 2021.2. When opening an existing workflow Alteryx is adding additional duplicated fields to the output of join tools which creates errors. See below for a copy of an example. The xml of the workflow shows the fields selected - the screenshot from Alteryx is the behaviour when I click on the tool.

The same workflow works fine on another machine running an older version of Alteryx. Also worth mentioning there is a cross tab set up a couple of places earlier than the join. Wondering whether it relates to Alteryx not knowing the output of the cross tab - but that seems odd if it works properly in an older version of Alteryx.

Is this is a known issue and is there an expected timeframe for resolution? 

[danilang]

Hi @mja65 

These fields aren't added by the new version of Alteryx.  They are already in the xml of the workflow before you open it in Designer.  You can see this by taking a fresh copy of the workflow that has never been opened in Designer and opening it in Notepad.  You will also be able to see this if you open the workflow in a previous version of Designer and examine the xml of the join tool before running it.

The yellow fields that you see in your output are "missing" fields.  These are fields that should be there according to the metadata contained in the xml of the workflow.  This metadata is saved when the workflow is last run.  When you first open a workflow that has dynamic fields created by a cross tab, the fields don't yet exist in the workflow, so they are flagged as missing. Running the workflow, should resolve the issue.  Of course, input data is variable, so there can always be the issue that the input data doesn't contain all the values required to generate all the cross tabbed columns.  

Dan    

[mja65]

Hi 

Thanks for the response - sorry if I wasn't clear  but the issue is not the missing fields. The issue is that Alteryx has added duplicate fields which are causing errors when the workflow is run - see the check marks on the bottom fields which shows fields have been added for selection which results in duplicates which is not in the original workflow.

You are correct the missing fields are due to the cross tab which is not an issue.

[mja65]

Hi

Further to the above - screenshot on the left now includes the same model opened up in an earlier version of Alteryx with the correct fields selected and consistent with the XML. I've now got two examples of the error which Alteryx has duplicated the fields but in a slightly difference sequence in the output.

Again, the missing fields showing up is not an issue - though it seems odd that two different versions of Alteryx opening the same workflow pointing to the same files have differing fields showing up as missing!

[Watermark]

Did you ever figure this out? May I ask about this workflow, and since this is a year old I understand it may long since be history. Did the flow use a data clean to remove 'null' columns, then try to join?  Maybe they came from a single original data set?

[natalie881226]

I'd also want to know how to resolve it. I've tried to manually removed/renamed the field name. Also tried to disconnect the join tool and the previous input tool. Neither works. The only thing that would work is to delete the join tool and add it back. But then all previous settings (sorting, renaming, changing type and size) will be gone. The workflow is a huge one and there are quite a few join tools in it. Any help would be appreciated.~