Build workflow without crew macros

[MohithRai]

Hi All,

Can an Alteryx workflow(Dependency across Alteryx Jobs) be created without crew macro?

For example, An alteryx job 'J2' have to be run only after the successful execution of the previous job 'J1'.

Can this be achieved without using the crew macro components like 'Runner' and 'Conditional Runner'?

Thanks,

Mohith

[JosephSerpis · Accepted solution]

Hi @MohithRai an alternative is creating a chained app so you would run J1 then on success J2.  Link below are some resources about chained apps.

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Interactive-Lessons/Chaining-Analytic-Apps/ta-p/243120

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Knowledge-Base/Chaining-Workflows-Together/ta-p/3857...

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Publishing-Chained-App-to-Gallery/m-p/...

[estherb47 · Accepted solution]

Hi @MohithRai 

Highly recommend the Interactive Learning video in Alteryx Academy that @JosephSerpis  references!!

You can turn any workflow into an Analytic App, even without adding any Interface tools. Just click in the whitespace of the workspace, and you'll have the Workflow Configuration window. On the Workflow tab, choose Analytic app.

Cheers!

Esther

[MohithRai]

Hi Guys,

Thanks a lot for the solution @JosephSerpis and @EstherB47. I have implemented your solution for analytic app and that is exactly what I wanted.

 All these days I was trying to figure out if this can be achieved for normal workflows as well, and I was finally successful in implementing it.

This is how I did it,

Firstly I developed a batch script that invokes a alteryx workflow for which I had to install and activate Desktop automation license in my PC. Then I designed a alteryx macro that will call the batch script and parses the alteryx log output to get the status and other details like error,warnings etc.

Then I designed two custom components which calls the macro and it takes the workflow path as input.
- First component calls the initial workflow.
- The Second component collects the status from the first component and executes the other workflow.

For a better understanding, Below is a scenario which is implemented using the custom components,

Problem definition:
There are three processes,
1. Load Employee Data: Reads employee data from a file and outputs to another file.
2. Get Department Names: Reads the employee data from previous process result and joins with the department data to get the department names.
3. Get Employee Head Count: Using the previous process result, the employee head count is calculated per department.

Each of the above process is implemented a separate workflow. The process 2 is dependent on 1, and process 3 is dependent on 2. Attached a screenshot of how master workflow looks like.

The Components  has 4 output anchors,
S - Shows "Success" if the workflow runs successfully else it shows null.
F - Shows "Failure" if the workflow fails else it shows null.
L - Outputs detailed log.
D - Outputs numbers of warnings errors and execution time.

Th union "Detailed Log" shows the detailed log from the three workflows,
Th union "Diagnostics" shows the error count and execution time for the workflows

 

This not only helped me in chaining workflows but also helped in maintaining and organizing workflows in a better way.

The components are similar to crew macro component but,

- This component displays some extra useful information.

- Crew macro runs even when the desktop automation license is not activated in the system. it is unknown how the crew macro components invokes the workflow without the license. I had posted this question in community and I did not get any answer to this. This scares me about crew macro and especially when it comes to working with confidential data.

Let me know what you guys think about this custom component. 🙂

Regards,

Mohith