Change Workflow to App

[Chirag_Gandhi07]

Hi everyone,

I need to change my workflow into an app and i'm not sure how to do it. I know I have to use interface tools, but because this is my first time, I need some help. My workflow joins two files, a csv and an xlsx file. I want other users to be able to input their own files into the workflow. Also, I want to add a validation step to check if the files being input are in the correct format. So, I want to specify that the input files must have specific columns to be able to run correctly. I have attached my workflow. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ivoller]

You've done the most difficult bit already - building the base workflow!

Change the type of workflow to Analytic App from the Workflow tab on the configuration tool to change to an app. Now decide on what UI tools need to be applied. There is great help available on these within Alteryx. I'd start with the sample workflows (convert file formats) to see how to read in files depending on the user's choice of input.

[Chirag_Gandhi07]

Sounds good. Thanks for the help. Do I need to add file browse tools to the four output streams I have? So if another person inputs their desired files, would they be able to view all four sheets on one excel file like I have or would they require the data to be output to a specific location?

[tcroberts · Accepted solution]

You'll want to add file browse tools for each of the inputs you want. These let you select a file on your computer as an input when running an app. You can then connect them to a text input tool to replace its contents with the contents of the uploaded file. You could probably do some field validation as you mentioned in the original post by using the Field Info tool, which will tell you information about the names and types of the columns in your data stream.

As for the output, I find its best to use relative paths when constructing Analytic Apps. If you want the output to be stored in the same file as the workflow is run, then youll specify: "./output.xlsx" as the file name.

You can also turn a regular workflow into an analytic app by going to the "Workflow - Configuration" panel (which you can usually access by clicking on a blank space in your canvas a few times), navigating to the "Workflow" tab, and changing the radio button selection from Standard Workflow to Analytic App.

Depending on how you've deployed your app, they should be able to get the same excel file output as you. If you'd like them to be able to see the results in Alteryx, you could add some Browse tools and enable them in the interface designer. To do this, hit: "Ctrl+Alt+D" to bring up the Interface Designer Window, and click on the spanner tab on the left-hand side. Once there, you'll see a box labelled: "On Success - Show Results to User". where you'll want to check off the appropriate Browse Tools, and the output of these tools will be displayed in the results window once your App is finished running\