Forcing a field type

[johnnykoung]

Hi,

Is it possible to force a field type for a particular column in an excel input file? I have a use case where sometimes a column isn't filled in, and because of that, alteryx changes my field type for that column from a string to a double. This causes my flow to error out as I use that field (when filled out) to join with another string field, causing an error cause of the field mismatch. 

Or any other ideas on how I can prevent this from happening? Sometimes that column won't be filled out and sometimes it will. The fact that it changes prevents fixing the field type in the select tool. If I load data where it is filled out and then again where it's not filled out, the field type changes back to a double.

Thanks in advance!

Johnny

[TheOC · Accepted solution]

hey @johnnykoung 

There is indeed!

If you have text data in the column, you can use a select tool and select 'string:forced'

This will force the data incoming, to be a string.

Hope this helps,

TheOC

[johnnykoung]

Perfect, thanks!