Input Data Tool - V_String

[SunnyQian]

I used Input Data Tool to read in an excel file.  First column is Last Name and Alteryx reads it in as V_String.  There is a record with "True" for the Last Name field and I Browse the output of the Input Data tool, that last name becomes 1.  How can I tell Alteryx not to be so smart and take that "True" just as a string?  Thank you!

[skeen503979]

@SunnyQian  Have you tried adjusting the data type for that field?

https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/data-types

[apathetichell]

This may be the most interesting question I've seen in awhile... As a workaround you can save it as .csv and import it and you won't have this problem.  But I'm definitely seeing your issue - and the weird part is it's only in some columns....

more information - excel formats True as TRUE in most cases. This is type "general" which Alteryx will read as boolean/True or 1. For excel if you have a column which is general - you have to set it as text. now here's where I'm at. a newly entered True in a text column will read as "True" in Alteryx- but the older entries are still reading as 1.

[ArtApa]

Hi @SunnyQian - Can you please provide a data sample and your Designer version? I was not able to achieve the same result:

[apathetichell]

@ArtApaI got the same results as @SunnyQian here...

[ArtApa]

Hi @apathetichell - After I manually changed Option#2 in the configuration to .xls it reads the data as expected/required. See below:

Hi @SunnyQian - Does this work for you?

[apathetichell]

@ArtApaO.k. Add it to known bugs?

@SunnyQianTry that -  export to .csv or do a nifty if [lastname]="1" then "True" else [lastname] endif formula to clean up the problem.

Personally - I'd go for the formula.

[SunnyQian]

My Alteryx is 2020.1. Data is as attached. If I add ' to the beginning of the word, it would become "True".  But I do not want to do any manual manipulation with the data.

[apathetichell]

Hi @SunnyQian  - fyi - your data didn't upload. it's just 42 columns. I uploaded a dataset with the same problem earlier so that should have clarified that the error is real and provided a sample to allow for the figuring out where the error occurs.

@TheOChas been successfully proselytizing for @danilang 's breakdown of .xlsx files into component .xml files this morning. I could see  a  potential applicability to your solution - but the result could be some ugly ugly regex and parsing to then combine last name with the rest of your datasource - which may be no more satisfying than importing as .xls, save as .csv and import or a formula solution.

[Hamza199]

Hi,

I am unsure if this is applicable to your situation but I had the same issue. The biggest issue was when opening the file, the updates made were not in the file which i assume was due to this error.

I noticed that my output only had a portion of the rows that my initial file had. Therefore, I outputted the file with the whole dataset and preserve formatting. Although this error message came up, all analysis and Alteryx updates that I made were successfully made including the preservation of the formatting.

In summary, outputting the same number of accounts as you inputted may still cause the error but the enhancements would still be made.