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Input File used in the Alteryx App on Gallery

cwoo
8 - Asteroid

Hi,

 

I have an alteryx app that I uploaded onto my company's alteryx analytics gallery dev site (/enterprisealteryxdev.). The input file which I am asking the app to reference is saved on my local drive. I shared the app with my coworker on by pushing the app to Collections in the gallery. And my coworker is able to run the app.

 

How is the app on the gallery able to access the input file saved in my hard drive? I noticed that the pathway to the input file in the workflow changes to _externals\1\"filename". Does the gallery have a copy of the input file cached somewhere? Also, if I change the input file of the app, do I have to upload an entirely new app with a new input file?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

Christine 

17 REPLIES 17
patrick_digan
17 - Castor
17 - Castor
The server is indeed using a cached version. You would need to republish the app if the input file changes. When you save the workflow to the gallery, you can click on workflow options and then manage workflow assets. Anything that is checked will be "packaged"/cached with the workflow and save to an externals folder if need be. If you were to leave your local file unchecked, the server would error because it wouldn't be able to find the file on your machine. See this post for more info under the gallery section:
https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Knowledge-Base/Assets-and-Packaging-Workflows/ta-p/4...

Alternatively, you could 1)reference a network file that you and the server both have access to. You need to use UNC which can be done easily through the options>>>advanced>>>workflow dependencies. 2) depending on your use case, you could have the end user upload the file at run time using a file browse tool connected to an input tool.
cwoo
8 - Asteroid

@patrick_digan Thank you for the thorough response!

 

 I have a few quick questions.

 

1) Where is cached version saved? Is it saved on my company's Alteryx gallery or on Alteryx server?

 

2) In the last section of your answer that I copied below, you referred to "server". Are you referring to the Alteryx server ? Also, what does UNC stand for? 

 

Alternatively, you could 1)reference a network file that you and the server both have access to. You need to use UNC which can be done easily through the options>>>advanced>>>workflow dependencies. 2) depending on your use case, you could have the end user upload the file at run time using a file browse tool connected to an input tool.

patrick_digan
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

@cwoo Great questions! For context, I consider a private Alteryx Server to have 3 components/uses: Gallery, Scheduler, and API.

 

1) it is saved in the MongoDB files on the server (machine) that your company's private alteryx gallery is on. 

 

2) Server would reference your private alteryx server/gallery. I'm not sure how your Alteryx server is setup, but ours is setup to run as a specified service account. So when I reference a file (P:\folder\file.csv) and I need the private gallery to reference it, I need to do 2 things: 1) I need to ensure that the service account has access to the file location (P:\folder) and 2) change the path to Universal Naming Convention (\\servername\folder\file.csv). A service account on a server doesn't\can't map a drive, so you have to reference it differently. 

cwoo
8 - Asteroid

@patrick_digan Thanks for the quick response, again.

 

Last few questions....

 

1) Is it correct to assume that if I change the path to the input file to UNC, then the app on the gallery should reference the actual file, not the cached one? 

 

2) If the above is correct, does that mean I don't have to upload a new app every time the input file is edited?

 

Thanks 

 

 

 

 

 

patrick_digan
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

@cwoo

 

1)  that's correct, changing it to UNC will then have the app on the gallery referencing the actual file. The 1 thing you have to be careful of is making sure it doesn't get packaged. When you save the workflow to the gallery, I would suggest you click workflow options and then manage workflow assets. Even if you UNC the file, the box on the manage workflow assets screen may be checked by default. That would create a cached version. Sometimes this happens unintentionally, so I always check to make sure what files are/aren't being packaged whenever I save a file to the gallery.

2) That is correct, you wouldn't have to upload a new app every time the input file is edited, assuming the metadata doesn't change (ie if you add a new column and your app wasn't prepared for that, you would then need to upload a new app to handle the new columns).

cwoo
8 - Asteroid

@patrick_digan Great. That clarifies a lot of things. Thank you for your help!

 

If you don't mind, I have one more question - I am in the process of using the output file generated from the app on the gallery as a data source for a Tableau dashboard. And in order for this to happen, I need to have the output file saved on a shared drive. Is there a way to do that? Currently when I run the app, I would need to download the output file and move the file to a shared drive.

 

Thanks!

patrick_digan
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

@cwoo Keep the questions coming! You can you use an output tool to write it to a shared drive. It's configured very similarly to the input tool. You would have to check similar things to the input tool like folder permissions for the account running your jobs in the gallery and UNC pathing. Note that when you save a file to a network path that the gallery will no longer display that file to the end user. It will just produce a standard message about no output upon completion.

cwoo
8 - Asteroid

@patrick_digan

 

Thanks for the answer. So I tried to UNC the path to the the input file but it errored out while uploading. Now, I understand that it may be due to the fact that either my company's private server doesn't have access to the folder or that I didn't UNC the path to the input file. If the latter is the case, can you help me on UNCing the pathway to the file saved on shared drive? 

 

On Workflow Dependencies, what do I have to do to UNC the pathway? I simply clicked on "All UNC" at the bottom right, which I assume is not enough. 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

patrick_digan
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

@cwoo That should be enough? What is the error message that you receive? 

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