Input Tool: Prevent Alteryx from reloading input files everytime in the configuration pane

[MRapp]

Hi,

I have some very big Excel files as input for workflows (40MB+). I cannot change that, because those are files from co-workers.

Not sure if it is a coincidence with upgrading from 2019 to 2021, but when I click on the input tools which bring in those heavy Excel files, it takes an awful lot of time for the configuration screen of the input tool to show up and equally long to make changes in the input tool for those files. Actually, I believe this drags down the overall performance of making changes on the workflow on any other tool, because Alteryx seems to go back and check every other tool the moment you make a change to any other specific tool. Sometimes, Alteryx overall is not responding for +30s after just clicking on those input tools....

Is there a way to prevent Alteryx from "refreshing"/reloading/reading input files at the step of the input tool configuration? Would it make a difference to override the system settings and to allocate more RAM? I have plenty of RAM (32GB); dedicating more to Alteryx shouldn't be a problem at all.

Just to make clear, I am not referring to reading input files when running the workflow.

[Maskell_Rascal]

Hi @MRapp 

You can always do a Cache and Run Workflow on the input tools. Just right click the tools and it will be an option in the drop down.

This will read in all the data and hold it for you while you work on the workflow. It prevents the workflow from trying to read these files in again. You can actually do this at any point in your workflow with a tool that has a single output. 

Cheers!

Phil

[MRapp]

I need to clarify; those Excel files get updated weekly. Therefore, caching them wouldn't be a solution.

[mst3k]

if i understand correctly, you're worried about configuring the input tool, and not the time it takes to actually read the file in? in that case, you can change the file path for the input tool in other ways than manually clicking it and changing the name in the configuration. one way would be an analytic app letting a user point to a file path. another would to put the file path in a Text Input tool or something in your data stream, then use a dynamic input and have it Change Entire File Path. then you are only updating a string in a Text Input tool the next month you have to run it.

[MRapp]

Not quite.

I have an older workflow that was originally created in Alteryx 2018. The workflow has design choices which are redundant with Alteryx 2021; basically, I want to update the workflow and taking out unnecessary tools and complexity (i.e. the workflow uses  select records and dynamic renaming instead of using the input tool's read from x row) but also to modify to new needs. The issue is that to do so, I need to make changes to input tools with heavy Excel sheets but also other modifications. Every time I click on the input tool with the heavy Excel sheets, Alteryx goes into application does not respond window message. I cannot efficiently modify the overall workflow when the workflow times out each time I touch the input tools; I suspect the input tools to be the issue because it takes a long time to load the input tool's configuration screen and "taking down" the whole workflow.

If I understand your suggestion correctly, I need to create a whole other set of app/macro to address for this. I don't need a new file path I believe, because the source Excel file gets overwritten every week with the same name.

[Maskell_Rascal]

@MRapp - If the source inputs get overwritten each week, then I'd suggest saving your workflow in the same folder and using a dynamic path input. 

If you replace the path up until either the sub-folder or the FileName, depending on how you want it structured, Alteryx will look for this file in the same directory where the workflow is saved. 

This example shows that I'm looking in a sub-folder called "Folder1" for a file called "MyExcelFile.xlsx". 

This example shows that I'm looking for a file in the same folder where my workflow is saved. 

This method will also allow other users with an Alteryx license to open the file on what I'm assuming is a shared network drive and run the workflow if needed. 

[MRapp]

@Maskell_Rascal, unfortunately, all my workflows are centralized. Also, this workflow has multiple heavy Excel files on different network folders; due to this your approach will not work (saving the workflow in the same directory as the input file).

[Maskell_Rascal]

@MRapp, do the names of the files change weekly? I'm trying to better understand why you need to reconfigure the workflow every week. Can you give a quick rundown of what you are doing?