Issue with XML output macro

[ylamlih]

Hi All,

I haven't used any macro's before so apologies in advance if I'm making a rookie error here but my issue is as follows.

I'm trying to output data from a workflow into XML format (bare in mind I've been asked to supply data in XML, however I've never done anything with XML before).

The current text output of my workflow is very simple and basic:

The macro I've found and tried to use is the following: https://gallery.alteryx.com/#!app/XML-Output/565bfd4caa690a12542665e3

Regardless of whether I use the macro in workflow mode or the file mode, I get the following error:

I've configured the Macro as follows when in file mode:

Any idea if what I'm trying to do is at all possible, and if so, what it is I'm missing here?

Many thanks!

Yassine

[AngelosPachis]

Hi @ylamlih ,

May I ask on which version of Alteryx are you on?

[danilang · Accepted solution]

Hi @ylamlih 

This does appear to be a bug.  If you look at the macro you can see that the only Detour tool is properly terminated by a Detour End and there's no way for the output container to be disabled.  

The Macro itself has had 3 versions and so It must have worked at some point in previous versions of Designer.  I think this may be case to send to support@alteryx.com

Update:  This macro runs fine in 2019.4, but breaks in 2020.3

Dan

[ylamlih]

Hi @AngelosPachis ,

I believe I'm on the latest version: 2020.4.5.12471

[ylamlih]

Hi @danilang,

Ahh I see, so pure compatibility issue then.

So could you confirm that what I'm trying to do is at least feasible if I were to download the older version? 

[danilang]

@ylamlih 

As I mentioned in the update to my previous post, the error doesn't occur in 2019.4.

Dan

[AngelosPachis]

Hi @ylamlih ,

My first impression was that the issue was caused by a known bug of the XML parse tool in 2020.4. Apparently the issue comes form another back as @danilang mentioned in his earlier post.

Cheers,

Angelos

PS

(Does that mean we have two bugs in a single workflow?)

[ylamlih]

Tried to install 2019.4 without uninstalling 2020.4 causing neither to function nor wanting to uninstall 😑, I'll search the internet for solutions and soon as I get 2019.4 up and running I'll let you know the result!

[ylamlih]

I've managed to uninstall 2020.4 and get 2019.4 up and running and indeed the error is gone, however, now faced with an error when trying to open the XML output:

Is this something I should edit in the Macro?

UPDATE: I replaced white spaces and special characters in my source file and it seems to have created an XML file which can be successfully opened in Excel now. @AngelosPachis @danilang Thanks for your responses!

[G1]

FYI - i recently encountered this same issue with this tool. If you don't need the output from the tool itself, but just want it as a macro (you can add an output tool outside the macro), then you can delete the problem section as in the attached pic and save it. It now works on the most recent version of Alteryx. I can't claim credit for this solution...came from a team member.

FYI #2 - I have had issues with the short fields sizes in this tool cutting off xml strings. The fix was to increase the field sizes