Multi-Field Binning Odd Results

[derekbelyea]

Hi 

I have been testing the Multi-Field Binning Tool against an Excel table of 29,000 records. (all dummy data)

I am using the Equal Intervals option: (The minimum and maximum values of the tile field are determined. The range is split into equal sized sub-ranges and records are assigned to tiles based on these ranges.)

When I set the interval to 10 the workflow produces 15 tiles for each of the  two variables.  I expect to see 10 tiles and not 15.   For other interval values the results are similarly different from what I would expect.  You can change the value in the example I have attached to see this behaviour.

This workflow has a dependency on another macro: C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\RuntimeData\Macros\testMacroInput.yxdb  It may be involved.

For comparison purposes I ran the TILE tool against the same data set and it ran as expected. 

My work is attached.   My question:  Is this Multi-Field Binning Tool flawed or am I missing something?

[Joe_Mako]

They are giving you different results because the Tile tool is configured to "Equal Records" and the Multi-Field Binning tool is configured to "Equal Intervals"

If you configure the Multi-Field Binning tool to "Equal Records", and Number of Tiles to 10, then it will return 10 records in each of the Summarize tools.

[derekbelyea]

I agree with your suggestion but my question was different.  Should I expect the "Equal Intervals" option to produce a number of bins that is different from the input variable (which in the example case was 10 and it delivered 15 bins)  ?  

Is this a feature or a bug?

[Joe_Mako · Accepted solution]

I see what you are saying, and it looks like a bug to me. If we open the Macro for Multi-Field Binning, and then expand the container for "Determine Equal Intervals", the series of tools in there has a few logic errors, and has opportunities to be optimized.

You can use the attached to replace your Multi-Field Binning tool, rename it, removing the "_v2" form the file name, and place in your macro directory. Be sure to rename/backup your old built-in macro. Mine was in the directory: C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\RuntimeData\Macros

I did not change any of the interface/input/output tools, so to workflows that use Multi-Field Binning, it appears to be the same macro, so it should not beak anything. I kept to the normal Alteryx Macro convention and documents like the others. This macro produces the expected results, and is much faster.

[wakar]

I think the bug still exists. I do not see it binning equal intervals properly. Do you agree?

[pcatterson]

I am also encountering what I think is a bug.