Pass Drop down Option to filter

[sbjkiss]

I am new to Alteryx, testing it out for our company.  First post!!  

Drop down troubles:

I am trying to pass a variable from a drop-down to a filter, allowing the user to pick a city to run the report against.   

The drop down populates correctly in the wizard:

The default is set to Alexandria_LA.

I noticed I am not given the option to set the expression.  (I assume this is where the issue resides.)

 I have the filter set as a custom filter with the intent of bringing forward the value from the drop down. 

It must be a simple oversight.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

[JeffG]

Hi!

In the action tool, click the "Replace a Specific String" checkbox. Then remove all text except Alexandia_LA in the below text box (be sure to remove the quotation marks as well). The action tool is current trying to replace the entire filter formula, but this will help limit it so it is only replacing the location it is filtering against. 

Best,

Jeff

[sbjkiss]

The suggestion does not seem to correct the issue 😞

[JeffG]

When you run the workflow as an App, what are you currently seeing?

[sbjkiss]

I see the functional drop down and then a statement that there was no output.  However If I run the browse the baseline data, as if the filter didn't change anything, the default filter value is there.

When I set up an output file it came back empty with just the column headers.

[JeffG]

That message results from not having an output file when run as an App. Without knowing the specifics, I have included in the attached an example workflow/app with a drop down & action feeding into a custom filter that may help as reference. If you add an output tool to the end of it, you'll produce an output file based on the drop down selection. Hope this helps!

Best,

Jeff

[sbjkiss]

I was able to resolve the issue but it required a different solution.  I am not sure if this is a 'bug' in Alteryx, but when I changed the dashes from the input file to underscores during the transform section it worked properly.

Thank you for your assistance.

[DavidP · Accepted solution]

@sbjkiss that's because the CrossTab tool changes all non alphanumeric characters in the field names to underscores, so that's what's getting sent to the dropdown tool. There are techniques you can use to fix this.

Here's a post that addresses that issue:  https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/Can-the-real-Field-Name-please-stand-up/ba-p/611088