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Alteryx Designer Desktop Discussions

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Take a screen shot of a url and import that into Alteryx

AndrewCrayford
8 - Asteroid

If i got an URL and want alteryx to open that link, take a screen shot of the page and then put it in an excel spreadsheet.

 

I not sure if it possible if Alteryx can take a screen shot of a URL and also how?

7 REPLIES 7
BrandonB
Alteryx
Alteryx

Do you need to extract specific information out of the page or just purely a screenshot? You can use a text input tool with the website URL in it followed by a download tool in order to web scrape the underlying HTML. An screenshot would require another program, python script with Selenium, or API in order to capture an image. This is possible, but is a little more involved. 

gregx
8 - Asteroid

So it's an another simple thing that Alteryx cannot do.

Felipe_Ribeir0
16 - Nebula

Hi @gregx 

 

Alteryx is an APA (Analytic Process Automation) tool, so the main purpose of it is to automate data processes. Ofc you can go beyond the main purpose of the tool using Python for example. You could use the Selenium library to achieve this task (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg1odw_nUwo&ab_channel=SDET-QAAutomationTechie) and embed your code inside Alteryx, it would work.

 

But mimic users behaviour (like taking screenshots of web pages) is something that is done by default with RPA's (Robotic Process Automation) tools, like UiPath/Automation Anywhere.

 

So I understand that the issue here is selecting the right tool for the right job.

 

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” - Abraham Maslow

apathetichell
18 - Pollux

@gregx- I agree with you about Alteryx's XML Parse tool being a waste - but I think you're off base here.  As @Felipe_Ribeir0 points out - Alteryx is not an RPA tool. There may be crossover between what Alteryx can do and what UiPath can do - but the two are quite different. There is no photo/capture/screen shot capability because Alteryx doesn't hijack your browser like an RPA tool.

 

And for what it's worth - I think the issue with the XML tool is that XML itself is a mess. You need a level of template knowledge to know how to correctly parse XML (ie an .xsd file or some other ingestion schema) - a generic "XML tool" doesn't really work here... I end up just doing whatever I need to do by ingesting in text.

gregx
8 - Asteroid

@Felipe_Ribeir0,

you are not right. RPA is generally for actions executed typically by human (such as 'click on button'), so 

taking a screenshot is just a way of saving data (for example an evidence for audit purposes), nothing sophisticated.

Saving screenshot is basic for analytics as well. (reading screenshot like OCR is typical for RPA, but we're talking about saving a piece of data).

 

Of course, we can use python, but python is not alteryx

gregx
8 - Asteroid

@apathetichell not sure why are you referring to another topic, but just be aware that old, old Excel, even from early 00's can properly read XML data, and 'new' Alteryx still can't handle it. It's not about XML, it's about poor alteryx solution

apathetichell
18 - Pollux

Sorry for intermingling the two - one point I think is well worth discussing with Alteryx (ie develop something better or drop the tool) - and I think the second point (the specific to this thread) is not something Alteryx can do with the current platform - Alteryx does not interact directly with your browser.

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