Way to store a data set?

[Heidi_Habecker]

Hello!

I'm working on building/testing an Alteryx workflow using two rather large sources of data (yxdb files). The data is sales history data so it doesn't change. When I run my workflow to test it, Alteryx pulls it in every time even though the data is the same, and it takes 15-20 minutes to run. Is there a way to run my Alteryx workflow only once and have Alteryx store that data so that it doesn't keep pulling in the same files? Otherwise, this workflow will take forever for me to build and test.

I'm rather new to Alteryx so I apologize if this is redundant.

Thanks in advance for any information.

[Jbrooks · Accepted solution]

If you right click the input file and hit cache and run, Alteryx will cache the file in memory and wont have to pull in the entire file every time. This can be done on other tools as well so as you get deeper into the build you can store earlier parts of the workflow so it doesn't have to rerun it several times. One other thing you can do to speed things up is set the record limit on the input tool configuration menu, this way its only pulling X number of records instead of the whole file until you are done with the build. Just remember to remove it when done

[JosephSerpis]

If you select both your inputs and right click and select Cache and Run workflow it will create a temporary cache of your input data. Thus reducing the time it takes  to run while you develop your workflow.

[Heidi_Habecker]

Thank you! I am able to do this for one data input but I cannot do it when I have multiple data inputs. I don't have the cache option like you have when I try it with two. At any rate, doing only one at a time still makes me better off than I was before. Thanks for your help!

[Heidi_Habecker]

Thank you!

[AnotherAccountXVI]

In order to cache multiple data inputs, you'll need to move further into your workflow to a tool that encapsulates all the data inputs.Think about your workflow like a tree, with the inputs being leaves and the output being the trunk with caching being like pruning. You cannot cache multiple leaves but you can move down to find a common branch and prune (cache) from there.

In the example that JS420 provided, you can cache either input but not the other if you try to cache the input tool. Moving along in the workflow, if you cache from the union tool, you can cache all the data flowing in.