Workflow Comparison Tool! Please have a go.

[YanCheung]

So I was looking for a way to easily compare workflows as a form of version control, but I couldn't find anything... so I built my own!

Inspiration from: Visually Compare Workflow Versions - Alteryx Community

Please give it a try and give some feedback so I can fix any bugs and/or add features. 

I don't mind if anyone wants to develop it further as long as you give me some credit 🙂

Yan

[YanCheung]

To add a bit more information to this post:

The app compares two similar workflows and identifies the differences, giving the option to either produce an Excel report, or to launch Alteryx Designer to show a visual comparison (using in-built Alteryx functionality)

The app essentially compares the XML of the workflow between versions and highlights any differences. While added/delete tools are self explanatory, the "Changed Tools" page of the Excel report will show both how the XML for a specific tool has changed and the full XML for that tool for reference. I have not yet found a way to translate the XML into a simpler format currently as each tool has a different XML format (next steps!)

There are certain things to be aware of that may affect the running of this app:

1. The Excel report is accessed several times to populate multiple tabs, so if your output destination is on a server and/or has check-in/check-out functionality such as sharepoint this can cause issues; saving the report directly on your computer should work fine.

2. The visual comparison requires opening a new alteryx window; hence please head to Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings > Defaults and uncheck the setting for multiple Alteryx windows (see below).

3. As the visual comparison needs to run the AlteryxGUI executable, the app needs the filepath to where this has been installed on your computer; normally this is in your C: drive under Program Files etc.

[Emil_Kos]

Hi @YanCheung,

Thank you for sharing. It looks very promising  😀

[binuacs]

thanks for sharing!!

[terry10]

I'm running Alteryx version 2021.3 and it has built-in workflow comparison functionality

Options > Advanced Options > Compare Workflows.