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Application/Macro interface design

Pardon the length of this post, but I have been working with Alteryx since version 2.0 (11 years) and have been accumulating a wish list ever since.  Some of these suggestions have been made in the past but have yet to be embraced.  This is the first post for the first 'idea' but, as I said, this is a wish list that has grown since I was first introduced to Alteryx. More posts will follow.

 

I will break this into sections to hopefully make the suggestions easier to categorize and digest.

 

Application interface - Since I was introduce to Alteryx, the application interface (what is presented to users) has remained rather stagnant and, with the rumored push to adopt HTML as a replacement for pcxml, could benefit from the following additional settings. I suggest these based on the fact that dot Net classes for interface controls are readily available in Windows which allow for manipulation of each of the controls attributes.

 

1. The ability to set 'style' attributes for each of the interface tools in the application interface (font-family, font-style, font-size, font-weight, color, etc. This could be presented to the developer as an additional (perhaps optional button) in the Configuration panel for each interface tool as below:CSS_Tool.PNG

These settings would be specific to the type of interface tool and to how the individual tool would layout and/or be styled relative to the application interface window. One layout option, applicable to most interface tools, would be where the label would be relative to the object itself (top, bottom, left, right). The CSS could be stored in and interpreted from the XML of the yxwz file referencing the ToolID of the Node in a section of the XML hierarchy called <CSS> or something standard.  An option to alter the default CSS could be displayed with a radio button control so that if not selected, the tool would fallback to the default system CSS of the tool.  This default could also be set in System settings so that a consistent interface could be defined across the enterprise.

 

2. Moving to the actual window that displays when the application is opened, a lot of the same concepts could be applied to the Interface Designer pane.CSS_Interface.png

Attributes that could be set could include position on screen when opened, width and height of the window, and all the attributes of a dot Net form.  The same radio button strategy used for individual interface tools could be employed to use or not use system defaults.

 

3. In the UI, it would be nice if there was additional flexibility in how the interface tools could be laid out.  Along with the relative position of labels for each control, being able to layout controls horizontally as well as vertically would allow for a more organized interface.Layout_Interface.PNG

 The Radio buttons would work as normal with the Text Box controls inside each Radio button and only displaying when the button is selected.

 

I realize a lot of the current development in Alteryx is focused on the new Alteryx Connect and being able to attach to more data files and services. But, if there is still also a concerted effort to move from what could be considered a legacy proprietary mark up language, pcxml, to a more robust and universally accepted mark up, html and css, then, in my humble opinion, expanding the options for developers to design more user friendly and customizable applications to a standard 'style' across the enterprise, both on the desktop and in the gallery, is a worthy endeavor.

 

Thanks for your attention.  More to follow.

 

Dan

9 Comments
SeanAdams
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

 Very much agree with your thoughts Dan - the more we start to use and depend on Analytical Apps, the more this becomes an area where we'd enjoy / appreciate greater capability & flexibility!

 

 

JulieM
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Under Review

@BetterFerret - Thank you so much for this feedback!  I really appreciate the time you've taken to provide so much detail and insight from your many years of being an Alteryx user.  This information helps the Product team immensely.  The Analytic Apps are something we are still actively thinking about in terms of improvements and we will take this feedback directly into consideration as we are planning future enhancements.  We'll be sure to post any updates that relate to this topic as they are available here.  Thanks again!

ghmorrell
7 - Meteor

I like the ideas. I would like to see the ability to layout controls horizontally as you mentioned.

 

This will come useful for things like Start and end Dates. Its a little messy having them vertically

DamienMinter
8 - Asteroid

I just wondered if there was any update with this? 

ajr2183
7 - Meteor

Like DamienMinter, I would love to know if there was any movement on this?

levell_x_dunn
10 - Fireball

Any updates on finally updating the interface windows, its a very sad example of an App (IMO)

KylieF
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team
Status changed to: Accepted

Thank you for your post! Our product team is currently looking into how we can improve the macro and app creating experience as a whole, including the interface, and would like to take this idea into consideration for future updates to the process. Please note, while this idea will be taken into consideration for these updates, there may be variation between the outlined idea and implemented feature. We'll update this idea again once we are closer to the new experience being added to the product.

jineshnp31
8 - Asteroid

It is surprising that this idea is still open after almost 3 years! Business users have repeatedly asked for better UI on the Gallery Apps and it put the developers in a position with really no fix to create simple interfaces to display filters horizontally instead of vertically which they have to keep scrolling for picking all parameters designed to run an app taking away the ‘App’ experience.

 

We had to take on a full blown project just to create a better looking UI for business applications and invoke Gallery API for each workflows published. It would have helpful if the Interface Designer has more flexibility like positioning the tools and adding styles.

 

Also, why are there two Run buttons in Gallery Apps? Users always keep asking which Run button to click. The Run button on top of the App should be sufficient in the Gallery [IMO]

Thank you.

YEM
8 - Asteroid

I would like to be able to include images in the interface design.  Example use case, we can create a second tab called "how to use this macro".  In that tab, we can include a marked-up screen shot with arrows and annotations to explain what goes into and out of each anchor.

 

I can create a new idea for this, but thought we could piggy-back on this overall enhancement of interface design.