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Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

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The TO field (and I assume other fields) in the Email tool seem to have a 254 character limit - this should be increased heavily as there are many distribution lists that will go above this character limit!

A distribution list works but is not ideal. Thumbs up if you like this idea!

Hello all,

We all know for sure that != is the Alteryx operator for inequality. However, I suggest the implementation of <> as an other operator for inequality. Why ?

<> is a very common operator in most languages/tools such as SQL, Qlik or Tableau. It's by far more intuitive than != and it will help interoperability and copy/paste of expression between tools or from/to in-database mode to/from in-memory mode.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello all,

A few years ago, I asked for svg support in Alteryx (https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Ideas/svg-support-for-icon-comment-image-e... ). Now, there is Alteryx Designer Cloud with other icons... already in svg !

image.png


So I think it would be great to have an harmonization between designer and cloud.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello,

Working on Dataiku DSS and there is a cool feature : they can tag tools, parts of a worklow.. and then emphasize the tools tagged.

 

image.png

Best regards,

Simon

 

 

Hello all,

We all have experienced these last years the now famous concept of hide/unhide password :
Here a few examples of it

 

password-reveal-button.png

I would like this exact principle everywhere we have a password on Alteryx.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello all,

 

ADBC is a database connection standard (like ODBC or JDBC) but specifically designed for columnar storage (so database like DuckDB, Clickhouse, MonetDB, Vertica...). This is typically the kind of stuff that can make Alteryx way faster.

 

more info in https://arrow.apache.org/blog/2023/01/05/introducing-arrow-adbc/

 

Here a benchmark made by the guys at DuckDB : 38x improvement

https://duckdb.org/2023/08/04/adbc.html

 

307583921-894b24c0-19ee-4900-b80c-7c7688ea9cd9.png

 

Best regards,

 

Simon

Problem statement - 

Currently we are storing our Alteryx data in .yxdb file format and whenever we want to fetch the data, the whole dataset first load into the memory and then we can able to apply filter tool afterwards to get the required subset of data from .yxdb which is completely waste of time and resources.

 

Solution - 

My idea is to introduce a YXDB SQL statement tool which can directly apply in a workflow to get the required dataset from .YXDB file, I hope this will reduce the overall runtime of workflow and user will get desired data in record time which improves the performance and reduce the memory consumption.

Hello,

This is a popular feature on other tools, such as Talend (now Talaxie) : the ability to export the workflow as a vectorized screenshot in svg.

Why ? it helps to build documentation, svg being vectorized, it means the picture can be zoomed in without losing quality.

Of course, that would mean before that Alteryx use svg for icons as required here https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Ideas/svg-support-for-icon-comment-image-e...

Best regards

Simon

 

 

Allow users the ability to add a delay on the connection between Control Container tools. I frequently have to rerun workflows that use the control container because the workflow has not registered that the file was properly closed on outputting from one output tool to the next. The network drives haven't resolved and show that the file is still open while its moved on to the next control container. Users should have an option in the Configuration screen to add a delay before a signal is sent for the next container to run. 

 

In the past I was able to use a CReW tool (Wait a Second) in conjunction with the Block Until Done tool to add the delay in manually. But I have since converted all of my workflows over to Control Containers. Since then half of the times the workflow has run I encounter the following errors.

 

image.png

image.png

Hello all,

When using in-database, all you have in select or formula are the Alteryx field types (V_String, etc..).

However, since you're mostly writing in database, in the end, there is a conversion of Alteryx field types to real SQL field types (like varchar). But how is it done ? As of today, it's a total black box. Some documentation would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello all,

It's really frustrating to have an "alteryx field type" in In-Database Select. It doesn't even make sense since we're manipulating only data in SQL database where those types does not exist. What we should see is the SQL field type.
alteryx_monetdb2_.png
Best regards,

Simon

Formula Tool --> Functions --> Operators list

 

The operator titles for the two comment functions are too similar, the difference cannot be determined unless checking the hover text.

Can the title for /* Comment */ be adjusted to make it more clear that it is for block or multi-line usage?

I didn't understand the difference until I saw this post on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7165816592063266817/

/* Comment */ --> /* Block Comment */   |   /* Multi-line Comment */

 

2024-02-21 08_18_04-Alteryx Designer x64 - _New Workflow1.png

  

2024-02-21 08_18_11-Alteryx Designer x64 - _New Workflow1.png

Everyone knows the importance of adding the appropriate controls and governance to your workflows - and often, this means including events that will generate notifications if a workflow is running with errors.

 

But who is the audience of that email? If it's not a developer, will that person know what they are reading and where to focus?

 

How about a developer that would like to customize the message that the end user will receive?

 

Porting some existing functionality from other tools in the Alteryx toolkit to the Events page could easily provide added flexibility to event generation:

 

1) Add a formatting bar to the tool like shown in the image below

-- Style changes

-- Alignment

-- Highlighting

-- Coloring

-- Images

 

2) Add a function bar to the tool like shown in the image below

-- Ability to view all available variables

-- Ability to apply formulas using variables

-- Ability to save formulas

 

Events.JPG

 

What do you think? Give this post a thumbs up if you find the post helpful!

I would like a way to disable all containers within a workflow with a single click.  It could be simply disable / enable all or a series of check boxes, one for each container, where you can choose to disable / enable all or a chosen selection. 

 

In large workflows, with many containers, if you want to run a single container while testing it can take a while to scroll up and down the workflow disabling each container in turn.  

Hey all,

 

I don't know about you, but I have always had trouble hovering the mouse over the Results window pane trying to get the resize icon to appear. It seems like you need surgeon level precision to find the icon! 😷

 

I love Designer and want to see it be the best it can possibly be. I feel like increasing the clickable/hovering area for this resize would be amazingly helpful! 

Just wanted to see if we could get some community momentum going in order to get some developer eyes on this issue. 🙂

 

 Please help by bumping/upvoting this thread!

ksang_2-1700231361920.gif

 

 -K

Migrated this from another thread. Some folks tagged from the original post :)
@cpatrickwk @caltang @afellows @MRod @alexnajm @ericsmalley @MilindG @Prometheus @innovate20 

Hi everyone! I have been trying to find a way to do this without creating a new idea, but I have decided to make it an official 'Idea' to see if there is anyone else that might appreciate a feature like this (or has found there own way to do it!)

 

Do your workflows look like this...

 

cable mgmt idea (before).png

 

but you wish they could look like this?

 

cable mgmt idea (after).png

 

Well... they can with your help!

 

Okay, I might be crazy...but its worth a shot.

 

While I understand this is an extremely niche issue, in my experience, it can become very difficult to trace the data through unmanaged lines in large workflows. I think it will be great to cable manage canvas lines so workflows are easier to follow. Heck, while I am already at it, I think it we should all start calling these canvas lines cables... They don't carry electricity, but they sure do carry data!

 

Here is an example I created in Alteryx using select tools and containers:

alteryx cable mgmt idea.png

 

 

Hello all,

Apache Doris ( https://doris.apache.org/ ) is a modern datawarehouse with a lot of ambitions. It's probably the next big thing.

 

image.png


You can read the full doc here https://doris.apache.org/docs/get-starting/what-is-apache-doris but to sum it up, it aims to be THE reference solution for OLAP by claiming even better performance than Clickhouse, DuckDB or MonetDB. Even benchmarks from the Clickhouse team seem to agree.

Best regards,

Simon

I would love a tool to be created for looking up a value in a table based on a condition. It could be called "Lookup." One input to the tool would be the lookup list, the other is the main database. Inside the tool you could enter functions that can query the lookup table and return the results either as an overwrite of an existing field in the main DB or as a new field in the main DB, similar to the options in the Multi-Row Formula tool.

 

Here is a link to my post in Community that explains the problem. The solution, in a nutshell, was to create a Join (which resulted in millions of additional rows), run the conditional formula, then filter to get rid of the millions of rows that were created by the Join so only those that met the condition remained (the original database rows).

 

Here is the text of my Community post describing my project (slightly modified for clarity):

 

Table 1:  A list of Pay Dates (the lookup table)

Table 2:  Daily timekeeper data with Week Start and Week End Date fields.

 

The goal:  To find the Pay Date in Table 1 that is greater than the Week Start Date in Table 2 and no more than 13 days after the Week End Date in Table 2.

 

[Table 2: Week Start Date] < [Table 1: Pay Date]

and [Table 2: Week End Date] < [Table 1: Pay Date]

and DateTimeDiff([Table 1: Pay Date], [Table 2: Week End Date], 'Days') <= 13

 

There are many different flows I could use this type of tool for that would save time and simplify the flow.

Thanks!

We all know and love the Comment tool. It's a staple of every workflow to give users an idea of the workflow in finer details. It's a powerful tool - it helps adds context to tools and containers, and it also serves as an image placeholder for us to style our workflows as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

 

Now, the gensis of this idea is inspired by this post and subsequent research question here.

 

The Comment Tool today allows you to:

  • Write your text and provide context / documentation to your workflow
  • Style its shape
  • Style its font, colour, and background colour
  • Align the text
  • Put an image to your workflow

image.png

 

But it would provide way more functionality if it had the capabilities of another awesome Alteryx tool that is not so frequently mentioned... the Report Text Tool!

 

What's missing in the Comment tool that the Report Text tool has?

  1. The ability to add active data records from the workflow to its text
  2. Its wider range of styles which allows for more functionality such as with its Special Tags functions
  3. Its ability to hyperlink
  4. Text mode options!

image.png

 

Now, whilst I understand that the Report Text tool is just that, a tool that needs to be connected to the data to work, so too does the Comment tool (to a lesser extent).

 

It would be awesome to have the ability to connect the data to the Comment tool as it was a Control Container-like connector. It can also be just like the Report Text tool with an optional input, thereby making it like a normal Comment tool.

 

To visualize my point:

image.png

 

The benefits of doing so:

  • Greater flexibility to the user
  • Styles are endgame
  • Users can use the comment box as a checksum or even a total count / checker to ensure everything is working as intended
  • Makes the comment tool more powerful as a dynamic workflow documentation tool

I think it'll be a killer feature enhancement to the comment tool. Hoping to hear comments on this! 

 

Kindly like, share, and subscribe I mean comment your support. Thanks all! 😁

 

-caltang

The idea is quite simple. I am sure a lot of Alteryx enthusiasts use containers frequently. These can also be color coded for better overview and readability of your workflows. However, while connections between tools can be named, they cannot be colored. 

 

Therefore, this idea is very simple. Adding an option to color these connections. This would allow for even more readability of workflows. Especially if a workflow contains multiple separate streams of data, this could help to navigate and keep track of how and where data is flowing.

 

 

 

Idea_ConnectionColors.png

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