Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

When outputting data to a spreadsheet, the default option is "output to a new sheet". The second time you run your process, you get an error unless you are amazing enough to remember to change the output option to "overwrite sheet".

If you change to "overwrite sheet" for the first run, it actually works just fine and creates the new sheet. 

Can Alteryx just eliminate the "output to a new sheet option" so that users will no longer be concerned that "Alteryx doesn't work" when they get this error after creating their first process? And the rest of us will be able to save the run time with an error, then the change of the option?

Thanks!

The option to "Disable all Tools that Write Output" doesn't currently affect the Publish to Tableau Server output tool.

Yes.  I'll admit it.  I have set up email events and forgot to enter my address into the 'to' field.  The upshot is that an error was occurring in my workflow, the tool went to email me, and then double borked because I hadn't filled in a recipient. 

Lots of tools error out without appropriate configuration applied, it shouldn't be too difficult to get this working on the events panel also. 

Thank you for attending my TED talk on improvements to the Events pane.

If you open a workflow in Designer from the Gallery, make some changes, and then attempt to save it back to Gallery (i.e., Ctrl-S), you receive the Save Workflow dialog (as per attached).  However, if you then realize that you want to make an additional change before saving the workflow and click 'Cancel', the workflow closes without saving.  The expected behavior would be for the Save Workflow dialog to close, but not the entire workbook.  This is terrible functionality and should be fixed because it results in lost work.  Thank you

When developing workflows, it would be great if there was a feature to be able to disable multiple containers at once, rather than having to click on each one individually, for example through selecting all of the required containers and right clicking "disable selected containers".

In the meantime, a workaround is to copy the portion of the workflow being developed onto a new canvas.

I have been creating tools that access API data that needs a valid token that does expire.  I use iterative macros because I sometimes need to do offsets and loop around but I also need to confirm that the token is still valid and there is a limit of how many time you can generate a token on a run so I don't want to regenerate the token on each loop.  I sometimes can use the filter tool to accomplish this goal but I have to do some weird place holder stuff so it does not error if no data is coming through.  A nice to have would be if you could have it configure like you do the radio button input to say if value is YES then keep this part of the workflow on if value is "NO" then turn off this sections.

Hello,
Frequently when using the 'Show Field Map' option in a Macro Input I utilize an Action Tool with the 'Update Select with Reverse Field Map' action later in the workflow. When trying to use workflow debug to test the functionality of the macro, Designer throws an error stating the 'Action ReverseFieldMap: can't update from a macro input in an Analytic App.' This makes sense since there are no user supplied fields names in the input data stream to use for the reverse field mapping. However, this prevents me from using of the workflow debugger. The workaround is to manually delete the Action Tool prior to using the debugger. I can then test the macro to ensure the proper functionality. I don't expect the fields names to be anything other than those I supplied as Template Inputs to the Macro Input. This workaround is cumbersome especially if the workflow requires multiple reverse mapping actions. Not to mention I have to remember to undo the delete when updating the workflow after testing.

I suggest an automated process is needed to remove any Action Tools using the reverse field map action from a workflow when the debug workflow is being built for testing. If needed, maybe supply a prompt indicating they were removed. This would allow a smoother transition between macro development and debugging. 

Have Alteryx have different colored lines for the different paths that come in and go out from a tool like how Excel colors references in a formula.

Currently there are forecasting tools under time series (prediciting for the future). But can a back casting function/tool be added to predict historic data points.

It would be neat to add a feature to the Output tool to allow grouping by rows, with all the data related to the group column viewable under a drop-down of the selected field. 

I've heard that this is possible with a power pivot but would be a nice feature in Alteryx.

Ex. A listing of all customers in a specific city -> Group by the "Neighborhood" column, the output should be a list of all neighborhoods in the city, with an option to drop down on each neighborhood to see its residents and their relevant data. 

Thanks!

I would like to suggest that right-click on the tab allows the user the ability to EDIT the workflow name/path and save updates by use of an ENTER key press.

Cheers,

Mark

My Backstory:

I am currently what you would call an "independent" data analyst.  I currently work for a major US based bank and I am trying to change roles to a data analytics role within said company.  Many of our data analytics teams use (or are migrating to) Alteryx.  I myself love the program.  I have now attained the Core certification.  As I have yet to be hired as a data analyst I am currently independently learning and building skills...but as of right now, it seems that data analytics is more of a hobby. 

Issue: 

I think there are a lot of people out there who are in my shoes.  They are either migrating to a data analytics role or are a former analyst just wanting to keep doing what they like doing or are freelancers.  Alteryx is an amazing tool.  But, the big issue is that we can get the free cert/license...but after a time...we will lose access at some point.  Unless we find an employer who can purchase the license for us.

How it Effects the parties involved: 

As stated above, I love Alteryx.  I would absolutely love to continue using it.  But, I am not in a place right now where my company is considering me for a data analytics role.  I also barely make enough to survive and would probably take me a lifetime to raise the funds for a full license on my own.  In the end, if i were to never get a data analytics role with my current employer or new employer that would be able to give me access...I would have to seriously think about abandoning the Alteryx system as a tool as I cannot spend $5000 on a what is currently a hobby.  After my learners license time is up...what do I do?

Now as for how it effects Alteryx...I would think that having people chose whether to use the software or not use the software because of financials wouldn't be the best option for business.

A Possible Fix:

A monthly subscription license.  You could have a lite version where the advanced tools are not usable.  Maybe even make a tiered subscription model.  For example, a Core subscription that has the core learner tools and maybe some of the other tools that would allow someone to do basic analysis.  Then a more advanced tier with more tools for a higher monthly rate.  And so on...

This would allow people such as myself the ability to continue to use Alteryx...and spread the good word about it to others.  It would also allow people to continue to truly master the software.  I imagine this could also make Alteryx more of a name brand within the data community...and bring it to the attention of other corporations who would then have a user base coming into the company WITH the more advanced skills to use the system built-in.  Rather than a company adopting software that they then have to train the users and going thru the growing pains of that.  Again, we would-be-monthly-subscribers wouldn't need all the fancy tools.

To wrap it all up, I love Alteryx.  I wish I was able to continue using it.  But, as I near my learner license end date, I have to think: how am I going to continue?  Do I just hope and pray I eventually find a department/company who will let me back into the cool kids club?  Do I look for something similar and move away from this simply because I have access?

I appreciate you taking the time to hear me out.  😀

Hi all,

Hope you are doing well! Recently I have come across a use case where I had to dynamically rename columns based on Field name ánd position. While I was able to come to a solution using a set of tools, it got me thinking: would it be possible to include the Fieldnumber function exactly like already has been done in the dynamic select tool (i.e. 'Select via a Formula - Column Position' example)?

For example, one would write: IF ([FieldNumber] = 1) OR ([FieldNumber] = 3) OR ([FieldNumber] = 7) THEN [_CurrentField_]+"_Code" ELSE  [_CurrentField_] ENDIF

Writing to XLSB Files using Delete and Append does not behave properly.

Alteryx currently is having an issue with writing to an XLSB file using the Delete and append option with Take the file/table name From field.

Issue:

• Old data gets deleted, and new data is added but on the wrong row.
• New data is added after location where old data was originally.
• This output error for XLSB files only shows when using Take the file/table name From field. Static paths are fine.

Workaround:

Create a Batch macro to simulate the Take the file/table name From field function without actually using it.

Example of Issue:

I received a "string variable switched type" error on the filter tool performing a basic filter on the value column of "is not empty" after a transpose tool.  The value column is datatype of  V_String 255.  So even though the values are null, blank, number, text, it is all string as per the data type column flowing in.  When switching from basic to custom with formula: IsEmpty([value]) same error.   BUT, when using the Formula Tool to generate a new column for true/false there is no error. Also the Fitler Tool works as expected with IsNull on this dataset.

Please look into the isEmpty code in the Filter tool so that it behaves correctly.

Please note that pre-splitting the data with the isEmpty flag column using the formula tool, applying IsEmpty Basic Filter  to the True and To the False both worked without incident.  

What would be nice is if there is an error in the filter tool that it would output those to it's own stream.  Something like - True (T), False (F), Error (E).

Alteryx is great for for forecasting but it would be useful if we could use it for back casting (predicting historically). Might have fewer use cases than forecasting but would still be useful.

Hey it would be great if we could use alteryx designer on macs (without needing to use VDIs or splitting the hard drive)

Hello all,

As of today, the error message when trying to activate a license doesn't give any useful information :

I want to know :
-do I manage to access to the Alteryx Licensing? (so maybe a security/proxy issue.. so I have to contact my IT)
edit : for that there is another message usually

-is the key correct but not more seats? (so I have to contact the Alteryx License manager) Or another issue?
Here, I perfectly know the license key is correct so the error message is really misleading.
-also displaying the machine id as it appears on the License portal would help.
-and anything that can be helpful to debug.

Best regards,

Simon

I am using Alteryx as an ETL Tool and then QlikSense for data visualization.

Alteryx only gives QVX outputs which are the old version QlikView files. It works for QlikSense but it slows down the system. So, the QlikSense support suggested using QVD outputs. 

I want to suggest supporting QVD files as QlikSense is being used more widely instead of QlikView, most users are migrating to QlikSense.

It would be more useful and efficient if Alteryx supports latest file format.