Community Spring Cleaning week is here! Join your fellow Maveryx in digging through your old posts and marking comments on them as solved. Learn more here!
The Product Idea boards have gotten an update to better integrate them within our Product team's idea cycle! However this update does have a few unique behaviors, if you have any questions about them check out our FAQ.

Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

Share your Designer Desktop product ideas - we're listening!
Submitting an Idea?

Be sure to review our Idea Submission Guidelines for more information!

Submission Guidelines

Featured Ideas

I've done consulting at a number of client sites where the Alteryx Designer method of using IE proxy server settings isn't suitable.  Many enterprises are using automatic configuration scripts for the proxy server settings and this doesn't work with Alteryx Designer.  It is often not possible to explicitly set IE proxy server settings in an enterprise environment or in cases where it is possible those settings often revert back each night when group policies are synchronised. 

 

Ideally Alteryx Designer would be able to use automatic configuration scripts or have seperate proxy server configuration that can be configured in the application and not rely on settings in Internet Explorer or Windows.

  • Setup & Configuration

I would like to have feature to disable the fitter tool so that all the filters added within the filter tool are ignored when the filter tool is disabled and data flows through to the next tool . At this moment there is no way we can achieve this as adding a tool to a container and disabling it stops the data flow to the next tool.

I regularly create events to capture messages from workflows or kick off batch scripts for other processes and they are repetitive. Is there a way to template some of these?

 

This could even be as simple as a saving the .yxft type file, where it is only saving the setting.

 

Email Event TriggerEmail Event TriggerRun Command Event TriggerRun Command Event Trigger

  • Setup & Configuration

Python tool could be useful... for those who need it. Otherwise it just takes time to install and disk space, or even be a security problem for some companies.

Why not make its installation optional so that people could chose to install it only if they need it, or choose to install it later (like the predictive tools for example). 

 

Thanks,

 

PaulN

  • Setup & Configuration

I just upgraded to the new Alteryx 8.6 which I'm looking forward to using, however, it is quite frustrating that none of my customized user settings are maintained during the install process. I make a few customizations:

  • Vertical layout
  • Showing the grid and the XML
  • Turning off the "module complete" pop-up
  • My 'panes' where I put them
  • A few favorite tools in the "Favorites" toolbar

And there are so many other customizations that I don't go near (but might if they were maintained during upgrade), like:

  • Default temporary path and Logging
  • Dataset defaults
  • Zoom levels
  • Startup page & Distance units

Please implement a way of maintaining these settings!!

We have a lot of workflows with a lot going on in them, as I'm sure a lot of you do.

Sometimes, the way that Alteryx draws the connections between tools is loopy, literally.

It would be very helpful if we could explicitly control how the connectors were routed, as this would allow us to prevent them from cutting across other complex areas of the workflow.

Also if we could bundle the connectors (think tying together a bunch of cables with a cable tie) so that things that were heading to the same part of the canvas could route there as a bundle.

So I just realized that if I click F2 I am brought to the annotation window in the configuration window. 

It would be great if I can click F3 to bring me back to the Configuration window! Often times I switch back between configuring and annotation a tool multiple times. 

 

‘]Thanks,

 

J

Would be nice to group workflows and their schedules because it gets confusing if you have a lot of schedules/workflows in the schedule view.

 

Especially if you have more than one schedule for a workflow.

 

One way could be to create folder system or to manage it through the meta info like macros.

 

alteryx.JPG

 

 

 

  • Setup & Configuration

When attempting to save from Designer to Gallery the last step of the save is the validation step.  The validation step, as I understand it, checks to make sure there's a valid license on Gallery.  This counts as one of the processing "threads".  If your organization is constrained by the throughput on Gallery, this can cause delays. 

 

Our business only has the 2-thread service level for Alteryx Gallery.  Consequently, if someone is running long, drawn out workflows on Gallery, this can create delays in saving the file from Designer to Gallery.  It can also cause delays if there's a long "line" of workflows waiting to run.  I presume that the save attempt is put in line along with the other jobs on Gallery that have to run.  If this is the case, it could take a long time to complete the validation--tens of minutes or longer.  

 

That window being open keeps the user from being able to use Designer at all.  Very inefficient.  There should be a requirement that the user has both valid licenses on Designer and on Gallery before they can run anything on Gallery.  However, the validation of both of those is already accomplished by virtue of the fact that Designer checks for a license whenever the program loads.  Also, if Gallery checks for the license anytime the workflow runs, then the second half of this check is already accomplished and, therefore, renders the check when saving to Gallery unnecessary.  Please correct me if i'm wrong on this. 

 

Change #1) Please the validation of Gallery license when saving from Designer to Gallery.

Change #2) Please adjust Designer such that you can continue to edit workflows on the same session while other files are being saved to Gallery.

Change #3) If we can't get #1 or #2, please change the queueing process to put attempts to save to Gallery in the front of the line because they should take <1 second to validate the license while other workflows could take many minutes.

Allow users to disable any steps in workflow except input and Join conditions.

 

To edit existing workflow sometime we may required to remove few steps, it is better if we have option to disable and update mapping instead of delete.

I think the Cache and Run Workflow option is a good addition in Alteryx 2018.3 but I think it needs more work to be useful.

 

For example I build a simple workflow where each tool is fed in by one tool and is used by one tool. So you have a sequence of tools. A -> B --> C --> D -- > E

Say I build A -> B -> C and I put a Cache and Run Workflow option on C, it will run the workflow and cache the output out of C.

 

But if I build D and E onto it after that event and put the option Cache and Run Workflow on E, it will run the whole workflow ignoring the cache output from C.

 

Can it be changed where E's Cache and Run Workflow will respect C's Cache and Run Workflow?

 

Thanks,

 

Mathew

Currently Alteryx Designer Custom schedule window only support specifying 1 hour. I would like to request it be changed to Hours of the Day with checkboxes from 0 to 23, similar to Days of the Month.

 

Alteryx schedule window.png

  • Setup & Configuration

Option to select start and end time per day

 

e.g. between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM every 2 hours

  • Setup & Configuration

I have several modules that need to run in sequence.   Can a ksh or some other program be used to string the modules together?  

So that if I have Step1.yxmd, Step2.yxmd and Step3.yxmd.  2 is dependent on 1, 3 is dependent on 2.  I want to tell it the jobs to run and then to wait until that module completes, then run the next.  


run Step1.yxmd
Wait

run Step2.yxmd
Wait

run Step3.yxmd
Wait


Or, if I have a group of modules that can run concurrently but subsequent jobs are dependent on all of them to finish, i can let all those jobs run and have the next step wait for those to complete to begin.  

run Step1A.yxmd
run Step1B.yxmd
run Step1C.yxmd
run Step1D.yxmd
Wait

run Step2.yxmd
Wait

run Step3.yxmd
Wait


I know this is very simplistic, but hoping it shows the need.  Also, we do have the scheduler set up to use, so if there is a way to set dependencies between modules within Scheduler, that might be helpful.  Just haven't found anything.  

Thanks!

 Hi!

 

I opened up WorkflowA and WorkflowB.  Later, I went to Windows Explorer, and clicked open WorkflowA, because I wanted to make another change in it.  Not realizing that it was already open, I inadvertently forked WorkflowA into two versions.

 

It is desireable to be able to open a workflow twice.  Say, I made several changes and wanted to compare that to the original. However, it would be nice if Alteryx produced a warning saying that the workflow has already been opened.  In my case, WorkflowA was pretty complicated, and I don't know if I "un-forked" the workflow correctly.  A notice would have prevented this scenario, which has happened to me multiple times.

 

Thank you,

 

Joe Kelly

There are quite a number of XML configurations available in Alteryx Designer as well as in Alteryx server.  And there are possibly in different locations and each of them them is specifically for different configuration options.

 

Currently, there it isn't a official list of all these configuration files as well as all the configurable options.  It would be good to have a centralized area to configure and visualize all these.  This not only helps easier to know how to customize the tool but also help easier to maintain the backup/restore of the configuration files.

 

Moreover, there are possibly some settings go into the registry.  This would be also good to have this centralized as well.

 

Ideally, a user interface would be good for these configuration with general/advanced tabs to classify the possible configuration.  For server, ideally, it could be comes up the controller to distribute all these settings.  For Designer, once it is configured to the Gallery, it should be able to grab the configuration and apply in the machine.

 

Hope all these make sense and do-able.

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

Kong

  • Setup & Configuration

I would like the ablity to view the processing order of tools within module prior to processing and if needed reprioratize which tool processes first/last.  It would also be great to have the ablity to disable a subset of tools within a module prior to processing.

With more and more tools, macros, drivers installed and an increasing complexity, it is common to place a call for help with Alteryx Customer Support, Alteryx Community, and any person who is willing to help.

 

Unfortunately, it often ends with a helpful person asking for lots of details looking like following daunting list:

- Version of Alteryx Designer

- Installed Alteryx licenses

- Versions of drivers (ODBC, OCI, OLEDB, etc.)

- Screen resolution

- OS

- RAM, CPU, Available disk space

- Environment variables

- Installed tools (%APPDATA% and %PROGRAMDATA%) and versions

- Error Logs (potentially event logs)

- Antivirus and versions

- R packages installed out of Alteryx (with locations and versions)

- Extra Python packages installed

- Any Python/R distribution installed

- Status of Alteryx Service (for Designer with Scheduler)

- RuntimeSettings.xml

- Python tool installation logs

- list of autosave files (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Alteryx\Autosave)

- AlteryxService logs (for Scheduler)

- Alteryx Gallery logs (not relevant for Designer, fair enough).

- etc.

 

These are just examples...

 

 

Note that:

  • Some of these details are available via msinfo32.exe.
  • Community contains a few workflows to help with this tedious task (useful if Designer could work and if you can find such workflows)

 

 

Instead it could easier to:

- Click on an entry under Help menu

- Click on an icon on the Desktop 

- Run a command line

to generate a report and attach (if wanted) logs

 

Same external program could be used for these tasks (external so it could work even if Alteryx product was "broken").

 

 

In terms of benefits:

- for end users: easy to use (no need to remember x locations that might change between versions) 

- for local IT: easy to use and good tool to generate a snapshot of a machine with an Alteryx product installed on it

- for anybody involved in support (local champions, Alteryx support team(s), Alteryx Community, etc.): better support since there would be one thing to ask instead of risking to miss something important. Potential patterns (incompatibility with antivirus, else) would be easier to spot too.

 

 

This would provide a new -better?- way for anyone involved in helping users (including Community) and could be helpful in case of escalation.

 

 

Thanks,

 

PaulN

  • Setup & Configuration

I love using the YXI installer for distributing custom macros; I have even used to install an entire palette of macros.  However, when installing to a new, user-defined palette, I still need to instruct users to copy custom_palette.png into C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\RuntimeData\icons\categories.

 

It would be nifty keen if we could add custom_palette,png into the config.xml file and have the YXI installer place the file into the \icons\categories directory.

 

I imagine that some checks would need to be added, to ensure we weren't overwriting icons for the built in palettes.

 

Gallery is useful for sharing workflows or web-based storage. However, if you want to open a set of workflows that are not otherwise linked, but for example are part of a single project, it would be helpful to be able to save it as you might to a folder. Likewise, if you want to add a workflow to a group, you have to open all the workflows and then resave the workflow group.

 

Suggestion 1: Add an option in the Meta Info Tab of the Configuration window that would allow you to select/create a workflow group to add the workflow to.

 

Suggestion 2: Allow keyword tagging of workflows with a search option so that similar projects can be searched for and compared easily. This is already available in Server, but would be extremely helpful for small businesses where there might only be a single user, as is my case. ESRI's ArcGIS Online has this tagging capability as a reference.

  • Setup & Configuration
Top Liked Authors