Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

Just like the dynamic input tool, a dynamic Output tool would allow us to write to a database, wait until done, and then use the primary keys generated from that output later in the workflow.

Without dynamic output, we are forced to modify our database table structure or "hack" the dynamic input tool as a work-around.

It would be very useful if dynamic output tool had the same options as a regular output tool (e.x. append, update, overwrite, etc.)

Hi team,

There are some things that we would like to do with the download tool that currently are not possible:

 

1. use client side certificates to sign requests. This is a requirement for us in a project where we are interacting with the API of our customer's financial system. They provide us with a certificate and it is used to sign our requests, along with other authentication.Currently we have to use the external command tool to execute a powershell script using invoke-restmethod to do this interaction. I would much prefer to not have more tools in the chain.

Client certificates are described in the TLS 1.0 specification: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2246 (page 43), and I believe them to be supported by cURL.

 

2. Multipart form-data. We have a number of workflows where we need to send multipart form data as part of a POST request. As this is not supported by the Download Tool, we have again used the external command tool to execute invoke-restmethod or invoke-webrequest in powershell. I don't know if modification of the Download Tool would be the best thing here, vs having either a dedicated tool for multipart form data, or having an HTTP POST specific tool that was able to handle multipart form data. What I envisage is something like the formula tool, with the ability to add an arbitrary number of cells, where we could use formula to either directly output a value from a column, synthesise a new value, or directly enter a static value). The tool would then compose this with boundaries between the parts, and calculate the content-size to add to the http request.

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.

I'd like to see a tool that can take an input, then send it in different directions (similar to formula tool), but with many options... based on filters and/or formulas and/or fields.

 

Sometimes I need to perform actions on parts of my data or perform different actions depending on whether the data matches certain criteria and then re-union it later.

 

Right now, the filter tool only allows true or false. If we could customize further we could optimize our workflows rather than stringing filter tools together as if they are nested if/then.

So either the filter tool could have more options than true/false, and infinite ouputs, or the join multiple tool could be flipped, as shown below.

 

I envision something that says:

Split workflow:

• By Field: Field Name (perhaps with summarize functions such as min/max, etc.)
• By Formula (same configuration as current)
• By Filter
  • Field
  • Operator
  • Variable

 

I need to input some zip files which are password protected. There should be a method to input them without manually entering the password.

 Hi there,

 

When working through a question with our team on how Excel & MS SQL represent dates, we did a quick test and confirmed that SQL and Excel are both storing dates & date-times as a number (technically the offset from a fixed date) which really helps for things like BI applications where a fact table may store a very large number of dates on each record (entered date/time; updated date/time; transaction date/time; etc)

 

However, when we look at the same in Alteryx, it seems to be storing these dates as plain text (see screenshot below) - meaning that instead of an 8 byte field for every date and datetime; which can be compressed using offset logic like in Parquet, these appear to be represented as a 19 byte field for date-time.

 

Would it make sense to change the internal representation to a number to make date-offsetting and processing easier (all date-logic then becomes simple addition / subtraction instead of string manipulation)?

 

Note: You can see this in the screenshot below.   the date field has 10 bytes; and the date-time has 19 bytes (where both of these are stored and represented in MSSQL in 8 bytes in total)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chaos reigns within. Repent, reflect and reboot. Order shall return.

 

For those of us really old school, this would be a novel Easter egg to add

 

Comment boxes should not have to be 'configured' like other tools.  After dropping a box on the canvas the user should automatically be able to begin typing to complete the box.  All modifications of text should be accomplished via a selection directly from the canvas and a right click to bring up an edit box or function similar to MS solutions.

Problem:

Dynamic Input tool depends on a template file to co-relate the input data before processing it. Mismatch in the schema throws an error, causing a delay in troubleshooting.  

 

Solution:

It would be great if the users got an enhancement in this Tool, wherein they could Input Text or Edit Text without any template file. (Similar to a Text Editor in Macro Input Tool)

 

I've discovered something I feel could be a drastic improvement in time with the Text To Columns tool. Frequently we have to split out data such as SSNs and ZIP Codes. From 9 digits to say XXX XX XXXX for SSN in order to mask data or from 9 digits to XXXXX-XXXX for ZIP Code or split it into into two separate cells. If the data is received with no delimiter, there is no way in text to columns to easily separate it without complex code. I asked for a way to do this and didn't get a clear response from support@alteryx.com for about a week after being unsatisfied with the basic and incomplete explanations I was receiving. Finally a Sr Customer Support Engineer gave me this complete answer using string function formulas:

 

FormattedSSN
left([SSN],3)+"-"+Substring([SSN],3,2)+"-"+Right([SSN],4)

MaskedSSN
"XXX-XX-"+right([SSN],4)

This seems like a very complicated way to do something Excel can do in three clicks.

 

Any chance we can get a fixed width delimiter button added to Text To Columns in future versions?

Hi,

 

I recently had a project that involved clipping the spatial polygon from one record with the spatial polygon of a different dataset. Currently, the only way I know how to use Alteryx to do this is to use a Spatial Match tool to get both spatial objects in the same record line, which allows me to use the Spatial Process tool. In my case, I was trying to trim polygons to the US, so my second spatial object was a polygon for the entire US, which then got attached to every record of my data in order to do the Spatial Process.

 

My suggestion is simple, make the Spatial Process tool have an option that would allow for two Inputs. I bring my target data in on one stream, chose the process method I want, and use the second Input as my "clip" data. This would allow people to trip/clip their data without having to append the clip data to every single record in the target dataset.

 

Same concept applies for the Distance tool, currently have to have both spatial objects in one record. My suggestion is to allow the Distance tool to also allow two inputs, I understand there is the Find Nearest tool and that as two inputs, but I'm not always just wanting the nearest, or to have a cutoff distance. Sometimes, I just want to know the distance in my target data to the location in my secondary file, for every record..

Currently, users are unable to export only the annotations contents.

 

Requested change: Please add an option to export just the annotation content for an entire workflow. 

This would be useful when Tax reviewers need to include the workflow preparers' comments in the tax compliance review file.

Within the mapping tool, please add an alignment option (left/center/right) within the label options (when wrapping).

It would be great to make R tool in Alteryx closer in interface to, let's say, RStudio. By this I mean - can we please have code auto completions, color highlighting of formulas/dataset names, and other useful interface details that make coding easier?

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

Greenplum / Postgresql Bulk Loader Capability much like the oracle and MS Sql.

Thanks!
John

When working with large amount of data the browse tool profiling causes the program to stop responding.

 

A feature to disable the profiling per browse tool.

or even better

After a set threshold (e.g. amount of rows), the auto profiling is disabled and requires an action to run.

In one of the recent releases, Alteryx enhanced the error message when there is an error within the Formula tool to display the error and the formula expression number.  

 

Example: 

Error: Formula (3): Parse Error at char(0): Unknown variable "TEST" (Expression #2)

 

My suggestion would be to label the different expressions within the formula tool with expression numbers.   And/or code the expression name when there is an error message.

I am frequently using comments within my containers to tell an engaging story to my business Audience about the workflow I have built. However, whenever I start adding, removing, moving tools etc within containers these comments don't remain static within the relative position of the container and drift into positions that I have to manually adjust. 

 

 

From a time saving perspective it would be great if I could:

1. fix the position of comment within a container and

2. Group comments in a way similar to how you can group objects in Visio and Photoshop

 

How I use comments in Alteryx