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Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Designer Desktop experts.

C# (.NET) SDK Deprecation Announcement (UPDATE)

BlytheE
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Created

UPDATE: After reviewing the decision to deprecate the C# (.NET) SDK, we are committed to the C# (.NET) SDK working as it currently does in Alteryx Designer and Server for at least the next two years. This change is reflected in the specified time frame below.

 

Hello #AlteryxAddicts,

 

tl;dr
The C# (.NET) SDK will be deprecated in December 2021. Users currently leveraging the C# SDK for custom tools will need to convert their tools to a different backend (C++, Python, or macro) ahead of its deprecation. As part of this, the UI of the tool will also need to be reconfigured using the HTML GUI SDK, or macro if using a macro.

FAQ
What Is Happening? The C# (.NET) SDK will be deprecated in December 2021. See the 'Next Steps' section for more information.

What is the C# SDK? A way for .NET developers to create their own custom tools for Alteryx. Documentation can be found here: [installdirectory]\Alteryx\APIs\SampleCode\DotNetCustomTools.pdf

Why is this changing? Alteryx is putting more resources into improving the C++ and Python SDKs.


Who's Impacted? Anyone who is leveraging the C# (.NET) SDK.

Who's Not Impacted? Anyone who is not utilizing the C# (.NET) SDK.

What should we use instead? The Python SDK, C++ SDK, or macro backend (https://help.alteryx.com/developer/current/BuildCustomTools.htm).

Next steps? The C# (.NET) SDK will be deprecated in December 2021. Custom tools utilizing the C# (.NET) SDK might continue to work on Windows, but not all existing functionality will be available and you should consider converting the backend of your tools to something that will be supported, such as Python, C++, or macro. The UI of the tool will also need to be reconfigured using the HTML GUI SDK, or a macro (Interface tools) if using a macro. Links to backend options documentation: Python, C++, or macro. Links to frontend options documentation: macro or HTML GUI SDK documentation.

Questions?


Contact bearly@alteryx.com

Alter Everything!

Comments
jarrod
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

@BlytheE - Will the flexera licensing be fixed in 2020.1 so that the .net functions can utilize the AlteryxEngine.exe? It broke in 2019.3 and 2019.4, so i was hoping to have a fix in 2020 to upgrade the servers. 

BlytheE
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Hi @jarrod - what error are you receiving in 19.3 and 19.4? We had someone else report the "The Feature API is not licensed" error in 19.4 when trying to use it and copying the flexera dll's (specifically the ones mentioned in steps 2 and 3 from the "Copy Required DLLs" section here https://help.alteryx.com/current/developer-help/net-api) to the upgraded machines fixed it. 

 

jarrod
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

that's the error i'm receiving and copying the DLLs didn't fix the issue. The odd part is that I have tested migration from 18.3 to 19.2 and copied over those DLLs and it worked as expected. But the same process doesn't work for upgrading to 19.3 or 19.4.  

BlytheE
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

That is odd, indeed! Let's take this offline and I'll update this post once we have a solution! I'll reach out via email

BlytheE
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

To close the loop on this, we were able to get the .NET API to work on 19.3+ by only copying the following dll's over to the project folder:

 

AlteryxAPI.Net.dll

AlteryxDocument.dll

Base.Net.dll

SrcUtils_DotNet.dll

and leaving the flexera dll's and Base.dll out. We will update the documentation to reflect this change soon!

 

Thanks!

 

 

jarrod
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

a quick aside:

After some further tinkering i noticed that having/not having the flx*.dll's in the service folder didn't really matter.

When you put base.dll in the folder, it started failing. 

 

Either way, the 4 dlls above are the way to go. Thanks for tracking this down @BlytheE !!