Macro Installation

[StephenW]

This article will walk you through howto install a macro, so that it can be accessed from thetool palette in the Designer.

1. Download or save amacro to a directory
2. Open Alteryx Designer
3. Click Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings
4. Click the Macros tab within the User Settings window
5. Click the + icon and selectthe directory used to save your macro(s)
6. Enter a Category Name for the directory to appear as in the Designer
7. Click OK
8. Macro(s) will now show up in the category specified

Things to consider:

- all macros within the folder specified will be installed

- the category specified within the macro Meta Info will take priority over the Category Name specified instep 6:

Additional Tip:

A macro can be added to a workflow without installing it. Do this by right-clicking on a blank-portion of your wokrflow and selecting Insert > Macro.., then navigate to the location of the macro you'd like to insert.

[Inactive User]

when I try to add the macro, it always gives the error informative: Nested Macro Locations are not supported. 

How to fix it?

[drom]

Thanks for the great Macro, I was just about to make one myself when you saved me. Is there possibly a way to set up batches of samples? For instance if I have 100 records and I want to seperate them into 10 equally sized segments (1-10 , 11-20, 21-30.. 91-100). Cheers

[StephenW]

@Inactive User  Are you adding the macro to your tool palette or to a workflow canvas?

[StephenW]

@drom Which macro are you referring to?  If you want to bin your records you can use the Tile tool or if you want to run a batch process on the records, you can create a Batch macro.

[drom]

@StephenW Sorry, might have posted this question under the wrong question. I am using a macro to pre-define the range of records to be used in the workflow. What I wanted to do is exactly what the Tile tool does. Thanks for the help!

[Inactive User]

@StephenW  There some path setting issue. But I have fixed it. thank you.

[joannatg]

Stephen,

would the same steps apply when installing macros on Alteryx Server?

Thanks, Joanna

[jcardoso]

Hi,

is it possible to get the names of workflows where a certain macro is used in a quick way (without having to open workflows)?

Thanks,

[JessieC]

Hi @jcardoso

Because workflows are just XML, you can read .yxmd as a .csv with no delimiters and un-check first row contains field names. You can use a filter to search for .yxmc to see which macros are being used in a workflow. If you want to search multiple workflows, you can use a Directory Tool to get the full paths of workflows to feed into a Dynamic Input tool to read in multiple workflows and then Filter contains .yxmc.

[nitinpatkar1984]

I am getting following error

1) Java 7 run time environment is installed

2) R package FSelector is installed

[nitinpatkar1984]

I have Java 7 run time environment installed

FSelector is installed

[StephenW]

@nitinpatkar1984 

Try using the Install R Packages workflow to install FSelector.  I think the package isn't being installed in the R environment that Alteryx uses.  The workflow will ensure it's installed in the correct spot.

[zazil]

@Inactive User How did you fix it?  I am experiencing the same error but from what I read on another post, it just has to be a path that is not a parent or child of an existing path reference (like CREW macros that have already been installed).  Or maybe I misunderstood?  Mine are at the same level: 

C:\Users\zazil-toma\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Tools\Alteryx Server Usage

C:\Users\zazil-toma\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Tools\CReW

Any guidance you or the community can share is appreciated!

Thanks,

Zazil

cc: @mix_pix 

[zazil]

Update: Turns out, all we had to do was delete the macro path(s) we had in the User Settings locally, and structure our regular macros and CReW macros to be under this path locally and on server: C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Tools\.  Apparently this is a path that Alteryx looks at by default so any folders that contain macros will appear in your ribbon and server will look for unpackaged macros there.

For example, on both local machine and server:

Regular macros: C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Tools\PS

CReW: C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Tools\CReW

- Zazil

[thor1]

Thanks finally able to install a Macro

[FreeRangeDingo]

If I want to use the macro in a workflow run from the Gallery, do we just follow the exact same steps on the alteryx installed on the server machine?  Or is there something else that needs to happen?