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Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Designer Desktop experts.

Parse Dates Easily with BB Date

AshtonW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Created

Get this tool from the Gallery here.

The BB Date tool allows you to parse any date or datetime field with ease - even if you have mixed formatting.

The tool was originally developed as a macro but has now been completely re-written with the Python SDK leveraging the dateparser library. Its configuration is simple: choose the field to parse and the output type – Datetime or Date.

interface.PNG

This tool uses a .yxi file format. A .yxi file is a package that includes an Alteryx tool and all of its dependencies zipped into a single file. When this file is imported into Alteryx, the tool is added to the tool palette in the category specified in the tool. When a workflow that uses a .yxi tool is shared with another user, the .yxi tool is not included in the workflow and must be installed by the user.

Get this tool from the Gallery here.

Comments
mcha54
8 - Asteroid

Hi this is great! Are you able to host the YXI download directly on the gallery and not dropbox? Dropbox is blocked at our company unfortunately.

Also, are there still the same limitations as the previous version?

AshtonW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@mcha54 

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to host YXI's directly on the gallery. Instead, I can send you an email with the YXI attached if that works better.

 

This version of BBDate does not have the same limitations as the macro. Two digit years are supported, and you can have as many different formats in the same column as you like.

nrossin
8 - Asteroid

@AshtonW Would you kindly email this to me as well? I'm currently using the old macro, but it doesn't work on mixed formats. My company also blocks DropBox access.

 

Thank you!

 

EDIT: Never mind. I grabbed it from DropBox on my personal computer. The tool just doesn't work for me; I left my workflow running overnight and the tool is only at 23%, processing a dataset of only 68,000 rows. That is not a usable speed for me...

Jayordan
7 - Meteor

I'm getting this error when I try and use this macro in a workflow I'm saving to the Alteryx Gallery (Server) any ideas?

 

Error: Unable to resolve plugin Python 'BB Date\BB Date Engine.py'

Tuan_Thai
5 - Atom

Hi,

 

I'm running into an error during installation:
error.png

 

I just need to change the following to date format:

date not valide.png

AshtonW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Jayordan, you'll need to install the BB Date YXI onto your server as well. Python SDK tools don't bundle with workflows when you upload them to a server.

AshtonW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Tuan_Thai, try running the YXI installer again to get the dateparser package. I might need to update the YXI if that doesn't work.

Nabil_Janmohamed
5 - Atom

When I use this tool and running it around 300k rows of dates it takes more than five minutes to run. Any ideas why this would be the case?

NeilR
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Nabil_Janmohamed I think the underlying Python library, dateparser, is just kind of slow compared to native Alteryx tools. I ran it in Python (outside of Alteryx) on 300,000 dates and it took 15 minutes. I guess if you need to parse dates on larger datasets like this, you should go with the native tools. If the dates are super messy and you don't have too many of them, then BB Date would work well.

script.PNG

Nabil_Janmohamed
5 - Atom

Thanks @NeilR 

cdgogan
5 - Atom

Our company has very strict security policies and restricts access to DropBox.  Is there an alternate location where the BB Date tool can be downloaded?

 

Please let me know

CiaranA
10 - Fireball

+1 for hosting somewhere other than dropbox?

Theresa_H
5 - Atom

Hi, 

I tried to install BB Date tool and received this error during installation. 

Theresa_H_0-1579994210452.png

 

Can you update the tool to fix error above during installation? Thanks.

TrevorS
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Hello @Theresa_H


Can you please attempt the install again? I was able to successfully download and install the BB Date tool this morning with no issues.

Please close Alteryx and re-open just before the install to see if that could help.

 

Additionally, the version of Alteryx you are using could affect your download ability, please make sure you are running on the most current version of Alteryx Designer.

 

Thanks,

TrevorS

Theresa_H
5 - Atom

Hi TrevorS,

 

Thank you for responding to my question. I tried to re-download and install it again last night, but I received the same error message. I have the latest version of Alteryx Designner.

 

Thanks. 

Theresa_H

TrevorS
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Theresa_H  

Are you running Designer as Admin? This tool does require you to be logged in as an admin in order to install.

If you are still having issues, you will need to reach back out to one of the authors for assistance.

 

Thanks,
TrevorS

Kmaclean
8 - Asteroid

I running into the same issues with installing, but was able to resolve it by downloading this version that has the install package named 'BB_Date', https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Re-Parse-Dates-Easily-with-BB-Date/td-...

 

However on a separate note, do we know what string formats it can parse? I tried passing 'yyyyMMdd' and did not get good results;

 

bbDate.JPG

willfoot76
5 - Atom

Hi @AshtonW, would you be able to email me a link for this tool?

 

NeilR
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@willfoot76 it doesn't look like Ashton's tool is available any more, but this one is similar: BB Date Python Macro