Alteryx Designer Knowledge Base

Here at Alteryx we believe in working smart, not hard. Building out reports to highlight business-critical metrics is a pretty smart way to track goals. Customizing those reports to everyone in the department, then distributing them as attachments to individual emails? That sounds like a lot of hard work. Scheduling those reports from a refreshing data source each month so you don’t have to remake or rerun the reports yourself - that’s genius. Logging into your work computer to open up Alteryx, then having to check the scheduled results before having any peace of mind those reports were delivered without a hitch? Hard.

"Unable to find connection 'x' " when workflow is scheduled   When running a workflow via the Scheduler (for Designer with Automation), the following error is observed:   Unable to find connection "x"   Environment   Alteryx Designer Designer with Automation Windows Operating System In-Database Connection   Diagnosis   1. Confirm that you are using Designer with Automation and not Alteryx Server. You can confirm this by opening the Alteryx System Settings from Designer under Options > Advanced Options > System Settings. On the Setup Type page you will see Designer and Scheduler Only selected.   2. Confirm the In-Database connection is setup as a User connection. You can check this from Designer by navigating to Options > Advanced Options > Manage In-DB Connections and choosing the Data Source and Connection name you are using. It will show next to the name of the Connection:     Alternatively, you can check in the drop-down for the Connection Name Connect In-DB tool or the Data Stream In tool:       Cause   The In-Database connection in use is a User connection; scheduling requires a System connection or a File connection.     Solution A - System Connection   Follow the steps in this article to set up a System connection: How To: Create an In-Database Connection This will require admin permissions. Please see the following article for more information: Unable to create System Connection/System Connection type missing   Solution B-  File Connection   Follow the steps in this article to set up a File connection: How To: Create an Alteryx In-DB Connection File The .indbc file will need to be available to the Run As User or the user running the Alteryx Service. To avoid any issues, you can package the workflow, then schedule as follows: Package the workflow by going to Options > Export Workflow, making sure you check the box to include the .indbc file Go to Options > View Schedules On the Workflows tab, click the + icon Navigate to the .yxzp file you created above and set the schedule frequency     Additional Resources   Database Connections: Creating an alias and the advantages of using an alias Database Issues – Working with Alteryx Customer Support Engineers (CSEs)

Issue:  Unable to connect to the Controller "X"   When trying to connect to your Designer's Scheduler, the following error is observed:   Unable to connect to the Controller "X". Please consult the Alteryx Scheduler FAQ in Alteryx Help for troubleshooting assistance.   You may also observe that the "My Computer" option is missing in the Schedule Workflow window:   Environment   Alteryx Designer Scheduler add-on Admin version   Cause   The Alteryx Service is not running.   Solution   Start the Alteryx Service. See "Start the Alteryx Service" article.   Additional Resources   Configure Desktop with Scheduler How do I schedule a Workflow using Alteryx?

How To: Start the Alteryx Service   The Alteryx Service powers the scheduling functionality of Alteryx. In order for schedules to be created or executed, the Alteryx Service must be running. Follow the guide below for different ways to start the Alteryx Service   Prerequisites   Alteryx Designer Admin version Scheduler add-on required Alteryx Server   Procedure A - Start from the Services Window   Open the Services snap-in window using one of the below methods: Search Services in the Start Menu Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type services.msc, and press Enter Open the Control Panel click/tap on the Administrative Tools icon, and double click/tap on Services shortcut Right click on Alteryx Service and click Start   Procedure B - Start via System Settings   Open the Alteryx System Settings (can be found in the Start Menu by search "Alteryx System Settings" Click the Next button until you reach the end of the System Settings, then click Finish You will then see a "Please Wait" message that indicated the Service is attempting to start Please note that if the service fails to start for any reason, you will not receive any message to indicate the failure when starting the service this way   Procedure C - Start via Command Line   Open Command Prompt as an Administrator Type the following command that references your installation path. The below example is the default installation path: "C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\AlteryxService.exe" start   Additional Resources   Alteryx Service will not start: No suitable servers Error found in LastStartupError.txt Gallery Service failed to start in a timely fashion

So you've installed the licenses to run Scheduler. Now what?

Upon creating a BINGO game, I came across a technique that I thought could be useful in "real world" scenarios for users who are attempting to iterate a process and then replenishing the data after a certain amount of time.

Everything you need to get started with your own instance of Designer + Scheduler!

Question  Why did all of my scheduled workflows fail? What does the error “Logon Failure: unknown user name or bad password” mean?        Answer This error is due to the credentials that are used for the scheduler are no longer valid and have most likely expired. To fix this, the Run As setting has to be updated in the scheduler machine. Someone with local admin rights to the machine should go to the System Settings (Alteryx > Options > Advanced Options > System Settings) then click Next until the “Run the Worker as a Different User” menu is selected and update those credentials.    

This article is an extension to the community article " Scheduling as a copy in the Scheduler DB vs On Disk ", and is specifically aimed for Designer + Desktop Automation installations only.

Question   What’s the difference between Scheduling a workflow from its original location on disk vs as a copy in the Scheduler DB?   Answer   Run a copy of the workflow stored in the scheduler DB creates a copy of the workflow and stores it in the scheduler’s database. When the time comes to run the workflow, it is pulled up from the database and run.   When scheduling as a copy stored in the scheduler DB, it is important to make sure that any dependencies (input files, macros, etc) are available at run time. If the location of the dependencies cannot be reached by the Scheduler you may run into errors stating things such as “File not found” or “unable to open macro”. These errors mean the Scheduler is unable to see the file paths you have referenced in your workflow, and therefore cannot run the process successfully.   To get around these errors, check your dependencies. If you are using relative paths you may just need to set them to Absolute. You can do this by going to Options – Advanced Options – Workflow Dependencies.   When a workflow is stored in the database, it becomes static. Any changes made in Alteryx to this workflow are independent to the Scheduled version and will require you to upload a new instance of the workflow or replace the current one.     Run the workflow from its original location on disk calls the actual .yxmd file from where you originally saved it and runs the process.   You’ll still need to make sure the dependencies are accessible by the scheduler, including the location of the workflow itself.   The difference with this option is the scheduler is pulling the live version of the workflow and input files so any changes made are reflected the next time the workflow is run and there is no need to create a new schedule.   For more information on the Scheduler check out the Scheduler FAQ in the help documentation here.

  On Alteryx version 10.1, if you try to schedule a workflow to  to run from its original location on disk and the workflow path starts with a digit, for example C:\1testpath\workflow.yxmd, the workflow will fail to run on the Scheduler. When the job fails, you will see the job at the bottom of the Results view within the Scheduler window and the job date is January 01 0001 12:00:00 AM - this indicates a corrupt job. All other combinations work as expected.          This is a known issue that is being addressed. The workaround is to rename the folder so that the path does not start with a digit, for example C:\a1testpath\. Alternatively, you can schedule the job to run a copy of the workflow stored in the scheduler DB.