Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Designer Desktop experts.
If you’ve gotten accustomed to having headers and sub-headers (fields/sub-fields) in your tables, much like those you can build with the “Merge & Center” Excel feature, you’ll be happy to hear with just a couple formatting steps we can build the format in this article
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When Email tool is setup with set up the OAuth authentication using Use Data Connection Manager (DCM), you receive an error.
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  We get quite a few requests asking how to add the current date to Excel spreadsheet file names. The difference in adding information to your file name in Excel and other output configurations is that you have to use the Reporting tools for Excel to accept the new file name.   Why would I have to use the Reporting tools, you ask? Simply put, Excel thinks that when you are adding a prefix or suffix to the file name that you are stating that additional information is the “Sheet Name” and not appending the file name from the Output Tool. The Render tool in the Reporting tab on your palette basically tricks Excel into thinking that you are creating a separate report and is able to append the date.   In order to add the date to the file name you will connect these tools to your workflow in the order, you see below.      In the Formula Tool, create a new field that is a String type.  Go to the DateTime functions and add the DateTimeToday() expression. No configuration of the expression is necessary.      The Table tool will allow you to Group By this new field. In the GroupBy Configuration, choose the Date field you created in the Formula. In the Per Column Configuration, uncheck the new field. This will allow you to group by the new field name in the Render Tool and still remove it from the data so that your new field does not appear in your report.          Use the Render Tool to output your Excel spreadsheet with today’s date in the file name.   Output Mode - Choose a Specific Output File. Output File - Specify the Excel 2007 Spreadsheet (xlsx) and point to where you would like to save the documents. The file name you specify will be replaced with the date in step 5 below. You will then check the box that says Group Data into Separate Reports. Field to Group on - You will choose your new field that you created. Modify Filename By – Replacing Filename With Group. Report Data – You will choose Table and can leave the rest as defaults.  
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SMTP settings of the most common email providers for configuration in the Email Tool and Email Events.
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_CurrentField_ function does not work well if all the columns are not selected in the Table tool.
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Resizing the image using the Image Settings Style Editor of the Image tool has no effect.
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Report Basic Table Tool formats negative numbers with parenthesis rather than negative sign
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Interested in getting an email notification whenever a workflow is executed and fails? Read this article for a detailed guide.
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One of the perennial challenges of creating high-quality maps is working with data sets where the spatial data is too spread out to make a useful map. The general solution for this challenge is to create a Map Book. A Map Book is a series of maps that show a subset of the data at a more detailed resolution. This article demonstrates methods for creating a Map Book in Alteryx.\n  
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Additional characters such as ! are appearing in emails sent from Designer.
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Ever have to output tables of differeing schemas to the same Excel workbook? Ever need to output to different tabs? This article covers your bases with the cunning use of Reporting tools! Also included are links to other helpful "outputting to Excel" Knowledgebase Articles.
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When creating reports within Alteryx, you can name Excel tabs by specifying a column to use in the Layout tool. This is done in a 3 step process. Step One:   Choose your grouping column; below, the Table tool is being used and [DMA_Name] is being used for the Group By field. This would also apply with the Charting and Map tools.         Step Two:   In the Layout tool, change the Layout Mode to Each Group Of Records. Next, choose the column you would like to Group By; for the example we will use [DMA_Name]. Next, change the Orientation to Vertical with Section Breaks. By doing this, the Section Name option will appear at the bottom of the tool configuration and allow you to choose the column you would like to use to name the Excel tabs.       Step Three:   Update the Render tool to create an Excel spreadsheet. In our example, each of the Excel tabs was named for the DMAs contained in the data.           Keep on reporting!
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The Report Map tool allows the user to define theme settings/ranges and to modify the size, icon, and color of the display for each range, and this can be done rather easily. First, in the Map tool on the Data tab, pick which column you would like to theme off in the Thematic Field selection area:                            Once this column is selected, go to the Layers tab in the Map tool and expand the layer options for your theme layer. Click on the Theme and options will appear on the right. For the purpose of defining your own theme settings, you will want the Tile Method to be on Unique Value, which gives the Specific Values area.                             The Specific Values area is where you list what you want to theme on. For this example, we are theming off the DMA_Name so you would enter each of the DMA names you would like to theme. If you have a lot of ranges, you could also use a Summarzie tool in your module and Group By your theme column, thus giving you a list of your theme values. Run the module once to populate the Browse tool and you can then click and hold on the first row and drag down to the row of your choosing, selecting them all. Ctrl+C will copy the rows and you can paste them into the Specific Values area using Ctrl+V                             Once the values are entered, click on Refresh and a layer option will show up for each of the theme values you set.                           Now that the theme values are layers, you can go to the Style option under each layer and change the Point Style, bring in a Custom Point, change the Size, Color, modify the Outline Color and Outline Size.                           If you don't define all the values that are contained in the data you are bringing thru, the Map tool also provides options on what to do with these.                           This can also be done with number ranges with a few small changes. For Tile Method, choose Manual Tile. Enter in the cutoff for each range that you would like to be able to theme.                          Hit Refresh and the new layers for the theme ranges will be displayed, allowing you to modify each one. Also note that layers are created for the ranges below and above what you specify in the Cutoff Values area.                         
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Alteryx defaults to using the US/English Standard when it comes to number formats. However, for reporting purposes, it is important to remember that not all countries report their numbers in the same fashion. This article shows a quick and easy way to use Raw PCXML to convert numbers in to the Continental European Standard before outputting a final report. Throughout the workflow building process, numbers will be represented in the US/English Standard of 1,000.00.  However, when building an automated report, it is important to remember who the audience will be. In the case of users in countries that use the Continental European Standard, it may best to have Alteryx change the numerical formatting system before outputting the final report. The following example is specific for the Spanish-Spain numbering convention. Process   1. Pass the data through a Table tool to create a Table Report Snippet. 2. Insert a Report Text Tool and format as seen below. The LocaleID is what is specifically driving the formatting change.  For more information on other locale ID's check out this article. 3. Complete your layout and use a Render tool to complete your automated report. Please see the attached workflow for an example in practice.
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The attached Alteryx Workflow takes the color schemes from www.ColorBrewer2.org and adds them to a new XML file to be utilized as the ReportSettings.xml file installed with Alteryx. You can utilize the new color palettes under the Report Map tools. Note that these palettes will not be added to the Interactive Chart or Insight tools. 
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Many skunk works type of products are never really seen by the public eye (such as the Boeing Joint Strike Fighter prototype).  The beauty of being a part of a software company that has both desktop and web products is that we have the ability to play with and show off our prototypes to the general public.  Enter interactive visualizations within Alteryx!   (NOTE: The methods described in this article and the linked blog posts serve the sole purpose to display the flexibility of Alteryx and there is no current or future plan to further develop or productize this functionality.)   The image you see above was directly pulled from an Alteryx output.  You may or may not have read the blog of our CTO, Ned Harding (If you haven't, I highly recommend subscribing!).  His recent posts revolve around a topic that has been brought up quite often in the Alteryx circles, reporting and visualizations within Alteryx.   In these articles, Ned displays a method to incorporate HTML5 and Javascript into a few macros with incredible results.  The first is a more static but visually pleasing output, while the second is a Public Gallery app that displays the use of interactive output.  Both are very interesting displays of the two technologies working in tandem to help the user better understand their data. Check it out, test it out, and visit the links to the Public Gallery within the blog.   Part 1: Alteryx: JSON Data Output   Part 2: Alteryx: HTML5 Visualizations   Part 3: Alteryx: Interactive HTML Visualizations
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