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Inputting Values to a Drop down Window

fitzie97
5 - Atom

I am trying to Use numeric values in my workflow to populate a drop down Interface. Ex. Text Input tool provides the Values for the drop down window. 

 

Field Type is fields not values

External source is more complicated than I would like, I already have the values on the workflow, I would prefer not to export them so I can import them.

Fields from Connected tool Only provides fields not values

Manually select values seems to be my only option but I would not like to do this

 

These 4 are what I looked at but don't seem to be very helpful, is there any way to do this?

 

4 REPLIES 4
rafalolbert
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

Hi @fitzie97,

 

Try something like this:

 

- promote your numerical value to form column/field names

 

- create a dummy field for Cross Tab tool (or you can use one of the field you may already have in your workflow)

 

img1.JPGimg2.JPG

 

I had some problems attaching yxwz filetype and changed it to a macro instead, please copy it to your app workflow if this solution is what you're looking for.

 

Thanks,

Rafal

 

#Excuse me, do you speak Alteryx?

danilang
19 - Altair
19 - Altair

Hi @fitzie97 

 

@rafalolbert has great suggestion but you need to watch for any characters other than digits in the input.     The Cross Tab tool is very picky about what it considers a valid characrter in a field name and converts all the others to underscores.  I added a couple of values, -4, 7.1 and -3.1 to the input to illustrate.  the result is as follows

 

decimal.png

The -4 becomes "_4", -3.1 becomes "_3_1" and 7.1 becomes "7_1".  You can add a Dynamic Rename to fix these by replacing the "_" with "-"(minus) if its the first character and replace it with "." period otherwise.  The cross tab also reorders the columns alphabetically.  In the input list the -3.1 was added after the 7.1, but in the crosstabbed fields it is before.  This can be a problem if you need to have values displayed in the original order.  Using this technique with alpha-numeric data almost always guarantees that the list will be sorted in the incorrect order

 

Of course, you can avoid all these issues by writing to a external source and having the list input read from it, even though this is a route you would rather not take.  BTW: .yxdb is the fastest format to use should you reconsider

 

Dan

KaneG
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

The other thing to remember is that the list will not be dynamic. The example shown will work, however that list then won't change as the interface tools are configured by the front end before the engine runs any of the normal tools.

fitzie97
5 - Atom

Thanks, I didn't think to just create field names, a good workaround. 

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