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Workflow Compare Tool

Assuming some source control or versioning is in place, a formal compare tool would be a nice addition. This would be useful for determining what is different between two versions of a workflow, and that knowledge is very useful when modifying a production process: when formally moving a new (modified) process into production, part of the checks and balances would be to run a formal comparison against the workflow being replaces, and ensure that all differences are accounted for.

 

This sort of audit is notoriously difficult when the differences are buried deep in the configuration settings of various tools within Alteryx.  I do see that the .yxmd files are XML based, so perhaps we could create our own compare tool based thereon, but it would be better (more trustworthy) to have one formally provided by Alteryx.  Thanks!

 

19 Comments
vikirulz09
5 - Atom

Hello all Ace,

 

I am a newbie and soon felt the need for version control. I have designed and tested results of the same case but applying a different combination of tools to achieve the result or even optimised the process by or adding tools relevant to the analysis. some time even tweak the process to create a new result.

 

I am aware as of now we don't have version control in Alteryx and have to save each workflow renaming manually. or have to open multiple instances of workflow to compare the workflow.

 

If this tool is integrated into the future release, this will have its own advantage for an analyst to compare and monitor changes in workflow made and can refer to the optimal solution.

 

-- one suggestion that comes to my mind is saving an image of workflow as a version.

is this possible??

gerbaudo
7 - Meteor

This would be a much needed feature.

 

+1 on @Cady's suggestion of a text output of the differences.

+1 on @mcarrico's suggestion -- I like that changes are organized by type.

 

One more suggestion: make a command-line tool that writes to a png file the image of the Alteryx flow, as shown in Designer.

Then let the version control tool (e.g. github, gitlab) show graphically the diff between images. Most modern version control interfaces already do that.

Commit hooks can then be set up to automatically produce the image before each commit.

 

Best,

Davide

RachelW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Under Review

Great idea! We don't have this planned in the near term, but we'll consider this as a future feature. 

olisteadman
5 - Atom

@RachelW is there a timeline for this yet (that we can subscribe to)?

KylieF
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team
Status changed to: Revisit

Thank you for your post! We are really interested in this idea, however we cannot fit this idea on the near future road map. We’ll keep this idea in mind however and update the status once we’re better able to speak on when and if we can implement it.

ken_yap_au
8 - Asteroid

@KylieF Given that this functionality is currently built into Alteryx and executable using the Command Line options, would it be that difficult to implement - other than another menu option that triggers a wizard and the command with the workflow paths to compare?

 

I feel like this functionality is very underrated and not well known, and unfortunately not well known due to the 'hidden' nature of this feature.

KylieF
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team

Hi @ken_yap_au!

 

Unfortunately for some ideas, including this one, there are several issues that underlay the reasoning behind our product decisions. This can include time, available resources in comparison to other features in active development, roadmap goals and extend of benefit. Due to a combination of these factors our product team made the decision that this idea unfortunately couldn't fit into the near term roadmap.

 

However, as this idea was placed into the Revisit status it can and will be brought back to Product's attention in the future for re-evaluation. Once re-evaluated I will insure that this idea is updated accordingly with as much information as we can provide.

YanCheung
6 - Meteoroid
jpoz
Alteryx
Alteryx
Status changed to: Implemented

Thank you for posting this idea! As of the 21.3 release, you can perform a visual comparison of two workflows by going to Options | Advanced Options | Compare Workflows.

 

Available for download here: https://downloads.alteryx.com/