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Alteryx Designer Desktop Ideas

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Add the remove or add Prefix or Suffix Feature on the Summary Tool because this is where the prefix is added automatically by the Summary tool, so instead of adding a new select tool after the Summary tool to remove the prefix. why not to embed it with the summary tool it self. 

SaadNaser_1-1680691189920.png

SaadNaser_2-1680691215294.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am working with complex workflows which use multiple files as input, located on network drives. Input tools are Input Data, Directory, Wildcard Input, Wildcard XLSX Input (from CReW macros).

 

Regularly, I experience very slow Designer when working on the workflows, and slow progress when running the tools mentioned above, especially when working from home. Switching off Auto Configure did not really help because I the column list sometimes does not converge even after pressing F5 multiple times, and when actively working on workflows, I have to press F5 all the time...

 

In order to speed up both working on workflows and running the workflows, I would like to propose a function "Cache all File Inputs" which loads and caches all file inputs at once. To achieve this state, I now have Cache and Run workflow once per every file input.

In Powerpoint, you can right-click on a picture and replace it with a different picture without losing formatting.

 

Similar functionality would be useful for replacing custom macros.

  • I would like to be able to switch an old version of a custom macro with a new version in situ, without losing the connections to other tools, interface tools, or location in a container. 

Currently, the only option is to insert the new custom macro and then reset all incoming and outgoing connections. Some downstream tools (e.g., crosstab) lose their existing settings and that has to be reset too. On complicated workflows, this can introduce silent errors.

 

This capability would be especially helpful for team coding, where different team members are revising different modules for a parent workflow.

 

Currently:

Right-clicking on the canvas shows Insert > Macro > (choose from list of open macros)

Right-clicking on an existing macro shows Open Macro

 

New functionality:

Right-clicking on an existing macro shows Replace/Change Macro > (choose from list of open macros)

 

 

Currently it's not possible to "switch off" interface tools in the same was as we can with the other tools. This limits the functionality especially within chained apps. If we could switch these tools off it would be much easier for us to tailor the experience by allowing selections to be activated by logic, rather than simply the data therein.

 

Please Alteryx Gods. I beseech thee!

 

*lights candles*

Similar to the setting that you have in many individual tools  (join, append, select, et al) where you can go to options and choose to "forget missing fields" it would be nice where you could go to options for the entire flow and "forget missing fields".

 

This would remove the headache that you have with large flows where you make a change(s) then have to go back through each and every tool to "forget" within that tool. Yes you could still do it individually, but if you chose, you could also do it universally for the entire flow all at once to all the 'missing fields'. 

The JOIN tool could use some love.  Let's consider merging the JOIN and UNION functions into a single tool.  Instead of strictly L, J, and R outputs, we could have an option to allow for all standard SQL joins:

 

  • Cross Join (Warning!!!)
  • Inner Join (boring)
  • Left Outer Join (saves time configuring Union)
  • Right Outer Join (saves time ...)
  • Full Outer Join (saves time ...)

Being able to JOIN on case-insensitive values is a big bonus (resisted urge to BOLD and change font size).

Being able to JOIN on date-range is often requested.

Being able to JOIN on numeric-range is often requested.

 

If we are combining tools, getting UNIQUE on L or R (or both) inputs would also save time.  Most JOIN errors are because the incoming (R) data contains duplicates by KEY.

 

cheers,

 

Mark

 

Hi @NicoleJ 

Hello all,

As of today, Alteryx proposes the Intelligence Suite with amazing tools never seen in a data tool, even OCR, image analysis etc.. https://www.alteryx.com/fr/products/intelligence-suite



But... these wonderful tools are part of a paid add-on. And this is what is problematic :

-Alteryx is already an expensive tool. With a huge value but honestly expensive.

-The tools in Intelligence Suite are not common in data tools because you won't use often. And paying for tools you use once or twice in a month is not easy to justify.

So, I suggest to incorpore Intelligence Suite in the core product. The Alteryx users benefit is evident so let's see the Alteryx benefits : 
-more user satisfaction
-a simpler catalog
-adding a lot of value to Designer, with the ability to communicate widely on the topic.

-almost no cost : most costumers won't buy the Intelligence Suite anyway.

Best regards,

Simon

The idea is to have a Run option, where the workflow runs everything up to the selected tool (Like the Cache functionality does).

You select the tool, hit Run Up and the workflows executes everything "before" the selected tool.

 

That'll make developing much easier, specially when dealing with big workflows and constant changing data.

Aguisande_0-1649437823125.png

 

Please improve the Excel XLSX output options in the Output tool, or create a new Excel Output tool, 
or enhance the Render tool to include an Excel output option, with no focus on margins, paper size, or paper orientation

 

The problem with the current Basic Table and Render tools are they are geared towards reporting, with a focus on page size and margins.
Many of us use Excel as simply a general output method, with no consideration for fitting the output on a printed page.

 

The new tool or Render enhancement would handle different formats/different schemas without the need for a batch macro, and would include the options below.

 

The only current option to export different schemas to different Sheets in one Excel file, without regard to paper formatting, is to use a batch macro and include the CReW macro Wait a Second, to allow Excel to properly shut down before a new Sheet is created, to avoid file-write-contention issues.

 

Including the Wait a Second macro increased the completion time for one of my workflows by 50%, as shown in the screehshots below.

 

I have a Powershell script that includes many of the formatting options below, but it would be a great help if a native Output or Reporting tool included these options:

 

Allow options below for specific selected Sheet names, or for All Sheets


AllColumns_MaxWidth: Maximum width for ALL columns in the spreadsheet. Default value = 50. This value can be changed for specific columns by using option Column_SetWidth.

Column_SetWidth: Set selected columns to an exact width. For the selected columns, this value will override the value in AllColumns_MaxWidth.

 

Column_Centered: Set selected columns to have text centered horizontally.

 

Column_WrapText: Set selected columns to Wrap text.

 

AllCells_WrapText: Checkbox: wrap text in every cell in the entire worksheet. Default value = False.

 

AllRows_AutoFit: Checkbox: to set the height for every row to autofit. Default value False.

 

Header_Format: checkbox for Bold, specify header cells background color, Border size: 1pt, 2pt, 3pt, and border color, Enable_Data_Filter: checkbox

 

Header_freeze_top_row: checkbox, or specify A2:B2 to freeze panes

 

Sheet_overflow: checkbox: if the number of Sheet rows exceeds Excel limit, automatically create the next sheet with "(2)" appended

 

Column_format_Currency: Set selected columns to Currency: currency format, with comma separators, and negative numbers colored red.

 

Column_format_TwoDecimals: Set selected columns to Two decimals: two decimals, with comma separators, and negative numbers colored red.
Note: If the same field name is used in Column_Currency and Column_TwoDecimals, the field will be formatted with two decimals, and not formatted as currency.

Column_format_ShortDate: Set selected columns to Short Date: the Excel default for Short Date is "MM/DD/YYYY".

 

File_suggest_read_only: checkbox: Set flag to display this message when a user opens the Excel file: "The author would like you to open 'Analytic List.xlsx' as read-only unless you need to make changes. Open as read-only?
vb code: xlWB.ReadOnlyRecommended = True

 

File_name_include_date_time: checkboxes to add file name Prefix or Suffix with creation Date and/or Time

 

========

Examples:

 

My only current option: use a batch macro, plus a Wait a Second macro, to write different formats/schemas to multiple Sheets in one Excel file:

Excel output enhancement - must now use a Macro and Wait a Second.jpg

Using the Wait a Second macro, to allow Excel to shut down before writing a new Sheet, to avoid write-contention issues, results in a workflow that runs 50% longer:

Excel output enhancement - Wait a Second increased runtime by 50 percent.jpg

 

Hello,

 

  After used the new "Image Recognition Tool" a few days, I think you could improve it : 

  > by adding the dimensional constraints in front of each of the pre-trained models,

  > by adding a true tool to divide the training data correctly (in order to have an equivalent number of images for each of the labels)

  > at least, allow the tool to use black & white images (I wanted to test it on the MNIST, but the tool tells me that it necessarily needs RGB images) ?

 

  Question : do you in the future allow the user to choose between CPU or GPU usage ?

 

  In any case, thank you again for this new tool, it is certainly perfectible, but very simple to use, and I sincerely think that it will allow a greater number of people to understand the many use cases made possible thanks to image recognition.

 

  Thank you again

  Kévin VANCAPPEL (France ;-))

 

  Thank you again.

 

  Kévin VANCAPPEL

Hello all,

 

As Intelligence Suite is a great expansion in Alteryx Designer, it would be great to expand the data types in the "Text Mining" and "Computer Vision" ribbon. The "Image Template" accepts only "strings" data types and specific Languages. It would be great to be added more data types, Language and ISO-Codes. 

For the Image Input Tool please add:

 

   1) A wildcard input for filename.

   2) A check-box to choose sub-folders.

 

 

001.jpg

Hello!

I recently had a use-case that needed me to start using the text mining tools for a reporting based workflow, and i had pretty good success. However, my workflow does not always have data being brought through it, and when 0 results are supplied to a Text Pre-processing tool, it produces a bug and log file. I imagine this is a small fix, just a weird one to run into.

Steps to replicate:
1- Add a text input tool with some dummy text values as part of a field

TheOC_0-1625041927041.png

 

2- Add a text pre-processing tool to the workflow, and configure it to use this field and English.

TheOC_1-1625041976621.png

 

3- add a filter tool, prior to the text pre-processing tool, to filter out any valid results

TheOC_2-1625042026104.png

 

4- Run the workflow

TheOC_3-1625042045969.png

TheOC_4-1625042053768.png


As the data cleansing tool does not behave similar, I fully believe this to be an unintended outcome.

To allow users to pull data from Power BI, eg. datasets and usage data, to allow it to be manipulated in Alteryx. 

Hello,

As of today, only English is available. But it's hard to convince French Customers with french language data to buy the AIS if it cannot work with their data.

Best regards,

Simon

Hello,

As of today, we can configure the language for all rows but it doesn't work when I have several languages in my data :

simonaubert_bd_0-1622199279906.png

 

I woud like to take a field so that I can specify the language. The ideal would be a two-time configuration : globally in one language but I can overwrite that by choosing a field containing the language.

Best regards,

Simon

The option to "Disable all Tools that Write Output" doesn't currently affect the Publish to Tableau Server output tool.

In the new Intelligence Suite tools, it would be extremely useful to have the option to add n-gram (combining words/tokens ) in the Topic Modeling Text Mining Tool. 

 

This is important in many NLP topic modeling scenarios.

It would provide more flexibility to build better NLP models.

 

For details on n-gram

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-gram

 

 

When using the text mining tools, I have found that the behaviour of using a template only applies to documents with the same page number.

 

So in my use case I've got a PDF file with 100+ claim statements which are all laid out the same (one page per statement). When setting up the template I used one page to set the annotations, and then input this into the T anchor of the Image to Text tool. Into the D anchor of this tool is my PDF document with 100+ pages. However when examining the output I only get results for page 1.

 

On examining the JSON for the template I can see that there is reference to the template page number:

cgoodman3_0-1604393391514.png

 

And playing around with a generate rows tool and formula to replace the page number with pages 1 - 100 in the JSON doesn't work. I then discovered that if I change the page number on the image input side then I get the desired results. 

 

cgoodman3_1-1604393499357.png

However an improvement to the tool, as I suspect this is a common use case for the image to text tool, is to add an option in the configuration of the image to text tool to apply the same template to all pages.

 

cgoodman3_4-1604393738275.png

 

 

 

 

 

I have a PDF of 27 pages and each page is identical.  The headers, footers and data are static in positioning on each page. It would be great if I could define the text to parse out on the first page, then that could be used to parse out all of the pages in the PDF.  It would make the tool far more useful.

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