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Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Designer Desktop experts.
How can you calculate the standard deviation of the population (SDpop) rather than standard deviation on the sample data (SDsample)?
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How to create a help file/link for your custom Applications and/or Macros
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make pulling information from MongoDB easier
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Duplicated macros can often occur when you import macros within workflows and when trying to install different versions of the same macro. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to clean up your tool palette:
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This question is highly relevant when looking to circumvent Alteryx error's when you have hardcoded a certain workflow process to expect certain field names. So when you are trying to process multiple files with different field schema's you don't want Alteryx to stop processing all the files if one file fails. You ideally want Alteryx to skip the file and carry on!   Attached is a sample workflow that can help you answer the above question:   The Workflow   The workflow will start with a Directory tool browsing to the folder location that has all your input files  As this example uses xlsx files, we use a Formula tool to append the sheet name to the full path We then feed this data into a Batch Macro The Macro The batch macro allows us to process one file at a time but each file goes through the same process The input file within the macro is replaced by the incoming file path We then use a RecordID tool to allow us to keep the data integrity when we transform the data for the filtering process downstream In the Transpose tool, we use the RecordID tool as a key field to pivot on. We then transpose the rest of the data fields to create a NAME (This will have your field headers) and VALUE (This will have your data) fields. This part will be dynamic if new fields get added because we have the 'Dynamic or unknown fields' checked and they will fall within the NAME field which will reference in the filter tool Within the Filter tool, you can now add in the field variables you need for your workflow On the true side of the filter, you will now have the fields and values which met your criteria and on the False, you will have the fields which did not The ultimate goal though is to bring back the whole dataset if that file had fields which met your criteria To do this we use the Formula Tool to add in the file path of the file which we can use outside of the macro to bring together the whole dataset The final tool is the Crosstab Tool to orientate the data back into its original format using the RecordID Tool as the group by field.  Save the macro (File>>Save As) The Workflow Insert the macro into the workflow and connect to the Formula Tool. In the configuration of the macro choose 'Full path" from the dropdown. This will update the input tool and the Formula Tools The two outputs on the macro refer to the true and false side of the filter. You can now use a Join tool and connect the true and false to the left an right inputs of the Join Tool The field you will join on will be the full path and RecordID Now if the file met your condition in the filter it should have values on the left and right of the macro outputs. Therefore, in the 'J' node of the Join tool, you should see the data from your successful file In the 'R' you should see all the data from the files which did not meet your condition as they don't have anything to join to on the left 'true' side of the filter You can then paste your desired workflow to the 'J' output of the join tool and continue your data process This will now only allow files with the desired field headers to pass through and you have circumvented your workflow from breaking if the incorrect field schema from certain files is passed through.   S/O to Shaan Mistry who brainstormed this workflow with me. 
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Support policy for CReW Macros.
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This article is part of the CS Macro Development Series. The goal of this series is to communicate tips, tricks, and the thought process that goes into developing good, dynamic macros.
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Macros can be designed to treat nearly every and any repeatable operation in Alteryx. If you’re working with formalized, established, processes and prefer not to duplicate work, or you’ve just found a handful of useful macros on our Public Gallery, being able to maintain macros is a must.
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Use RegEx and build a Macro to Validate and sort IP Address.
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You probably already know that you can output results to multiple sheets of an Excel file.  If not, you should check out our resource that explains how to do that very thing.  But what if you run that workflow every day, and you want to keep the outputs from days past?
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I know I set this right, but it's not doing what I want it to!
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Some Excel files, particularly those created by third-party programs, are encoded differently than Alteryx expects. In many cases, such files can be opened in Excel and then saved, resulting in files that Alteryx can open. Please refer to Designer Knowledge Base article entitled "How to check for encoding or formatting issues with Excel worksheets" for diagnosis tips.
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Calgary is a list count data retrieval engine designed to perform analyses on large scale databases containing millions of records. One use case for a Calgary database in an App or Macro is to offer users certain predetermined criteria (e.g. geography) to select and then return the corresponding data to them. A back-end process can combine multiple data sources, format and pre-filter as needed, and load them into a Calgary database that can be queried quickly by the app or macro. This way, the bulk of the processing happens outside of the app or macro allowing data to be returned more quickly. 
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User is getting the error "Detour tools in macros must terminate within that macro" when trying to use a macro in a workflow
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How to get started with iterative macros
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How to get started using Batch Macros
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When you have a repetitive task to complete processing data across different columns, data sources, and/or workflows, a Standard Macro may help automate that task.
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Sentiment analysis, key phrase extraction, and more.
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Image Face Recognition Using Microsoft Cognitive Services API!
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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.
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Amazon offers many different services that can be accessed from the AWS Command Line Interface (aka the AWS CLI). Alteryx workflows can take advantage of these services using the AWS CLI from the Run Command tool.
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