Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

If you're using the Formula Tool in v11.0+, be sure to familiarize yourself with the tool's interface redesign!

A number of the Predictive tools have Interactive Visualizations.  A Predictive tool will have this capability if you see an output anchor with the letter ‘I’ (for "Interactive").\n  

A basic guide to Batch Files

One of the many great things about Alteryx is how it can assist the user in organizing their data not only within the tool, but outside of the tool as well. In this series we will show you how to rename, move, and delete input files that you use in your Alteryx Workflows. You will create batch files with Alteryx that you will later be able to use in a workflow that runs the file. This will give you the ability to stay organized as to what you have run through the workflow.   The first one we will go over is Renaming Spreadsheets.   Renaming Files   Creating the Batch file workflows: Tools needed in order of use: (1)Directory Input, (2)Select, (3)Formula, (4)Summarize, (5)Output Tools.   Directory Tool (1) – Browse to the file or files you are looking to change   Select Tool (2) – Fields you will need are Fullpath, Directory, and File Name   Formula Tool (3) – Output Fields Created: New File Name, Command, and Batch File. Create a new field, New File Name (String) – Create the new name either by adding a name with quotes around it, from a field, or in like the example below, adding the runtime date of the file to the file name. Sample Expression of adding the run Date from Directory Tool as the renamed file:   Replace(left([FileName],findstring([FileName],'.'))+' '+tostring(DateTimeNow())+'.xlsx',':','-') Sample Output - $200 2016-03-04 09-00-43.xlsx Create a new field, Command (String) – This is the field you want to build your command. Expression:   'Rename '+ '"'+[FullPath]+ '"'+ ' ' + + '"'+[New File Name]+ '"' Sample Output - Rename "C:\Users\johndoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Test\$200.xlsx" "$200 2016-03-03 13-23-53.xlsx" Create a new field, Batch File (String) – You will take the Directory field from the Directory Input and add a name of what you want the Batch File to be. Expression:   [Directory]+'rename_files.bat' Sample Output - C:\Users\JDoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Test\rename_files.bat   Summarize Tool (4)– Select the Command field and the action will be to concatenate using a separator as \n. Select the Batch file and the action will be First. You can rename the Output fields if you choose as it will change the fields to Concat_Command and First Batch File.   Output Tool (5) – Browse to save file as any name you want (you will be replacing this name). You will want to use the Save as type: (.csv) and add .bat to end of the name. We want to transform that txt file to a bat file. In the Delimiters Row in the Options section add \0 as the delimiter. Select Take/Table Name From Field and choose Change Entire File Path. Select the First_Batch file (or name you called the field) in the Field Containing File Name or Part of File Name and unselect Keep Field in Output.   Adding Batch File to Your Workflow: The last step is to add this batch file to the Events tab in a Workflow that you want to move the file or files you have chosen in the .bat file in the Configuration window: Select Add > Run Command> Run Event When> After Run> Command: Browse to the bat file and click Ok.

This is the second article in the series of using batch files to rename, move, and delete files. This workflow will create a .bat file which you can use in workflows that use the files you specify in this workflow to move to another directory.   Moving Files   Creating the Batch file workflows: Tools needed in order of use: (1)Directory Input, (2)Select, (3)Formula, (4)Summarize, (5)Output Tools.    Directory Tool (1) – Browse to the file or files you are looking to change                                          Select Tool (2)– Fields you will need are Fullpath, Directory, and File Name     Formula Tool (3)– Output Fields Created: Command and Batch File. Create a new field, Command (String) – This is the field you want to build your command. Note -The directory that you want to move the files to can be hard coded by adding the directory straight into the function or you can append another directory from another Directory tool before adding to the Formula Tool. In the sample, we hard coded the directory Expression:  'Move '+ '"'+[FullPath]+ '"'+ ' ' + + '"'+ 'C:\Users\jdoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Move'+ '"' Sample Output - Move "C:\Users\jdoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Test\$200.xlsx" "C:\Users\jdoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Move" Create a new field, Batch File (String) – You will take the Directory field from the Directory Input and add a name of what you want the Batch File to be. Expression:  [Directory]+'Moving_files.bat' Sample Output - C:\Users\JDoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Test\Moving_files.bat   Summarize Tool (4) – Select the Command field and the action will be to concatenate using a separator as \n. select the Batch file and the action will  be First. You can rename the Output fields if you choose as it will change the fields to Concat_Command and First Batch File.   Output Tool (5) – Browse to save file as any name you want (you will be replacing this name). You will want to use the Save as type: (.csv) and add .bat to end of the name. We want to transform that txt file to a bat file. In the Delimiters Row in the Options section add \0 as the delimiter. Select Take/Table Name From Field and choose Change Entire File Path. Select the First_Batch file (or name you called the field) in the Field Containing File Name or Part of File Name and unselect Keep Field in Output.     Adding Batch File to Your Workflow: The last step is to add this batch file to the Events tab in a Workflow that you want to move the file or files you have chosen in the .bat file in the Configuration window: Select Add > Run Command> Run Event When> After Run> Command: Browse to the bat file and click Ok.   See attached Sample Workflow.

This is the third article in the series of renaming, moving, and deleting files using a batch file. This workflow will create a .bat file which you can use in other workflows that use the files you specify in this workflow to delete files.   WARNING: Please be careful using this command as it will do what it says it will do. Test thoroughly before adding to production.   Deleting Files   Creating the Batch file workflows: Tools needed: (1)Directory Input, (2)Select, (3)Formula, (4)Summarize, (5)Output Tools.   Directory Tool (1) – Browse to the file or files you are looking to change   Select Tool (2) – Fields you will need are Fullpath, Directory, and File Name   Formula Tool (3) – Output Fields Created: Command and Batch File. Create a new field, Command (String) – This is the field you want to build your command. Expression: 'DEL '+ '"'+[FullPath]+ '"'+ ' ' + + '"'+[FileName]+ '"' Sample Output - DEL "C:\Users\dmenke\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Test\$200.xlsx" "$200.xlsx" Create a new field, Batch File (String) – You will take the Directory field from the Directory Input and add a name of what you want the Batch File to be. Expression: [Directory]+’Delete_files.bat' Sample Output - C:\Users\JDoe\Documents\Sample Data\Command Line Test\rename_files.bat Summarize Tool – Select the Command field and the action will be to concatenate using a separator as \n. Select the Batch file and the action will be First. You can rename the Output fields if you choose as it will change the fields to Concat_Command and First Batch File.   Output Tool (5) – Browse to save file as any name you want (you will be replacing this name). You will want to use the Save as type: (.csv) and add .bat to end of the name. We want to transform that txt file to a bat file. In the Delimiters Row in the Options section add \0 as the delimiter. Select Take/Table Name From Field and choose Change Entire File Path. Select the First_Batch file (or name you called the field) in the Field Containing File Name or Part of File Name and unselect Keep Field in Output.     Adding Batch File to Your Workflow: The last step is to add this batch file to the Events tab in a Workflow that you want to move the file or files you have chosen in the .bat file in the Configuration window. Select Add > Run Command> Run Event When> After Run> Command: Browse to the bat file and click Ok.   See attached Sample Workflow.  

This article features a workflow that will allow you to search for keywords within a column of text strings.

Boolean versus Positional Results

How to use Runtime setting in the Workflow Configuration options to disable output and Browse tools\n  

Alteryx has the ability to connect with MIT Kerberos and Active Directory (Kerberos SSPI) based Hadoop implementations. With this feature came the need to tell the driver that you are using Windows Kerberos/Kerberos SSPI and not MIT's version.

How do we do this? Read on.

Inputting Data in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Characters

This article covers how to delete records from a database using an Input Text tool containing a parameter and a macro using the Post SQL Statement. The macro below is an example of how you can do this.

What’s the difference between Scheduling a workflow from its original location on disk vs as a copy in the Scheduler DB?

Can I read Outlook emails and attachments with Alteryx?

The partnership between Alteryx and Tableau is becoming stronger and stronger, and the seamless effortless integration has been made easier through the Publish to Tableau Server Tool. This article demonstrates the use of the Publish to Tableau Server tool, available on the Alteryx Analytics Gallery.

As users collaborate, the sharing of workflows that connect to databases can be helpful. The In-DB Connection File type allows for this. A database connection is saved as an .indbc file so it can be packaged with a workflow.

When using the Salesforce Input tool, you can limit the data to a certain timeframe.Alteryx has the ability to use SOQL date queries so that you pull data for a certain time frame instead of pulling ALL of your data and then having to filter out what you are interested in.

If I have a list of dates, how can I find the date of the next Monday for each date?

The improvements in our salesforce connectors have been astronomical over the last year and now it is easier than ever to navigate the UI configuration screen and connect to your Salesforce Data!

You may be trying to install the Alteryx Designer or Server and receive an error saying: There was an error downloading "AlteryxInstallx64_VersionX.exe...."