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Next potential improvement to formula tools

Two additions to the formula tool that would be great to see:

- When I select a function (like DateTimeParse) and hit F1 for help - please could you take me to the help for this specific function?

- For the parameters which are ordinal or "magic value" type parameters - please can you create a simple formula builder so that we don't have to keep on going into the help text to find out which % flag to use for a month in MM format; and which is MMM format.

     - What I'm thinking here is a simple pop-up box that allows you to create the parameter you want

     - Alternatively - provide a direct hint-text for the parameter in question or inline intellitext like Visual Studio or Eclipse

     - Overall though - the date functions seem to have grown up at different times - and so they treat dates in different ways - dateTimeDiff uses "Hours" which is pretty common, the DateTimeParse uses magic values like "%Y", and the new date time conversion tool uses the standard form used in Windows of MM-YYYY etc.   So it woudl be worth looking at a refactoring of the date functions to bring them all to a standard treatment of date parameters.

 

Thank you

Sean

2 Comments
RachelW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@SeanAdams Thanks for the suggestions! We're always looking for ways to make the Formula tool easier to use. 

 

We've made finding the correct function a little bit easier. Rather than taking you to the main functions page, when you press F1 you should be taken to the function category. This would help you find the specific function a little easier. We'll consider tagging each specific function, so pressing F1 takes you to the specific function. 

 

Thanks also for the suggestion on a Formula building to make building functions with ordinal parameters easier. 

AlteryxCommunityTeam
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team
Status changed to: Accepting Votes