Chained Application Run Hell

[brianscott]

Hello everyone - 

I *cannot* get chained applications to run on server and it is driving me up the wall.  

First attempt.  Generate workflows as applications.  Go to interface designer.  Attach workflow B to run after workflow A.  Hit magic wand.  Everything works.  Schedule Workflow A to run immediately.  Workflow A runs only.  No errors reported, just no love for Workflow B. 

Second attempt:  Enable asset management in user settings.  Set application B as an asset to application A.  Retain interface designer changes to initiate application B after application A succeeds.  Hit magic wand.  Everything works.  Schedule Worfklow A to run immediately.  Workflow A runs only.  I swear, this worked for me exactly one time, or maybe I was going crazy then, but now I cannot get it to go. 

Third attempt:  Go to events on Workflow A, and add an event to toggle AlteryxEngineCmd.exe and feed the path to Workflow B.  Run with either button.  Both workflows fire and complete successfully, but I get an error out of Designer about  how AlterxyEngineCmd.exe returned an error code 1.  The system could not find the environment option that was entered.  (203).  I don't care much, per se, but if I want to have the tool email when there is a problem with the process, it's going to email me on every single run even when all commands fired successfully.  Same behavior on server while scheduled.  So, I got things to chain together, but cannot get them to do so without bubbling up a weird error and filling my inbox in junk. 

Do I need to run crew macros to make this go?  That's my next step, but I'm reaching out here first to see if anyone can help.  Thanks.

brian

[MarqueeCrew]

@brianscott,

Please watch a YouTube video that I created to explain chained applications (drop-down).  If you still have issues, PM me and I'll help you.

Cheers,

Mark

[MarqueeCrew]

Sorry, I thought that it showed how to do this on the server.  That video must have been for a client.  If you want to work now via webex, please PM me your email and I'll invite you.

Cheers,

Mark

[cam_w]

I'm hitting the same issue, and honestly, from everything I've read about chained apps, the 'first attempt' should have worked:

First attempt.  Generate workflows as applications.  Go to interface designer.  Attach workflow B to run after workflow A.  Hit magic wand.  Everything works.  Schedule Workflow A to run immediately.  Workflow A runs only.  No errors reported, just no love for Workflow B.

The 'second attempt' was unnecessary because Designer already packages the chained app (B) together with the first app (A) when it saves to the Gallery.

The 'third attempt' is impossible for me because I don't have access to save apps to the server, and my account will not have access to them. And honestly, it should not be necessary.

Interestingly, when I run the first app (A) manually, i.e. I click 'Run' instead of setting up a schedule, the second app (B) runs fine after prompting me to click 'Run' for the second app (B).

I'll reach out to my server admin, but I can't think what else to try at this point.

[dominicmander]

@cam_w did you get any further with this? I have the same issue.

Chained apps all run fine when the first is run manually, but when the first is scheduled it doesn't run the rest of the chain.

[cam_w]

@dominicmander - No we haven't been able to resolve this. We did give feedback directly to Alteryx so that they're aware of our situation. In our case, the Server Run As account should never have access to various assets on the network, which means scheduling Apps with a user's credentials, or a functional id, is imperative. For this reason chained Apps are out.

Actually, I'd much prefer to link Apps in scheduling then in Designer ... so maybe they'll take it in that direction with their development of the Server.