Scheduling a workflow on Alteryx Gallery using input files from a local drive

[kkahle]

Hello,

I'm attempting to use my companies gallery to schedule a workflow that uses input files which are saved on my local drive. The input files are updated daily (the file names do not change). 

When I run the workflow from designer everything works fine.  

When I schedule the workflow to run from the gallery (I have it set to run daily) the first instance also runs the way I expect it to. 

The issue arises on subsequent runs. When the workflow runs the next morning it is using the input files from the day before. (the day I uploaded the workflow)

I'd like the workflow on the gallery to use the updated files on my local drive as inputs every time it runs. 

Please let me know if there is any other information I can provide and thanks in advance for any advice. 

Thanks,

Kurt

[hroderick-thr · Accepted solution]

Hi KKahle

When you save to gallery, go into the manage workflow assets option and uncheck your input file.

This keeps it from being included in the package you publish to the gallery and never changing.

This may create a new problem, where the gallery can't find your file because C:\yourfolder\yourfile.csv

C:\ on the directory is a different location than C:\ on your development machine.

To make it worse, if your Alteryx server has worker machines, each has a different C:\ drive.

To fix this problem use a network address (\\....\...\...) instead of a machine address (C:\...) in your input tool.

You may have network share drives that both you and the Alteryx server account can read and these would be best.

Depending on your companies network policy rules, you may be able to reference C:\yourfolder\yourfile.csv as

\\mycomputername\c$\yourfolder\yourfile.csv

[AbhilashR]

Hi @kkahle,

Adding to what @hroderick-thr has wonderfully explained, Alteryx Designer by default packages the base workflow along with its dependencies (in this case a copy of your input file) at the time of publish to the Gallery. It does so to ensure the base workflow has access to all its dependencies (e.g. macros and input files) to be able to successfully run on the Gallery. This in-turn puts the onus on the developer/artisans to parameterize the input files.

This is the reason why your workflow runs fine the first time, but throws incorrect results in subsequent runs.

Follow the steps @hroderick-thr has mentioned and it should address your issue. Please mark his response as solution accepted if it was satisfactory and addresses your question.