Macro use directly from Gallery

[tom_montpool]

I was reading a post on the Community (http://community.alteryx.com/t5/Publishing-Gallery/Macro-sharing-Best-practice/m-p/38330) which reminded me of an idea that I had.

It would be really nice if a Gallery location could be used as a "Macro Search Path" so that macros don't need to be downloaded from the Gallery and saved locally to be used in a workflow.

So in addition to going to Options>User Settings>Edit User Settings>Macros and adding a local/network path, you could add your internal gallery information...

[rdoptis]

This would also be very helpful for keeping macros up to date with any changes the macro creator makes. Today it is common to have different team members using different versions of macros depending on when they first downloaded it.

[SeanAdams]

This would be very useful - it also reenforces the idea of working on central assets - and it also makes deployment of a flow easier (since the macro will point to the gallery path)

[SeanAdams]

The capability exists in Designer to allow users to point to a shared network folders with Macros built by the team - and these are then pulled into the toolbar within the designer.

However, we're looking to move our Alteryx jobs off network shares and onto the Gallery, and we cannot figure out how to achieve this same outcome.

The idea is to add the capability to the designer so that I can set up macro search paths to bring in macros that are under the Macro District on our internal firm Gallery.    That way, as users build useful tools and  post them into the Macros District, every user's designer will then show this macro to all of our users in their toolbar.

Let me know if it's worth taking the alteryx team through this idea on a phone call or screen share?

CC: @SteveA @BenG

[tom_montpool]

 I think this is similar to my idea -- 
https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Product-Ideas/Macro-use-directly-from-Gallery/idi-p/38351

Combining stars across both ideas might boost this a bit in the standings...

[JessicaS]

@SeanAdams

Please let me know if you would like me to link the posts

Thanks,

[SeanAdams]

Thank you @JessicaS - it makes sense to link the posts since they are targeting the same outcome.

Thanks for pointing this out @tom_montpool

[JulieM]

HI all, thank you for the feedback!  This work isn't something we currently have planned but we're definitely keeping in mind as we look forward and will update this post as we know more.  Thanks again!  

[SeanAdams]

Hi @JulieM

Appreciate you taking the time to update the status of the idea.   

This particular issue is one that we struggle with internally too - and in fact without the ability to tie in macros that are on the gallery directly, we lose a significant portion of the value of Alteryx's macros as reusable tools.

This may not be an issue for smaller companies - but for companies with a significant number of users (50+) this really is very important.

For example - if we build a macro that does something simple like lookup of client details by ID.   

- If we don't deploy this, then everyone will reinvent the wheel, and when the client master is changed, everyone's canvasses will break

- if we deploy to the workstations, this is a logistical nightmare with every new version - plus it doesn't help with canvasses that are already live on the gallery that use this

- if we deploy on a network share - then it is discoverable, but no version control - and all gallery canvasses in production will not get the new version

The only remaining option is to use the gallery as the central point for reusable macros - and to do this in a way that the dependancy is either deep or shallow (either take a version-level copy or take the latest-version on every run).

Please do re-consider this - for the server to be an enterprise grade product - this is a necessary capability.

Thank you

Sean

[JulieM]

@SeanAdams Thanks very much for the additional feedback and I agree this functionality will go a long way to make macro deployment much easier to manage.  While this isn't currently planned for our near-term roadmap, we are definitely continuing to consider this, particularly when thinking about the next generation of Alteryx as a platform.

[andrewdatakim]

+1 for @SeanAdams points on this Idea. It is becoming critical to have a central repository area. I am seeing a lot of companies that are storing their macros on the server just to maintain a "private Macro Gallery", but there is still no way to reference it.