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Alteryx Server Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Server experts.

Troubleshooting "Unable to translate Alias" with Gallery Data Connections

TylerNg
Alteryx
Alteryx
Created

Issue


The user gets the below error when trying to run or publish a workflow:
 

Unable to translate alias 
 
  • This error can be seen when running/opening a workflow on Designer:
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  • Or when publishing the workflow to Gallery:
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  • Or when running the workflow on Gallery:
 
  • Or when scheduling a workflow to local scheduler/desktop automation.

 

Environment
 

  • Alteryx Designer
    • Version 11.0+
  • Alteryx Server
    • Version 11.0+

 

Diagnosis

 

Data connections in Gallery are different than those in Designer. First, identify which type of connection/alias you are using:

  • In Designer select Options > Advanced Options > Manage Data Connections
  • Determine the type of Data Connection

If you are using a System/User alias, see Solution A.

If you are using a Gallery alias, see Solution B-E.

If you are using a Gallery alias, and one of the below applies, see Solution E:

  • You started seeing this error after upgrading to Server version 2021.1+ OR
  • You are on version 2021.1+ and Solution B-D do not apply to you

 

Cause

Alteryx is not able to find the connection referenced in the workflow.

 

Solution A. Alias is not accessible on the Server

 

The user has created an alias (Saved Data Connection) locally that does not exist on the Server, or is not configured properly. The alias must meet the following requirements:

  1. The alias must be created as a System Alias on the Server (all Worker nodes)
  2. The alias must have the exact same name

It is a best practice to ensure that all aliases are configured as System aliases on the Server. In rare cases, your Gallery Admin may specify that the User Alias can take preference over the System Alias. Please contact your Admin to confirm if this is the case. If this is selected, then the User alias should execute on the Server. This is not the default option.
 


Solution B. Gallery Connection Sync Issue

 
  1. Open File Explorer
  2. Navigate to %APPDATA%\Alteryx\Engine
  3. Delete or rename GalleryAlias.xml
  4. Re-launch Alteryx Designer. This will re-sync the file and you should now be able to see and use the data connection.

 

Solution C. Connection shared with Private Studio

 

If the issue only occurs on your Server and runs fine everywhere else, the Gallery Data Connection needs to be shared explicitly with the owner of the workflow rather than their Private Studio/Subscription.

 

When sharing the connection, you can differentiate a Studio with User Accounts by checking the following:

  1. Default avatar is a single silhouette
  2. User membership icon will appear on the right
  3. The user's email will show
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Please note that in newer versions of Server, the option of sharing to a Studio/Subscription has been removed.

 

Solution D. Asset missing

 

The Gallery connection was not included as a workflow asset when publishing the workflow to the Server. The app/workflow will need to be re-published with the following steps:

  1. From the Designer, select File > Save As >and select your Gallery
  2. Under Workflow Options select Manage workflow assets
idea Skyscrapers
 
  1. Check the box with the name of your alias
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  1. Select Done and then Save to publish.

By default, this option is selected when you first publish.

 

Solution E. Gallery Data Connection is not shared correctly

 
This only applies to Server version 21.1+. In this version, how the permissions check applies changed. See this article for more details: Sharing Data Connections with User Groups | Altery... - Alteryx Community

For versions up to 2020.4 - ensure that the workflow owner has the Gallery data connection shared with them.
Starting in version 2021.1, the data connection must be shared with all users who run the workflow on the Gallery, not just the workflow owner.
 


Solution F. Workflow has a Macro with a database connection from an Input or Output Tool

 
Within the main workflow, add Input Data Tools for all Gallery Data Connections referenced within the Macros.  You can group all those extra Input Data tools into a container and disable the container so it won't affect your workflow.  Then save the workflow back to the Gallery and run it.  Doing this will force the Gallery Data Connections used within the Macros to be packed along with the workflow when saving the workflow to the Gallery allowing the Gallery to know which Data Connections you need to use. 
 
          

Additional Resources

 

As always, don't hesitate to Customer Support if you run into any trouble.



  
Comments
lepome
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

If you've had your Gallery Data Connections spontaneously stop working, you can request your Gallery Administrator remove you from the list of Users with which the Gallery Data Connection has been shared and then add you again. "Broken" Gallery Data Connections most often occur when some (any) change has been made to the user's profile in Gallery.  Any change will "break" the connections, including granting the user permission to schedule, prioritize, or assign jobs to a particular worker.  Changes that the user makes such as specifying a time zone or company will also do this. 

 

This sensitivity to change has been corrected in the stable update to Server version 2019.3.5 and later releases. If you can upgrade to that version, this problem shouldn't recur.

 

If you cannot upgrade immediately, then avoid making any changes to user profiles in Gallery.  Sharing Gallery Data Connections with Studios/Subscriptions can be a partial work-around, but if workflows are scheduled any Gallery Data Connections that those workflows use MUST be shared with the owner as a User.  Sharing Gallery Data Connections with Studios/Subscriptions will grant permission to use them to the members of the Studio/Subscription at the time the connection is shared, but may be inconsistent if membership in a Studio/Subscription later changes.

PatrikCZ
5 - Atom

Hi,

 

i would like to share with you my last experience.

 

In this case Gallery uses  method of sharing connection from with users which then see connection in their designer as type "Gallery". For this gallery we have created recently connection to MS SQL Server and it works only when input tool using this connection is in WF. When only output with this connection is used then while publishing to gallery connection is not able to select.

            PatrikCZ_2-1587665311943.png

            PatrikCZ_3-1587665370578.png

Publishing first WF only with output tool with connection gives error while publishing to gallery(Unable to translate alias).

Second WF containing also input is possible to upload successfully(asset is checked by default and not possible to uncheck).

 

Not sure If i'm missing something or if its a bug?

 

Regards

Patrik

lepome
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@PatrikCZ 
If you haven't resolved this issue yet, please provide the version number.  If you have resolved the issue, would you follow up saying how you did it so that others can benefit?

PatrikCZ
5 - Atom

HI Lisa,

 

this has not been resolved yet. We are working on it right know as probably we will need some support.

 

Thanks

Patrik

JeroenJacobs
7 - Meteor

I had this problem on a designer + scheduler setup, and the solution was to open the %AppData%\Roaming\Alteryx\Engine folder, there is the UserAlias.xml file.

I structured the XML file properly and found  <SourceUrl/>, but there was no <SourceUrl> and no value.. So i deleted the <SourceUrl/> and after i restarted Alteryx, it worked.

amti
7 - Meteor

JeroenJacobs 

 

Was that problem with the scheduler local or only when scheduling it on the server? I'm not able to schedule/run it on the server, since it can't translate the alias. Not sure if this XML would be my case, because my guess is that I really need to see "Gallery" connection instead of "User" type when setting up Shared connections. 

Sagarika_k
6 - Meteoroid

Hello @amti  were you able to solve this? Ive been stuck with the same issue . 

 

P:S I am a newbie to Alteryx Server

CarlosLt
5 - Atom

Hi,

 

In my case, solution (E) applies: Gallery "Data Connection is not shared correctly"

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Knowledge-Base/Sharing-Data-Connections-with-User-Gr...

 

It changed the way to share data connections, now instead of sharing the data connection only to the artisans (the ones that really need the data to develop the workflows), it now needs to be shared with everybody that runs the workflow, giving everyone access to the data. And you say that you increased security? Really? Please say that you are kidding.

CatheyH
8 - Asteroid

Hi,

We are running Alteryx 2020.4 and I've been wrestling with this problem all weekend.

The workflow ran fine if I ran it on the server but not if I ran it on the scheduler (We are not using Gallery to schedule yet)

The connection was identical to other connections that were running perfectly.

The solution was to log into Alteryx on the server with the Admin account (Right click, run as different user NOT run as Admin) and refresh the connections. Started working immediately.

 

yuriy
8 - Asteroid

We tried all the solutions in the article. The connection worked fine on other users' machines, but not for this person. Also, output asset checkbox was not enabled for him to check, and we'd wee CANNOT PACKAGE under assets. We resolved it by reinstalling Alteryx Designer. Issue happened in version 2021.3

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AlexApolloni
7 - Meteor

Is this fixed in later Gallery Versions? 

lepome
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@yuriy 
Does the workflow use In-DB tools?  Those have to be accessed using a file, which can be packaged, or by using DCM in more recent versions of Designer and Server.  If that is the situation, please refer to the following resources:

 

and the corresponding Help sections.

bkclaw113
9 - Comet

A somewhat adjacent issue related to Data Connections is if you are trying to dynamically pass a Data Connection ID (must use ID not the name) into a Output Tool through the multifile option (that allows you to change the entire path using a field from your data), you can do this if your Output Tool is configured to write to an existing Data Connection. However if you share your process that does not have access to the configured connection in the Output tool they will get an error that Alteryx cannot translate the data connection, but the process should still run and write correctly. If you want to avoid the error being thrown you can create a macro that is configured to write to a YXDB and pass in the Data Connection then use action tools to update

  1. The file to the data connection
  2. The FileFormat to "23" 
  3. The FormatSpecificOptions XML to the XML for a data connection