Reverse engineering on workflows can sometimes be time consuming, even with a lot of documentation and annotations.
One best practice is to fill in the descriptions within SELECT tools to keep the metadata within the entire workflow. The description can be the file name from which it comes from, or even better, file name and the functional description of the field.
With this feature, you will better document your workflow for your colleagues, but also for yourself when it comes the moment where you need to investigate where an error comes from, or to be more agile while building a logic.
Depending on 2 different scenarios you will be prompted to choose if you want the same description all along or if you want a different description for each fields:
- Same description everywhere : Free text to write in the box + indicate how many fields you have in the select tool
- Different description on each field : Create a file with 2 columns (field names and descriptions) + map the columns. A template is attached to this article
Then you will be able to download a file called output_config.yxft which you will load on your select tool.
Be aware, 1 select tool = 1 file
Once loaded you don't need the file anymore.
⚠ if you choose a different description for each field name, you MUST have the fields in the same order as the select tool as Alteryx map by position in Designer