Hard requirements:
Unfortunately, due to the build of this tool, there are a couple of mandatory requirements for use. Namely:
- Version 2023.1 (or later)
- An existing, working In-DB connection
Background:
At the moment, the native Join tool in Alteryx Designer only allows users to conduct very strict, like-for-like joins such as:
- Table1.A = Table2.A
- Table1.B = Table2.B
More advanced blending requires us to start using Append Fields, or creating a scaffold with the Generate Rows tool, both of which lead to an explosion of data.
Purpose:
The purpose of this tool is to enable users to conduct flexible, SQL-like joins - like those mentioned below - within Alteryx Designer. Users can provide any join condition that satisfies the syntax and operability of the database to which they are connecting and the macro will return the left, inner and right join products of their two tables. Some examples include:
- Table1.A <= Table2.A
- Table1.A BETWEEN Table2.A AND Table2.B
- Table1.A LIKE Table2.A+’%’
Extra information:
Please see the following document for additional supplementary information. There is also a workflow containing 2 examples attached to this post - these have been tested and are functional with Microsoft SQL Server & Snowflake.
Supplementary info: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aSGcvIDNUBeDp1wuSQbPio-W7n0b5qTftv6tB88gFtk/edit?usp=sharing
Explainer blog:
https://www.databasyx.com/blogs/why-and-how-i-built-a-sql-join-tool-for-alteryx-designer
Any feedback, suggestions or general comments are very welcome!
