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Engine Works

Under the hood of Alteryx: tips, tricks and how-tos.
TashaA
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Inspire this year was a whirlwind and I am still trying to process all of the great feedback, inspirations, and ideas from our awesome users! As part of the Technical Track I hosted a talk about REST APIs and Alteryx, there were many great questions and I even learned some neat tricks from the attendees. We talked about web scraping and connecting to APIs, and why this works with Alteryx. Don't worry if you missed it though; myself along with @NeilR@DeniseF@RithiS, and @JPKa have pulled together and created a new series of Knowledge Base articles that cover the ins and outs of building your own data connector. I am happy to announce the

 

Guide to Creating Your Own Connector Series

 

accioData.jpgWhile REST is simply an architectural style, and we cannot always forsee every possibile combination of authentication methods or query strings, we have put these key items into sections and outlined many of the different configurations that we have come across while building Alteryx connectors. What types of authentication to look for, different ways of constructing payloads, and how to generate the interface for the tool are just a few of the items detailed in the series. If you have additional questions or ideas that aren't covered in each of the sub-topics let us know, we want to keep growing and sharing the knowledge! 

 

 

 

If you aren't ready to build your own full-fledged connector complete with Error Handling, Interface Design, and Data Parsing, then check out some of my getting started blogs. I recommend the 5 minute-No Coding Required blog to get your feet wet with connecting to a REST API in Alteryx.

 

If you are looking for any of the recently released connectors like Salesforce Wave, Adobe Analytics, and Google Sheets, then head over to the Connectors District on the Gallery where you can download those tools directly (compatible with Alteryx 10.5 and later.) If you have any API connectors that you have built, tell us about them. Add the tool to the Gallery and let us know in the comments section below!

 

ice_screenshot_20160617-141252.png

 

Tasha Alfano

Tasha loves working with Alteryx products, building time-saving tools, and talking to customers! When she isn't at the Colorado Alteryx office, she's usually running or biking on a trail nearby. Twitter: @Tasha_Alfano

Tasha loves working with Alteryx products, building time-saving tools, and talking to customers! When she isn't at the Colorado Alteryx office, she's usually running or biking on a trail nearby. Twitter: @Tasha_Alfano

Comments
Jtunner
7 - Meteor

Hi Tasha,

 

Quick question (I think):

 

Using the Quandl example, what is the best way to use one connector to pull in multiple data streams?  For example, I want to pull in stock data from Facebook AND Apple AND 90 Day T-Bill rates.

 

Thank you!

 

Jonathan

TashaA
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Hey @Jtunner!

 

The Download Tool works in a 'batch fashion.' What I mean is that it will execute a call for every row that is passed to it.

 

In the case you mentioned, you should: 

 

  • Add a text input tool, with each stock code in a different row
  • In the download tool, select the code as the API specifies that it needs it. If it is a query parameter, you could add the stock code column in the payload tab
    • You could even do this in the formula tool prior to the download tool
  • If your text input tool at the beginning of the workflow has 3 rows, then the download tool will run the call 3 times, one for each record, using the stock code parameter (which is holding the stock code for that row) in the query string 

An example of what this looks like: 

 

batchdownload2.PNG

 

batchDownload.PNG

 

--

Tasha

Jtunner
7 - Meteor

Thank you!  More questions to follow I am sure! :)