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Engine Works

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

We are very excited to be able to announce the launch of the Macro District in the Alteryx Analytics Gallery

 

Macros have long been an integral part of Alteryx’s story, and a huge feature that can fly a bit under the radar for some users.  What is a macro?  A macro is a module that has the flexibility to be run as a single tool within another module taking what can be either something very simple, or something fairly complex and wrapping it up to be reused repeatedly.  When building a macro, the author has the ability to decide how the user interface should look, what parameters the user should fill out, and what comes across as output.  One of the fantastic aspects of these macros is the ability to open them up simply by right-clicking on them to see how they are built.  This is a great opportunity to learn how things work, and to potentially even make changes to make the macro more relevant for your use.

 

As of Alteryx 9.1, we have well over 60 macros shipping with the product that show up on the tool palette across nearly every category, along with a number of unsung hero macros that play a supporting role.  With 9.1 we also released the ability to create your own Macro Repository.  This feature allows users to have Alteryx look in a custom specified directory(s) to automatically expose any macro in that location on the Tool Palette.  This feature is a direct result of user feedback, so keep the ideas coming!

 

Macro Repository

 

So, back to the Macro District.  We decided to launch the Macro District to roll out some of the macros that may not make the official product cut, and to give other macro authors a forum to be able to share their coolness in the form of macros.  We’ve got things started with 6 nifty macros that have come up as requests over the years, or that we use internally for trouble-shooting our own work.  We really hope that you take the opportunity to grab these macros for your own use.  If you like them or have questions, please take a moment to head back to the Gallery to ask your question or rate it – we haven’t quite figured out how to annoy you with the “Like our macro?  Please take a moment to rate us!” feature within the product…maybe there is a macro for that…hmmm.

 

Have you created something cool that you’d be willing to share?  If so, we’d love to see what you’ve done!  Take a few moments to publish your macro to the Gallery and show off your mad skills and creativity!  Who knows, your macro could be brought up to the big leagues and brought into the product. Look for more macros over the coming months as we come across neat ideas.

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