Engine Works
Under the hood of Alteryx: tips, tricks and how-tos.
One of the lesser used aspects of Alteryx (if you have Designer and Server) are Analytic Apps. In their help documentation, Alteryx talks about being able to execute a workflow with parameters without seeing the actual workflow. To give more clarity to this idea, Alteryx actually gives a developer a way to parameterize a workflow and give the end user the ability to make changes without ever needing to learn Alteryx!!!! Imagine the possibilities!
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Think of all those times coworkers came to you for an update to a dataset you had sent them before. You already automated that with an Alteryx workflow, and now they can change the time frame of the dataset, the product hierarchy information, any location information, anything they want with a few additions to the workflow! Analytic Apps are an immense power that leads your organization towards self-service analytics. Being able to add a few tools easily to create simplistic and effective front-end interfaces for end users to interact with is something that makes analysts' lives much easier in the world of ad-hoc analytics.
Here is an example that was built in the past. We had several requests: to be able to pull information related to different hierarchy aspects of our products; a desire to limit locations that are pulled; and, send a file to the end user when it is completed. To create a front end like this within a programming language like R or Python would be quite complex, but thanks to the power of Alteryx, the interface is created by simply dragging tools onto the canvas.
When you know what the front end will look like for the end users, the challenge becomes: how do you tell Alteryx what changes to make within the workflow? This can be a tricky task; however as a Designer developer, you can change literally ANY setting of a tool with an Action tool and you can even change the XML of a workflow! (If you didn’t know all workflows underneath are XML and you can check out my other blog post here.
Here is the Interface tools tab on the tools palette in Alteryx where you will find the tools to help you build the front-end interface of your app:
The interface tools can be used for not only apps, but macros as well. Some of the tools are specific to macros (and won’t work in apps) include the Control Parameter (for a batch macro), Macro Input, Macro Output, and Folder Browse (which is not supported on Server). All the other tools are fair game within an Alteryx Analytic App. Of the remaining tools in the palette, a few will not create a front end to an interface, but tell a workflow how to handle an input from an end user. Those three tools are the Action, Error Message, and Condition tools. For the tools you can use to create something in the interface, let’s take a moment and see what each one would look like in an app:
1. Check Box – creates a single check box in your interface allowing a user to have the option checked or unchecked when the workflow runs
In Designer VS On Server
2. Date – creates a calendar type interface that allows a user to select a single date (defaults to today’s date)
In Designer VS On Server
3. Drop Down – creates a single selection drop down list
In Designer VS On Server
4. File Browse – creates a text box like insert where a person can input a full file path to be used in the workflow
In Designer VS On Server
5. List Box – creates multiple check boxes for a user to select from. This is like a drop down, but allows for multiple selections
In Designer VS On Server
6. Map – Allows a user to put points, lines, or polygons on a map to be consumed by a workflow as spatial objects
In Designer VS On Server
7. Numeric Up Down – Allows a user to use up and down arrows to select a specific number to be passed into a workflow
In Designer VS On Server
8. Radio Button – Allows a user to select an option and can be grouped together to force a single selection within an app and is passed into a workflow as a true false variable
In Designer VS On Server
9. Text Box – Allow a user to enter in free text (can be a single line or allow multiple lines, and even mask text if passwords would be passed) to be consumed by a workflow
In Designer VS On Server
10. Tree – Allow a user to make selections in a hierarchal order and pass as many selections of varying levels into a workflow
In Designer VS On Server
Analytic Apps are truly an amazing power within the Alteryx space and can help an organization push towards more self-service analytics. With single building blocks, an Alteryx developer can create immersive interfaces with varying levels of differences by simply changing settings within the tool, while not needing to know how to code complex interfaces and interaction points. This is just the beginning and over the next several parts in the series we will dive into the philosophy of an app (the chicken and egg question of Analytic Apps: What comes first the chicken/User Interface or the egg/workflow), share a base randomized dataset, and build a fully customizable analytic app. When the series is complete you should be able to help your organization with analytic apps and strive towards self-service analytics.
