#10 Recap: Indy AUG 2020 Q1 meeting - Cspring

[patrick_digan]

Thanks to everyone who came out to our latest Alteryx User Group meeting! It was great to see several new people join our group. The attached zip file has the powerpoint and other resources. Here is a quick recap:

• @Raphael_Kotzock walked us through a great use case involving bringing together data from a number of messy systems. It was interesting to see their group working with IT to implement a compromised solution. I liked his idea of using colored comment boxes with wireless connections to know where the data is flowing in complex workflows.
• The group voted for the RegEx quiz for the next activity. Thanks to @BenMoss  for putting it together! It narrowly beat out the Weekly Challenge. It was a lot of fun to see people learn more about the power of Regular Expressions. @Damon-James took home first place in a tightly contested battle. Here is a non-exhaustive list of helpful resources for RegEx:
  1. the attached zip folder has a cheat sheet that @jarrod mentioned.
  2. The RegEx tool mastery is one of the most in depth in the series.
  3. This KB article has a lot of good info on RegEx syntax.
  4. Alteryx has a number of interactive lessons on RegEx.
  5. Here are some external links. These sites provide nice interfaces and explanations that are useful while learning/expanding your RegEx knowledge:
     • http://www.weitz.de/regex-coach/#install
     • https://regexr.com/
     • https://regex101.com/
     • https://regexone.com/

• We continued our tools in depth series with part 2 of the preparation tools.
  1. @jarrod  went in depth on the Random Sample tool. He showed how it was similar but better than the sample tool for grabbing a random set of data. He also walked us through some of the nuances of what the tool can do. Since it’s a macro, he opened it up and showed us how it was working.
  2. @patrick_digan  went through the multi-field formula tool. It’s great for applying the same formula to multiple columns. Some popular use cases are adding commas to numbers or converting dates to alteryx dates. The multi-field formula has the unique ability to change the field type of an existing field after applying a formula. 
  3. @Kenda  demonstrated the unique and only unique tool. It’s confusing for beginners as the unique tool really returns the first record, not the "unique" records. She showed how the crew macro Only Unique can return the truly unique records. 
  4. @DultonM  chose the generate rows tool. He had a number of different examples showing the power of the tool. Its ability to create rows of data based on logic isn’t found in any other tools. He also highlighted the fact that you can use it as a filter as well when conditions aren’t met.
• We wrapped up the meeting with a few housekeeping items. Please fill out this alteryx user group survey for a chance to win a pizza party for a future meeting! https://www.research.net/r/xx2762q

DultonGroup pictureRaphael

[jarrod]

ahh, I forgot about this picture i took of @patrick_digan showing us the multi-field tool.

Also a great picture of fellow user group leaders @Kenda and @DultonM.  

 

[Kenda]

Sneaky... @jarrod