Workflow will not read some input files -- Designer v2022.1.1.30961

[ShaneH]

Hello!

I have recently migrated to v2022.1.1.30961 and notice that sometimes when I am working with big workflows, some of the input files stop being read and the workflow will not progress. I have maybe 3-4 layers of containers in some cases, so I've tried removing the relevant containers, removing the input, putting it back in, renaming the file and adding it back in, closing Alteryx and restarting, rebooting my machine... nothing changes. The kicker is that I can copy that container to a new workflow tab and it will run fine.

I did allow it to be converted to use AMP (honestly can't recall if I started building this flow in the new version or if I converted, but I'd bet I converted).

The preview of the file loads as expected, but when I run it, nothing appears in the results window for that input (but it does for other inputs in the same flow).

It seems limited to the input only... I had this happen with a smaller workflow and just copy and pasted it into another tab to run it and moved on, but this is workflow is not so flexible. I did copy the big container that holds the workflow to another tab and tried to run it, same problem, the one input doesn't read. 

I don't see any errors referencing that input if I look at the Results - Workflow - Messages

I can confirm that the container is in the On position as well. I flicked it on and off a little, no help.

Any tips or tricks or even a "yea, me too" would be greatly appreciated. Due to data sensitivity and wonkiness of this problem, sharing the workflow is not an option here.

Thanks,

Shane

[PanPP]

Hi @ShaneH 

I have not heard of this being an issue thus far.

1) Only thing I can think of is to maybe duplicate the workflow by right-clicking the workflow and clicking duplicate workflow to see if the duplicate runs.

2) Unfortunately, you may need to re-create the workflows in a new workflow by copying and pasting buckets of containers/tools. 

I would also recommend reaching out to support@alteryx.com to see if they have seen this issue.

This is probably not the answer you were looking for, but hope it helps.

[ShaneH]

Thanks @PanPP Yes, I also tried duplicating the workflow... same results.

I do not like the need to rebuild this whole thing again, but that is the one thing I have yet to try.

I will send an email to support and see if they have some magical answers for me. :) The first time I had this issue I thought it might be a one off situation, but it doesn't appear to be the case.

Thanks,

Shane

[ShaneH]

BREAKING NEWS: So I found that I had a couple of errors in 2 other Formula tools. These errors were because I put in a Filter (long before either of the problem items are located) that only included a male, but the Formula tool was looking for a Female and a Male, so it errored when it didn't get a Female from the prior Summary tool. The odd thing is that these Formula tools are on a different path than the problematic input file... the input file has no direct path to these erroring Formula tools, so I do not expect them to have an impact on it. Perhaps its related to tool/container number? the Input Data number is 749, whereas the erroring Formula tools are 406 and 613. I do notice that the Filter that I put in is number 750.

Turning off the containers that hold the erroring Formula tools does NOT resolve the issue either.

Just sharing to add to the story incase someone else has this issue, it might be related to an error somewhere else in the flow.

[ShaneH · Accepted solution]

I found that installing the latest patch (AlteryxNonAdminInstallx64_2022.3.1.395.exe) will resolve this issue: https://help.alteryx.com/20223/designer/alteryx-amp-engine

[Richard_Wistow]

Hello,

I am having a similar problem with the largest of the workflows we run at my institution (not an issue on any of the other workflows we run at the moment) - we cannot add any new inputs through input data or text input. The left hand panel will show the file or text input but the bottom panel shows no preview of the data before or after the workflow is run. When the workflow is run these inputs do not highlight green as the run works its way through the model. We hit this problem a few months back and solved it by pasting the whole thing into a blank workflow and could then add inputs again. I’ve tried that this time round but unfortunately that is not longer working.

This problem is occurring on version: 2022.3.1.430 and on the previous version before I updated.

In the workflow the bottom pane where the table of data would normally be previewed has the message 'memory limit reached add a browse' – I’ve added a browse but can’t see anything and even if that did work I'm not sure that would get me any further on as it wouldn't then help in pulling new data in the workflow anyway. If I add a select or anything else to the input to progress the workflow I cannot get anything to move into them from the input.

The workflow has 0 errors, 38 conversion errors (all around rounding 1.5 etc to 2) and then 159 warnings which seem to be about dividing by 0. The conversion and warnings are not directly relevant to what we are doing, we get the outputs we want from this workflow.

I could restart building the whole thing but it's a bit of a funny one in that nothing is obviously broken other than the ability to read new inputs into the model.  We can continue to make changes to the model in all other respects than adding new inputs in.  So what the trigger for preventing us from adding new inputs in is not immediately obvious.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Best wishes,

Richard  

[ShaneH]

Hi Richard,

This sounds similar to my situation... I found that this issue happened under the following conditions: Upstream had the data limited to Males only, downstream I had a Formula Tool that assigned a field called Male or Female based on incoming field data. So when the data only had a Male in it, the input in another leg of the workflow wouldn't load an input file. If made sure that both Male and Females were in the flow, the Formula Tool didn't error and everything flowed as expected.

I see that you've applied an update newer than the one that resolved my issue. So I'm not sure where to go other than to troubleshoot your workflow to see if you have a Formula Tool that that is looking for a value that it can't find in the data.

Another approach might be to start removing the most recently added tools until it starts working again... the dreaded "process of elimination" (only dreaded if you have a giant workflow!! - but it helps put your finger on the problem).

Otherwise, I opened a ticket with Alteryx... we tried somethings and ended up resolving it by installing the update. But maybe you have some different nuance to your situation that they can advise you on.

If you sort this out, I'd be happy to see what the solution might be. 

Thanks for sharing!!

[TyroneW]

Thank you for your post @ShaneH. I just ran into the same issue and I'm running version 2022.1.1.42604. Not using the AMP engine (unchecking that option) solved it, although that led to other issues 😶.

[Cshoben]

Yippie. I'm running Version: 2022.1.1.40869 and unchecking the 'Use Amp Engine' did the trick. Any new input tool would not function, and I tried to copy and paste from functioning workflows. I even copy and pasted an input tool in my workflow that was working, and the new pasted version didn't work. I'm thankful a simple check box fixed the problem. This thread has saved me hours of time. Thank you!

[Austin004lasrado]

Yes Indeed, my same issue was solved just unclicking the AMP Engine