

VANS PYTHON RUNNER CODE
While you and I love to use code to build our workflows, not everyone has this same enthusiasm. So, when you have finished editing in Notebook, switch from Interactive to Production mode – this will speed up your workflow just a little bit. Running the tool in production mode will switch the python from an instance of Jupyter Notebook to a plain Python script.

Running an instance of Jupyter Notebook in Alteryx can put strain on your machine. You can find it hiding in the top-right corner of your configuration pane. For this, there is the production mode within the Python tool. One of the downsides of the Python tool is that it runs relatively slowly and it can cause Alteryx to run slower than usual. Perhaps another obvious tip, but this one also helped me when I was starting to integrate Python in Alteryx. This is an important detail because when you run your workflow the instance of Jupyter Notebook will refresh – this means any details you haven’t saved will be lost! So make sure, before you run your workflow, to save both your Alteryx workflow and your Jupyter Notebook. If you press Ctrl-S (or Cmd-S) while your Notebook is selected, your notebook will save. That means you must save both your Jupyter Notebook and your Alteryx workflow. The Python tool runs a Jupyter Notebook file that is saved separately to your Alteryx workflow. This tip is another quirk that results from creating a Jupyter Notebook instance in Alteryx. Tip 3: Save your workflow AND your notebook While this step isn’t the be-all-end-all of Python-Alteryx programming, it is a tip that might save you a bit of confusion as to why your Notebook isn’t outputting the way you think it should. Then, once your Python script is done, run your workflow again to output that Python-processed data to your next Alteryx tool. Then, once you have run the workflow, you can start coding as you normally would in standalone Jupyter Notebook, outputting results and running your code intermittently. Instead, you have to run your workflow, which gives the Python tool a profile of its inputs. However, even when you start coding, Jupyter can’t read your inputs like other Alteryx tools can. As I mentioned, the tool opens an instance of Jupyter Notebook. This tip is the result of a bit of a quirk in how the Python tool runs. While it is intuitive and easy to learn, perhaps if you are unfamiliar with Jupyter Notebook it might be worth running an instance in your browser to trying it out before taking it to a productionized workflow. This is an interface that allows you to code and write comments as you process your data, showing outputs at various steps along your coding process (much like an Alteryx workflow!). The Python tool in Alteryx opens an instance of Jupter Notebook. Jupyter Notebook is also a required tool. If you have never heard of pandas, there are great resources to learn it available online – here is just one example. Any data passed from your Alteryx workflow into the Python tool takes the form of a pandas DataFrame – for this reason you have to be at least familiar with pandas to run the Alteryx Python tool. Pandas is not a fluffy animal, but rather a Python library that deals with column-row structured data much like Alteryx does.

Anyone who has worked with data in Python has probably worked with pandas, although Alteryx developers trying out Python are likely less familiar. Alteryx uses two specific tools that are also required: pandas and Jupyter Notebook.
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While this tip may seem obvious (particularly to python devotees), knowing how to code in standalone Python is not sufficient to running Python in Alteryx. This bad boy can do a lot of damage! Tip 1: Learn the tools This blog will give you 5 tips that I wish I had known when I started running Python in Alteryx. For these tasks there is the Alteryx Python tool. Often the ease-of-access and productionable design of Alteryx is best combined with the flexibility of Python code. And if they haven’t, you can write it yourself! But often, when deciding on the best tool for any given job, the answer is both. Python is a versatile language that can perform any task – if you have a problem there is a 99% change someone has written a library to solve it. It is easy to present to non-software users, runs fast, and has clear tools that when combined can execute powerful data manipulation pipelines. Alteryx provides a streamlined and organised visual system for data processing.
