1. Adding tools
Now that we have some data, let’s continue adding tools to our canvas.
From the Input Data tool, we can only view the first megabyte of our dataset in the results window. A different tool is required to view the full dataset in the results window, plus additional information, such as a dataset's data profiles.
We can do this with the Browse Tool. Drag the Browse Tool to the canvas.
A workflow is created by connecting an output anchor and an input anchor. We can drag the output anchor from the Input Data tool towards the input anchor of the Browse Tool, and now we have a connection. If you drag the new tool to the workflow close enough to an existing tool’s output anchor, Alteryx Designer automatically creates a connection. Note that you can have multiple connections from the output anchor of a tool.
To delete a tool from the canvas, right-click on it and select Delete.
With the Browse Tool selected, click run, and this two-tool workflow is processed. In the configuration window, we can now see information about all the columns in the dataset. That’s pretty handy when starting an analysis with new data. If we click on a column name, we can see the column profile and statistics for that specific column. The same can be achieved by clicking on the column name in the results window of the Browse tool.
When the Browse tool is selected, we see a binocular image in the results window. You can picture the Browse as a “snapshot” in time of the data and not a tool that data passes through.
Therefore, the Browse tool doesn’t have an output anchor, and you don’t connect other tools to it.
Regardless of the tool selected, it is possible to see the metadata of the dataset by clicking on the Metadata button in the results window.
Before moving on, let’s add another tool - the Select tool. This can be found in the favorites or the preparation toolset. One feature of this tool is that it allows us to select and deselect columns from our dataset to keep in our workflow. It has further uses, which will be covered in detail later on. For now, we want to use it to remove some columns.
We can see all the columns in our dataset in the configuration window. We want to remove the Climate column, which contains a reference ID to a dataset we haven’t accessed. We can unselect the Climate column using the tickbox to the left of it.
Changes in the configuration window are applied automatically when you continue to work on your workflow or run the workflow.
If we click run and see the output from the select tool in the results window, we see that the climate column is missing.
In the results window, we can see information related to the input anchor of the Select tool and the output anchor. When viewing the results window, select the output anchor to see the results of the tool processes.
Now, it's over to you to start building a workflow and investigate your data.
2. Let's practice!