Interface Designer Window

Use the Interface Designer window to customize an app or macro interface. Reorder interface questions and actions, add interface elements, test values, and include content.

To access the Interface Designer:

Select Interface Designer from View.
Or press Ctrl + Alt + D.

The Interface Designer window opens independent of the Designer interface.

See Interface Tools for more information on tools used to create an app or macro interface.

Layout

In the Layout view, add, remove, and reorder the app or macro interface elements.

Add: Add interface design elements. Added elements are always created at the bottom of the currently selected tab:

Group Box: A visual indicator box in which related elements can be contained. Elements are moved into the group box rather than created within it.
Label: A line of text that can be added to the app. The label has no visual indicator except the additional text.
Link: A link to a web page or file that can be added to the app.
- A web page must have a complete URL.
- A file link should have a relative path. Additionally, a file link can be used to allow users to download a file from an Alteryx Server instance.
  1. Type the file link in Interface Designer, using %20 for spaces.
    gallery/My%20File.doc
  2. Copy the file to the gallery file of your Alteryx Server installation.
    C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin\RuntimeData\gallery
Tab: Adds a tab to the top of the app interface. The Analytic App prompts the app user to move from one tab to the next to complete the process. Use tabs to organize an Analytic App.

Delete: Select an interface element and click Delete to remove it from the interface. Deleted container elements do not delete held elements.
Arrows: Select an interface element and use the arrows to move the element up or down or nest tools on a tab, or move elements left or right between tabs.

To edit the properties of an interface element, select the element and edit it in the Configuration window, outside of the Interface Designer window. To confirm edits, click out of the Configuration window or click Apply.

Test

In the Test view, test the app or macro by selecting or entering values for questions and opening a debug version of the app or macro with those values.

Select the values manually, or use these options:

Reset: Clears all user-entered values and returns to default design settings.
Open: Opens Windows Explorer. Locate app values saved as a .yxwv file.
Save: Opens Windows Explorer. Save app values as a .yxwv file to use for subsequent runs of the same Analytic App.
View: Shows the XML result of all questions with the values you entered.

Open Debug: Click to open a duplicate workflow in a new tab configured with the values entered for each question. The interface tools are not included in the workflow.

If workflow tools reference connection names in an expression, the app values will not be updated in the Debug workflow.

Tree

The Tree view displays the hierarchical relationship between questions and actions in the app or macro. A blue box surrounds the selected interface element (question or action). A gray box surrounds its corresponding question or action.

Use the up and down arrows to reorder a selected interface element. You can reorder actions, inputs, and outputs. See Macro Input Tool, Macro Output Tool.

Properties

In the Properties view, customize the app or macro controls. Controls differ between apps and macros.

App controls

Help: Use File or Hyperlink: A relative path or URL to a custom Help topic for an app or macro. The default Help page is either Analytic Apps or Macros. The referenced topic will display when a user presses F1 or selects the tool and clicks the Help icon in the Configuration window.
On Success - Run another Analytic App: Select the saved app that should launch after the first app is successfully executed. This chains one Analytic App to another Analytic App.
On Success - Show Results to User: Select the files to output when the app is successfully executed. All output files and Browse tools from an app design workflow are available for selection.
Output Message: Type a text-only message to display when the app is successfully executed.
No Output Files Message: Type a message to display when no output files are available.
Graphic (Desktop only): An image that displays when the app is run on a desktop.
- Use Graphic: The graphic displayed for Analytic apps run on desktops. The default graphic is the Alteryx Analytic App graphic, a .png image with 124w x 319h dimensions.
  To use a custom graphic, click the Browse button and select an image. The default application window is 124w x 319h pixels. Graphics are not resized to fit.

Macro controls

Standard Icon: A standard icon to represent the macro when it is placed on the canvas.
Custom Icon: Select a custom image. The image is re-sized to 41x41 pixels.
Output fields change based on macro's configuration or data input: Select this option to make the macro remember the output fields from the previous run. To reset the output fields to the default values, change the macro configuration.
Select this option if the output fields change based on the data passed to the macro. Do not select this option if the output fields only change based on input fields or question answers.

Additional controls are available for these macro types: Batch Macro, Iterative Macro, Location Optimizer Macro.