These functions perform a variety of specialized actions. You can use them with all data types.
EscapeXMLMetacharacters(String)
: Replaces XML metacharacters with their escaped versions. There are 5 characters that are escaped.
Character | Escaped Version |
---|---|
" | " |
' | ' |
< | < |
> | > |
& | & |
EscapeXMLMetacharacters("2>1&1<2")
returns 2>1&1<2
GetVal(index, v0,...vn)
: Returns the value (v0, ..., vn) specified by the 0-based index.
GetEnvironmentVariable(Name)
: Returns the environment variable specified in Name. To get a list of environment variables, on your machine go to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables. A list of system variables appears. You can use any value from this list.
Alteryx doesn't support GetEnvironmentVariable
in apps saved to Server.
GetEnvironmentVariable(CommonProgramFiles)
returns C:\Program Files\Common Files.
GetEnvironmentVariable(OS)
returns Windows_NT.
Message(messageType, message, returnValue)
: Use with a conditional statement to output a message to the message log and update column data with a specified value when a condition is met.
The message type and text is shown in the Results window. If logging is enabled, the output log file also resembles this information. Go to Results Window and Output Log File for more information.
messageType
: A number that corresponds to the type of message:
1: Messages
2: Warnings
3: Errors
5: Conv Errors (field conversion errors)
8: Files (input)
9: Files (output)
message
: The text of the message, expressed as a string between quotes.
returnValue
: A value to output to column data. This can be a numeric value (for example, 0), null, or a text string between quotes (for example, "False").
In this example, the Message function is used within a conditional expression to output a field conversion error message and update column data with a value of "False" if given date-time values do not contain valid time data.
If [Hour] = "0" and [Minutes] = "0" then Message(5, "Invalid time in DateTime", "False") Else "True" Endif
NULL()
: Returns a Null value.
RangeMedian(...)
: Calculates the median from a series of aggregated ranges. Go to Range Median for more information.
ReadRegistryString(Key, ValueName, DefaultValue=")
: Returns a value from the registry.
Soundex(String)
: Returns the Soundex of String. Soundex creates a code based on the first character in the string plus 3 characters based on these items:
Character | Soundex |
---|---|
Non-Alpha Characters (numbers and punctuation) | -1 |
a, e, i, o, u, y, h, and w | Ignored unless it's the first character in the string. |
b, f, p, and v | 1 |
c, g, j, k, q, s, x, and z | 2 |
d and t | 3 |
l | 4 |
m and n | 5 |
r | 6 |
If the resulting code is only 2 or 3 characters long, Soundex uses zeros to fill out the code to 4 characters. For example, in the name Lauren, only the L, r, and n are translated (Lrn), so the resulting Soundex code is L650.
If the resulting code is more than 4 characters long, all characters after the fourth character are ignored. For example, in the name Patrick, the P, t, r, c, and k can be translated (Ptrck), but the resulting Soundex code is only 4 characters: P362.
Soundex_Digits(String)
: Returns the first 4 digits or the Soundex if none.
If there are digits (numbers) in the String, the first 4 digits are returned.
If there are no digits, the Soundex code is returned.
Example String | Soundex_Digits |
---|---|
3825 Iris | 3825 |
55555 Main | 5555 |
14L Broadway | 14 |
Commerce Street | C562 |
L Street | L236 |
TOPNIDX(N, v0, v1, ..., vn)
: Returns the 0-based original index position of the Nth from the maximum value upon sorting the indexed fields (v0 to vn) in descending order. Null values are ignored and N should be less than non-null parameters. With N==0, it is the same as MaxIdx(...).
N
- Nth from the maximum value from the indexed fieldsv0, v1, ..., vn
are the indexed fields
TOPNIDX(1, [IndexedField1], 5, 7)
returns...
0 if 5<
[IndexedField1]
<71 if
[IndexedField1]
< 5 or[IndexedField1]
is null2 if
[IndexedField1]
> 7
UrlEncode(String)
: Encodes a UTF-16 String as a web-legal URL for both the original engine and AMP.
C:\temp\Alteryx URL Encode
returns C:/temp/Alteryx%20URL%20Encode