Test Client
AYX SDK CLI
The ayx-sdk-cli is the newest addition to the Alteryx Developer Experience product suite. It currently contains the Test Client and is the next iteration of CLI. The ayx-sdk-cli will house all the functionality for Desktop and future Cloud Developer Experience offerings.
Please note that the ayx-plugin-cli is still required for plugin development until the ayx-sdk-cli has matured.
Get the latest release of ayx-sdk-cli with the Test Client at https://github.com/alteryx/ayx-developer-sdk/releases.
The Test Client allows you to test SDK tools in a given workspace. You don't need to create and install a YXI for use by Alteryx Designer. Just give the client a set of inputs and outputs as appropriate, and see if the plugin runs as expected!
Anchor Types
input
none
single-connection: One input source.
multi-connection: Multiple input sources.
optional (single|multi): None, or some input sources.
output
none
multi-connection: Every output anchor in Alteryx supports multiplexing to numerous tools and resources. For the test client case, it's only 1 output source.
Supported File Types
CSV (*.csv)
JSON (*.json)
NDJSON (*.ndjson)
Note on JSON
Alteryx Designer can write JSON as a JSON Array (*.json). Other utilities, like the Apache Arrow library, write JSON as NDJSON (*.ndjson) (New Line Delimited).
JSON (Array)
[
{
"Field1": 1,
"Field2": 2,
"Field3": 3
},
{
"Field1": 4,
"Field2": 5,
"Field3": 6
},
{
"Field1": 7,
"Field2": 8,
"Field3": 9
}
]
NDJSON
{ "Field1": 1, "Field2": 2, "Field3": 3 }
{ "Field1": 4, "Field2": 5, "Field3": 6 }
{ "Field1": 7, "Field2": 8, "Field3": 9 }
Command Syntax
ayx-sdk-cli.exe plugin run [WORKSPACE_PATH]::[PLUGIN_NAME] [--input [--schema]]... --output...
Workspace Path and Plugin Name
Run a plugin (passthrough) inside a workspace directory:
ayx-sdk-cli.exe plugin run Passthrough --input input.csv --output output.csv
Run a plugin (passthrough) in another directory:
ayx-sdk-cli.exe plugin run C:\...\...\...\BaseTools::Passthrough --input input.csv --output output.csv
Anchor Syntax
The anchor syntax is fairly simple. In some cases, you only need to provide a path to the filename. In other cases, you might need to supply the anchor it's going to and potentially a format. The test client tries its best to take any given file and read and write it correctly based on its file extension. Sometimes this is not possible (reading from stdin or writing to stdout with no file extension available).
If the anchor only has 1 input or output anchor, the test client successfully binds any sources to it (based on --input or --output flags). In all other cases, you must supply an anchor name with @ANCHOR_NAME syntax. Just to be sure, a multi-connection tool has a single anchor but allows multiple connections, so --input file.csv --input file.csv --input file.csv works (only 1 input anchor is available, named "Input").
If you forget to supply enough inputs or outputs, supply too many, or supply an incorrect anchor name, the test client detects this early and generates an error. This is also the case if you forget to specify a type for input and output types like stdin and stdout.
Examples
Example 1
These are examples of the test client that is satisfied with the syntax (Passthrough tool):
ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv --output output.csv ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:json --output output.csv:json // parses as JSON! ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:json --output output.csv:ndjson // parses as NDJSON! ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:csv@Input --output output.csv:csv@Output ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv@Input --output output.csv@Output ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:csv@Input --output :csv // stdout ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:csv@Input --output stdout:csv // also stdout ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:csv@Input --output stdout:csv@Output // also stdout
Example 2
These are examples of the test client that is not satisfied with the syntax (Passthrough tool):
ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv --input input2.csv --output.csv // too many inputs ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv --output input.csv // input and output sources cannot be the same ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:json --output.csv:json@Output2 // Output2 is non-existent ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:csv@Input --output stdout // needs format ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input input.csv:csv@Input --output stdout@Output // needs format
Example 3
These are examples of something unusual, like the Optional tool:
ayx-sdk-cli.exe Optional --input input.csv --output output.csv // ok ayx-sdk-cli.exe Optional --output output.csv // also ok ayx-sdk-cli.exe Optional --input input.csv --output input.csv // input/output cannot share sources
Example 4
These are examples of the test client with a Multi-Connection tool:
ayx-sdk-cli.exe MultiConnection
--input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv
--output output_one.csv@Output1 --output output_two.csv@Output2 --output output_three.csv@Output3 --output output_four.csv@Output4 --output output_five.csv@Output5 // ok!, input gets auto-mapped (multi-connection, but one anchor)
ayx-sdk-cli.exe MultiConnection
--input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv
--output output_one.csv@Output1 --output output_two.csv@Output2 --output output_three.csv@Output3 --output output_four.csv@Output4 // error! forgot Output5!
ayx-sdk-cli.exe MultiConnection
--input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv --input input.csv
--output output_one.csv@Output1 --output output_two.csv@Output2 --output output_three.csv@Output3 --output output_four.csv@Output4 --output output_five.csv@Output6 // error! no Output 6!Advanced Usage
Piping from stdin to stdout.
cat some_file.txt | ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough --input :csv --output :csv ... 1,2,3 4,5,6 7,8,9 ...
Contents of some_file.txt:
1,2,3 4,5,6 7,8,9
This doesn't require a schema:
stdin is valid. It can be shared among any input, like a file.
stdout is not valid. Similar to a file, multiple outputs can't write to it.
cat some_file.txt | ayx-sdk-cli.exe Passthrough
--input :csv
--input :csv
--input :csv
--input :csv
--input :csv
--output :csv@Output1
--output :csv@Output2
--output :csv@Output3
--output :csv@Output4
--output :csv@Output5
Command Reference
Go to Test Client Command Reference for detailed information.