Getting Started Guide¶
Prerequisites¶
To get started with the Alteryx Core SDK, you need a valid installation of Alteryx Designer.
Python version 3.6.8 is required for Alteryx Designer plugins.
Set Up the Development Environment¶
Follow these steps to configure your development environment.
Create the Virtual Environment¶
To get started…
Install Miniconda3 for your system.
Once the install is done, open an Anaconda Prompt and create a new virtual environment:
conda create -n ayx_plugin_sdk python=3.6.8
.Next, activate it:
conda activate ayx_plugin_sdk
.
If you are not familiar with Anaconda/Miniconda, visit Anaconda Documentation.
Install the Package¶
After you create and activate your virtual environment, pip install the Alteryx Core SDK pip package. For more information on pip, visit the pip website.
Use this command to install the SDK:
pip install ayx_plugin_sdk
Create the Ayx Plugin Workspace¶
Now that the Alteryx Python SDK is installed in your virtual environment
packages, we’ll create a new Plugin Tool Workspace
with default files ready to go. To create a new tool, use the create-ayx-plugin
command.
The create-ayx-plugin
command takes these parameters:
--name
: (Required) The name of the new Plugin tool.
--workspace-directory
: The directory to create the Plugin Workspace.
--tool-type
: The type of tool to create.
For this example we’ll name our new tool MyFirstTool
and we’ll
specify the default directory as ./tools
for the Ayx Plugin
Workspace. We’ll use the --tool-type passthrough
parameter to create the new tool with default input and output anchors.
Use this command:
ayx_plugin_sdk create-ayx-plugin --name MyFirstTool --tool-type passthrough --workspace-directory tools
Workspace Configurations¶
When a workspace is created, a ayx_workspace.json
file is
generated inside of your workspace directory. This file tracks metadata
related to your workspace. By default, you do not need to worry about
this file because it is managed and updated by the CLI commands. For
more advanced workspace users there are customization options within the
ayx_workspace.json
file that might be useful.
This is the structure of the configuration file:
{
"tools": [],
"yxi_name": "",
"designer_path": null,
"tool_family_name": "MyTools",
"requirements_tool": null
}
These are the descriptions of each field:
tools
: A list ofWorkspaceTool
objects associated with the project. EachWorkspaceTool
object contains a name that denotes the name of the tool and looks like this:{ name: "MyFirstTool" }
.
yxi_name
: The name of the YXI installer created by thecreate-yxi
command. Theyxi_name
can include the absolute path to place the YXI file, however the path must exist.
designer_path
: This field can be changed to a string to the path of your Alteryx Designer installation. If you picked the default User/Admin installation location when you installed Designer, you do not need to worry about populating this field. The CLI commands automatically find the default paths for you.
tool_family_name
: This field is used to create the virtual environment and link the virtual environment to your tools via the tool’s{tool_name}Config.xml
file created in each Ayx Plugin Tool directory.
requirements_tool
: This field is used to tell the workspace what tool directory to put the pip wheels and requirements file in. Designer looks for these wheels and requirements when installing YXI files and linking your tool’s pip dependencies. Generally you shouldn’t need to modify the requirements_tool unless there is a particular Ayx Plugin Tool that you want to use for the wheels and requirements. If you delete the requirements_tool with thedelete-ayx-plugin
command, the CLI automatically updates the requirements_tool for you.
Build the Ayx Plugin Tool¶
Now you have a new folder in your current directory named
tools
with a sub-directory named MyFirstTool
. The tools
directory is your Ayx Plugin Workspace and is the top-level directory for all of the tools in your YXI
installer package. The MyFirstTool
sub-directory is your Ayx
Plugin Tool directory. This is where all of the files
necessary for Alteryx Designer to integrate with your plugin reside.
Next we’re going to build your new Ayx Plugin Tool
into Designer, where you can drag it onto the canvas and connect it to
other Designer tools. To build MyFirstTool
into the Designer
application, use the designer-build
command.
The designer-build
command takes these parameters:
--workspace-directory
: The Ayx Plugin Workspace directory.
--clean
: Removes any previous build files for this plugin. If you chose the default install location, you do not need to use this parameter.
--force
: Flag that forces the conda virtual environment for the Ayx Plugin Tool to be rebuilt. By default, thedesigner-build
command automatically checks for updates to the environment and rebuilds if there are changes.Use the
--help
flag for help using the command.
For this command, we’re going to set this flag:
--workspace-directory tools
: Points to the tools folder.
Use this command to build MyFirstTool into Designer:
ayx_plugin_sdk designer-build --workspace-directory tools
Congratulations!
You just created your first Alteryx Plugin Tool! You can now open Alteryx Designer and find your new tool in the Tool Palette.
Remove Tools from Designer¶
You might create a tool that you did not intend to create or you might have old tools that you no longer use. When you want to remove a tool from your workspace or Designer, there are a couple of methods available through the CLI.
You can use the delete-ayx-plugin
command to remove a tool from both
your Ayx Plugin Workspace and your Designer installation.
The delete-ayx-plugin
command takes these parameters:
--name
: The name of the tool to delete.
--workspace-directory
: The Ayx Plugin Workspace directory.
You can also use the --clean
flag in the designer-build
command to
uninstall all of your tools and your Tool Family before rebuilding
them back into Designer. This flag is useful if a tool or environment
has been corrupted for any reason.
Create Your Production Installer¶
After you have implemented and tested your new Ayx Plugin Tool, you might want to distribute it to others. In order to do this, you must create a YXI installer. The Core SDK CLI provides a command for packaging your workspace and tools into an installer.
Run the create-yxi
command and you’ll have a YXI
installer ready for distribution.
The create-yxi
command takes these parameters:
--workspace-directory
: The Ayx Plugin Workspace directory.
--yxi-name
: The name of the YXI installer produced (can also include a path to another location, as long as the directory exists).
After you run the create-yxi
command you will have .yxi file
available for distribution. By default, the name of the YXI produced is
based on the Ayx Plugin Workspace directory name but the default can
be overridden using either the --yxi-name
flag or by modifying the
yxi_name
field in the ayx_workspace.json
file. (See the
Workspace Configurations section for details).
Ayx Plugin Tool Execution in Designer¶
When Designer runs a tool, it must look for an engine to use. In the
case of our MyFirstTool Python tool, the engine is itself the Python
interpreter. The interpreter is built out of Anaconda and includes all
of the packages indicated in requirements.txt
.
The ToolFamily defined in the Config.xml file within the Ayx Plugin
Workspace defines the name of the virtual environment created for all
of your Ayx Plugin Tools. By default, a ToolFamily is set up for
your Ayx Plugin Workspace for all of your tools to use. You can use
the --standalone-plugin
flag with the create-ayx-plugin
command
to create a standalone virtual environment specific to the tool. This is
not recommended (particularly if you have multiple tools in your
workspace) and will increase your build time significantly.
The YXI installation package includes all of the interpreter information so that the Python interpreter can be recreated on any machine when the tools are installed.
The EngineDLLEntryPoint
within the Config.xml file points to the file
that contains a class definition that inherits from Plugin
. This
file can be changed at any time to any Python file as long as it
contains a Plugin
class that registers with the Alteryx Core SDK.
For a detailed explanation of the Config.xml file, see Tool Configurations.
For information on the
main.py
file within your Ayx Plugin Tool, see Plugin Code Overview.
The Configuration Panel GUI¶
The Alteryx Core SDK examples provide basic Configuration Panel GUIs, however, the Core SDK only executes the engine (the Python side of the code). Therefore this Getting Started Guide does not cover Alteryx UI development. For more information on Configuration Panel GUI development, see HTML GUI SDK.
Glossary¶
Ayx Plugin Workspace
: YXI development workspace with sub-directories for individual Ayx Plugin Tools and plugin tool files. The Ayx Plugin Workspace is also used to create the YXI installer.Ayx Plugin Tool
: An Alteryx Designer custom tool built on the Alteryx Core SDK.YXI
: Packaging file and directory system for Ayx Plugin Tools.Tool Configuration
: XML configuration file used by both the Alteryx Core SDK and Alteryx Designer to read metadata regarding the structure of the Ayx Plugin Tool.Tool Family
: Shared resources for all Ayx Plugin Tools within an Ayx Plugin Workspace. Tool Families define the name of the virtual environment, indicate to Designer what virtual environmnet interpreter to run for the Ayx Plugin Tool, and contain the pip-installed pip packages defined in therequirements.txt
file.