Differences Between the New and Old Python SDKs

Packaging

The original Alteryx Python SDK was built around a python package called AlteryxPythonSDK. This package is available at runtime inside of Designer, and can be accessed via import.

The new Python SDK is a standalone Python pip package that can be installed via pip install. It doesn’t depend on any special libraries that only ship with Designer. Given that it is now standalone, measures have been taken to allow tool development outside of Designer, via the FileProvider.

Getting Started

Getting started in the old SDK typically meant looking at an example plugin, copying the code and file structure, and then modifying it to suit your own needs. The new SDK provides a new command line interface that provides functionality to take care of all of this project setup.

Development

The way the backend of a tool was developed in the original Python SDK was via a class definition that satisfied the interface described here.

This class implements certain methods such as pi_init, pi_add_incoming_connection, etc. This paradigm leads to lots of boilerplate code, making plugin development a burden on the developer. This typically lead to the “meat” of the plugin being only a few lines of Python, but the overall tool definition being hundreds of lines.

The new SDK has alleviated this problem by simplifying the interface that must be satisfied to a bare minimum set of requirements.

Similarly to the old SDK, in the new SDK a developer must write a Plugin class. In the new SDK, a base class definition of Plugin is defined to be used as a parent. This gives the developer a level of comfort that they have implemented all necessary methods to be a valid Alteryx Designer Plugin.

Additionally, in the old SDK, a class called IncomingInterface was required. This requirement has been removed in the new SDK, as incoming interfaces/connections are handled behind the scenes by the SDK, and made available to the developer via the new Provider concept.

Deployment

Once plugin development is complete, it is often distributed via the YXI file format. The instructions for packaging a YXI in the old SDK can be found here. However, this packaging process has been significantly simplified by the new SDK CLI, described in the Getting Started guide.