The Tool Configurations

When creating new Ayx Plugin Tools through the Core SDK CLI, the Tool Configurations are set up to place new tools in SDK Examples. You likely don’t want your new tools to live within that category in Designer. In order to modify Designer’s interactions with your tools, you must change the Tool Configuration XML file. Within an Ayx Plugin Tool directory, you can view and modify these settings in the {tool_name}Config.xml file. Designer requires the ``

The following are permissible xml tags and explanations:

  • <AlteryxJavaScriptPlugin> - Wrapper around Alteryx Plugins built in HTML/JS.

  • <EngineSettings> - Settings indicating how to run the underlying tool engine (in this case written in python)
    • EngineDll - The type of engine to use. i.e. python.

    • EngineDllEntryPoint - Entry point file to the python engine. In the

      case of the example tools, they point to main.py. Any python file can be the entry point so long as it implements the core plugin and registers itself.

    • SDKVersion - Version of the AlteryxPythonSDK (?)

    • ToolFamily - The Tool Family this plugin belongs to.

  • <GuiSettings> - The Settings for the Configuration Panel GUI
    • Html - The html file to render in the Configuration Panel.

    • Icon - Points to the Icon File to use for the Ayx Plugin Tool in Designer.

    • SDKVersion - Version of GUI SDK (?)

  • <InputConnections> - Input Anchors for the Ayx Plugin Tool
    • <Connection> - An individual Anchor attached to the tool.

    • Name - Name of the Input Anchor. This name is referenced in the Alteryx Core SDK to look up Anchors for receiving and setting data.

    • AllowMultiple - Flag indicating whether multiple connections can be fed in to this Anchor.

    • Optional - Flag indicating whether a connection to/from this anchor is required for the Ayx Plugin Tool to run.

    • Type - Indicates what type of Anchor it is (?). Typically this is Connection.

    • Label - A 1-character label placed on the Anchor when the tool is placed in Alteryx Designer.

  • <OutputConnections> - Output Anchors for the Ayx Plugin Tool

  • <Properties> - Properties of the Ayx Plugin Tool used by Alteryx Designer.

  • <MetaInfo> - General Information about the Ayx Plugin Tool used by Alteryx Designer.

  • <Name> - The name of the tool as it should appear in Alteryx Designer.

  • <Description> - Description that appears when the tool is clicked in Alteryx Designer.

  • <ToolVersion> - The version of the Ayx Plugin Tool. This version is managed by the developer but consumed in Alteryx Designer as well.

  • <CategoryName> - Indicates to Alteryx Designer what tool category to use, such as SDK Examples.

  • <SearchTags> - comma-separated list of descriptive words used in the search bar in Alteryx Designer.

  • <Author> - That’s you! =D

  • <Company> - The name of the Company (can be left blank)

  • <Copyright> - Year of tool copyright.

Take Aways:

The <EngineSettings> and <GuiSettings> are used by both Alteryx Designer and the Alteryx Core SDK to generate the anchors and connections necessary to feed in and push out data from your Ayx Plugin Tool when Designer executes the tools engine via the Run command.

The <Properties> are used only by Alteryx Designer for the aesthetics of the tool.