Getting Started Guide

Prerequisites

To get started with the Alteryx Core SDK, You must have a valid installation of Alteryx Designer.

Python version 3.6.8 is required for Alteryx Designer plugins.

Setting Up the Development Environment

Creating the Virtual Environment

To get started, install Miniconda3 for your system. Once that is done, open an Anaconda Prompt and create a new virtual environment:

conda create -n ayx_plugin_sdk python=3.6.8

Then you can activate it:

conda activate ayx_plugin_sdk

If you are unfamiliar with Anaconda/Miniconda, check out their docs.

Install the Package

After creating and activating your virtual environment, pip install the Alteryx Core SDK pip package.

For more information on pip see the pip website

Use the following 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 command takes the following 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. See the Example Tools for more information.

For this example we’ll call our new tool MyFirstTool and we’ll specify the default directory to ./tools for the Ayx Plugin Workspace, and we’ll use the --tool-type passthrough parameter to create the new tool with default Input and Output Anchors.

Use the following command:

ayx_plugin_sdk create-ayx-plugin --name MyFirstTool --tool-type passthrough --workspace-directory tools

The 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 is customization within the ayx_workspace.json file that may be useful.

Below is the structure of the configuration file:

{
  "tools": [],
  "yxi_name": "",
  "designer_path": null,
  "tool_family_name": "MyTools",
  "requirements_tool": null
}

Below are descriptions of each field:

tools: A list of WorkspaceTool objects associated with the project.

Each WorkspaceTool object contains a name denoting the name of the tool and looks like this:

{ name: "MyFirstTool" }

yxi_name: The name of the YXI installer created by the create-yxi command.

The yxi_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 designer installation.

If you picked the default User/Admin installation location when you installed Alteryx Designer, you do not need to worry about populating that field; the CLI commands will automatically find the default paths for you.

The tool_family_name will be 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.

The requirements_tool 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 using the delete-ayx-plugin command, the cli will automatically update the requirements_tool for you.

Build the Ayx Plugin Tool

Now you will have a new folder in your current directory called 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 has the following 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, the designer-build will automatically check for updates to the environment and rebuild if there are changes.

Use the --help flag for help using the command.

For this command, we’re going to set the following 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.

Removing Tools from Designer

You may create a tool that you did not intend to create or you may have old tools that you are no longer using. 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 following are the arguments for the delete-ayx-plugin command: - --name - The name of the tool to be deleted. - --workspace-directory - The Ayx Plugin Workspace directory

You can also use the --clean flag in the designer-build to uninstall all of your tools and your Tool Family before rebuilding them back into designer. That flag is useful if a tool or environment has been corrupted for any reason.

Create your Production Installer

After you have finished implementing and testing your new Ayx Plugin Tool you may 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 you’ll have a YXI installer ready for distribution.

The create-yxi command takes the following arguments: - --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 the requirements.txt.

The ToolFamily defined in the Config.xml 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 the python interpreter can be re-created on any machine when the tools are installed.

The EngineDLLEntryPoint within the Config.xml points to the file that contains a class definition which inherits from Plugin. This file can be changed at any time to any python file so long as it contains a Plugin class that registers with the Alteryx Core SDK.

For a detailed explanation of the Config.xml file, see the Configuration XML Page.

For information on the main.py file within your Ayx Plugin Tool, see the Plugin Code Overview Page.

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 will not cover Alteryx UI development. For more information on Configuration Panel GUI development, see Core UI Documenation.

Take Aways:

If you have come to this guide looking for help on Alteryx GUI development, then in the famous words of Obi-wan, "These are not the droids you're looking for."


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 in creating 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, indicates to Designer what virtual environmnet interpreter to run for the Ayx Plugin Tool, and contains the pip installed pip packages defined in the requirements.txt file.