I’m trying to move from Alteryx to KNIME, but I’m having a hard time adapting, so I’d like any advice and guidance I can get from expert users.
I failed miserably while trying to make a simple flow consisting to do the following:
1st - Load 2 Excel spreadsheets, same structure from different months (Excel Reader Node)
2nd - Filter all rows with a set value (Row Filter Node?)
3rd - See the results (?!?!)
A few things that are givingme a hard time:
Excel Reader always have to preview stuff, and it takes ages for those files since they’re big (by Excel standards)… is there any way to reduce this ammout of time?
in Alteryx we have access to a “Visualization Node”, where we can see the results of the flow (and each step of the flow) without actually writing the result… is there a similar node in KNIME?
Regarding your workflow:
1st - Preview is done only when you are configuring node so ideally only once if your file format is same every month. Keep in mind that performance of Excel Reader node is limited due to the underlying library of the Apache POI project (check Node description for more about configuration as well)
2nd - There are many nodes that filter rows. Filter Row is certainly one you can use but there are others as well.
3rd - After node is successfully executed (green light) you are able to see its results. Right-click on it and there you will see at the bottom number of result tables depending on number of output ports. This way you can see the results in every step and there is no need for something like “Visualization node”.
To write data there are many nodes. This depends on the format and location you want your data to be. Type “Writer” in Node Repository and you will see possible formats.
Additionally here are two topics where switch from Alteryx to KNIME was discussed which might help you:
Hi @Domingos_SN, and anyone else also coming from Alteryx,
I don’t have anything major to add on top of Ivan’s advice but wanted to let you know there will be a free booklet coming out very soon specifically on transferring from Alteryx to KNIME.
It will be about 30 pages long and cover how to accomplish common Alteryx tasks in KNIME as well as how the interface and configurations differ. Some additional KNIME features are also touched on.
Best of luck on your projects and definitely keep reaching out with any difficulties, we love to hear feedback.