Hard time coming from Alteryx

Hello,

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?
  • Which is the proper node to write the result?

Thanks

Hi @Domingos_SN,

welcome to KNIME Community Forum!

As you are just beginning with KNIME here is couple of links:

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.

RowFilters

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”.

Results
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:

Hope this helps you with your transiton :wink:

Have a nice day,
Ivan

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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.

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Hi @Domingos_SN, wanted to let you, and any others who are interested, know that the Alteryx to KNIME book that I mentioned is now available for free on KNIME Press!
https://www.knime.com/knimepress/download-from-alteryx-to-knime

If you feel like there are any holes in the content or if any section seem lacking let me know so I can get a list going for the eventual v2.0!

I hope your KNIME journey is going well.

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