Getting Started Guide¶
Prerequisites¶
To get started with the Alteryx Core SDK, you need a valid installation of Alteryx Designer.
Python version 3.8.5 is required for Alteryx Designer plugins.
Set Up the Development Environment¶
Follow these steps to configure your development environment.
Create the Virtual Environment¶
To get started…
Install Miniconda3 for your system.
Once the install is done, open an Anaconda Prompt and create a new virtual environment:
conda create -n ayx_python_sdk python=3.8.5
.Next, activate it:
conda activate ayx_python_sdk
.
If you are not familiar with Anaconda/Miniconda, visit Anaconda Documentation.
Install the Package¶
After you create and activate your virtual environment, pip install the Alteryx Core SDK pip package. For more information on pip, visit the pip website.
Use this command to install the SDK:
pip install ayx_python_sdk
Use this command to install the CLI:
pip install ayx_plugin_cli
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. First create the workspace using the sdk-workspace-init
command.
Use this command:
ayx_plugin_cli sdk-workspace-init
This will initialize a workspace to manage all your custom tools and plugins.
To create a new tool, use the create-ayx-plugin
command.
The create-ayx-plugin
command takes these parameters:
--name
: (Required) The name of the new Plugin tool
--tool-type
: The type of tool to create.
For this example we’ll name our new tool MyFirstTool
.
We’ll use the --tool-type single-input-single-output
parameter to create the new tool with default input and output anchors.
Use this command:
ayx_plugin_cli create-ayx-plugin
Workspace Configuration¶
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.
Create Your Production Installer¶
After you have implemented and tested your new Ayx Plugin Tool, you might 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 and you’ll have a YXI
installer ready for distribution.
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).
Build the Ayx Plugin Tool¶
Now you have a new folder in your current directory named
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-install
command.
Use this command to build MyFirstTool into Designer:
ayx_plugin_cli designer-install
Congratulations!
You just created your first Alteryx Plugin Tool! You can now open Alteryx Designer and find your new tool in the Tool Palette.
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 requirements.txt
.
The ToolFamily defined in the Config.xml file 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.
The YXI installation package includes all of the interpreter information so that the Python interpreter can be recreated on any machine when the tools are installed.
The EngineDLLEntryPoint
within the Config.xml file points to the file
that contains a class definition that inherits from Plugin
. This
file can be changed at any time to any Python file as long as it
contains a Plugin
class that registers with the Alteryx Core SDK.
For a detailed explanation of the Config.xml file, see Tool Configurations.
For information on the
main.py
file within your Ayx Plugin Tool, see Plugin Code Overview.
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 does not cover Alteryx UI development. For more information on Configuration Panel GUI development, see HTML GUI SDK.
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 to create 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, indicate to Designer what virtual environmnet interpreter to run for the Ayx Plugin Tool, and contain the pip-installed pip packages defined in therequirements.txt
file.