When asked to complete a core Alteryx Challenge I selected number 58 and was tasked with converting strings of numbers into dates, I quickly discovered the DateTime Tool and identified that I would be needing it. But before I could use the tool I needed to change the values at the start of each string from either a '0' to '19' of a '1' to '20'. After using a Select tool to change the metadata, with help from Tim I used a Formula tool to
first isolate the first character of the strings and identify it as 'Year ID'
-Left([date], 1)
then use Year ID to assign the correct value to 'Year'
-IF [Year ID]= '1' THEN '20' ELSE '19' ENDIF
after that I made sure the 'date' was just the last 6 characters
-Right([date], 6)
and finally, create the actual date by putting Year and date together
-[Year]+[date]
Now that the date string was correctly formatted I could use the DateTime tool and select the correct date format to complete the challenge. I also used another select tool to remove the additional 'Year' and 'Year ID' columns that I made.
This Challenge was done correctly but what I discovered when I looked at the formula workflow is that it could have been completed with just one step. This step was a DateTime function we have not yet been introduced to but it was interesting to see that with enough Alteryx experience I will be able to achieve the same outcome in a much shorter time.