Palette Importer and Exporter

Seeing this post http://srcgroup.extendthereach.com/showthread.php?t=1414 by Margarita on the Alteryx forum reminded me of an Alteryx module I had started a while ago to try and solve a problem with theming on a map.  The solution didn't quite work out as I had hoped, but I believe the module may still be of use.

So here is my palette importer module for Alteryx:



It allows you to add palettes from Expression Design Swatch xml file format (or entered manually in a text input) to your Alteryx reportsettings.xml file.  The reason I chose this format is that I found this site http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes which has over a million palettes to download in this format (though frustratingly they all only seem to have a maximum of five colors, if anyone knows of any better sites please let me know).  You need to sign up to download them, but then just hit the design button under download options:

The module will pick up any number of palette xml files from the same folder that it is in.  I have included two as samples.  Once the module has run then you will need to restart Alteryx in order to be able to see the new palettes.

As Margarita suggests in her post please backup ReportSettings.xml before you start using this.  It is tested, but just in case there are any problems you will want to be able to restore your backup.  The other thing to mention is that if you import a palette with the same name as an existing one then the existing one will be overwritten.

It allows you to relatively quickly find a palette you like; import it into Alteryx and use it:

I have also put together this module:



which exports your palettes from reportsettings.xml to Expression Design Swatch xml file format files.  Ideal if you want to move a palette from one machine to another or share it on the web.

As always any comments/suggestions please let me know.