Masks

A file name that includes characters meant to be replaced at run-time is referred to as a mask. Masks can be used in many edit boxes and can be used, for instance, to select multiple files. File selection is typically limited by fixed characters or special wildcard characters. If you create a Folder Capture Input task and enter *.* in the Masks box, the Input task will grab all the files that are put in the source folder. If you enter *.mdb instead, the task will only take those database files that have an mdb extension. You can use any standard wildcard character in PlanetPress Workflow.

Note: Masks are case-insensitive, since the Windows platform does not support case-sensitive file names (yes, you can have mixed case in a file name but that's visual fluff - the OS itself does not care).

Tip: You can specify multiple masks in one edit box if you separate them with a semicolon (;). For example: *.xml;*.pdf.

Mask Format

Here are the different mask formats available.

• Literal characters: Any alphanumerical character is considered a literal character and must appear. For example, a mask of "trigger.txt" will not capture any other files than that name.
• Wildcards: Two wildcards are available in masks.
  • Asterisk (*): Supports any number of characters. *.txt would pick up any text file, file*.txt would pick up any file starting with file and any characters: file1.txt, filetest.txt.
  • Question Mark (?): Supports a single character. file?.txt would pick up File1.txt or filea.txt, but not file13.txt or filetest.txt.
• Brackets: Specifies a set of supported characters, or range of characters. Only one character from the range is accepted, making this a subset of the ? wildcard.
  • Sets: [13ab] defines support for one of these 4 characters; file[13ab].txt would pick up file1.txt , filea.txt , but not file13.txt or filea3.txt.
  • Negative Sets: [!13ab] indicates the character should NOT be part of the set. file[!13ab].txt would pick up file2.txt and filec.txt but not file1.txt or fileb.txt (nor would it pick up file13.txt or filea3.txt).
  • Ranges: [1-5] , [a-d] define ranges between the characters. file[1-5].txt would pick up file1.txt and file4.txt but not file6.txt or file13.txt.
  • Negative Ranges: Negative ranges such as [!2-4] are also possible.

Note: File names containing brackets can be a hassle when attempting to capture them with a mask and using sets or ranges. You can capture a set that contains an opening bracket ( [[] ) , but not a closing bracket as the closing bracket always ends the set or range. There is no escape character available in masks.