FTP Input

FTP Input tasks retrieve files from FTP sites using the FTP protocol. Masks are typically used to select multiple files to be retrieved from the server.

Input

FTP Input connects to the specified FTP server and path, and retrieves all files corresponding to the specified mask. These files may be of any format, even formats that are not readable by Connect Workflow.

Processing

Each file capture by the input is sent down through the process, one at a time. When the file is finished, the process goes back to the input which feeds another file down, as long as there are files in the queue. Once all the files are gone, the task polls the FTP folder again to see if new files are present and, if so, the process continues with these files. Otherwise, the process ends.

Output

The output to this task is a series of individual files, one after the other. These files are not modified in any way from when they are captured from the source FTP server.

Task properties

General Tab

  • FTP Server: Enter the IP address or host name of the FTP server to poll.
  • User name: Enter the name of a user account on the FTP server.
  • Password: If account named in the User name box is password protected, enter the password here.
  • Port number: Set to use a specific port number. Note: There is no validation to ensure the port is available. It is the user's responsibility to ensure the selected port is available and not being monitored by another application or another Connect Workflow task.
  • Directory (optional): Enter the path of the folder to poll on the FTP server. If this box is left empty, Connect Workflow will poll the root directory.
  • Mask: Enter a single file name mask. Multiple entries are not allowed in this box.
  • Search in subfolders: Select to search in child folders of the source folder as well.
  • include empty files: Check this option to accept empty files.
  • Connection mode group
    • Active: Select to prompt the ftp client to use the active mode when retrieving files from the FTP server.
    • Passive: Select to prompt the ftp client to use the passive mode when retrieving files from the FTP server.

"Other" Tab

  • Job Information group
    • Information elements: Indicates what Job Info variables are automatically created by the input task.
    • Add lines before first data page: Using the arrows keys you can add any job information directly at the beginning of your data file.
  • Backup input files: Check this to save a copy of each data file that is captured by your input. These files are saved in the PReS Workflow Tools working folders under the "Backup" folder.
    To navigate quickly to the Workflow working folders, press the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+Shift+F4 from within the Workflow configuration tool.
    The number of days to keep backups of jobs processed by input tasks is set per process; see Process properties.
  • Backup filename: Enter the file name that you wish the input data file backup to be saved under.
  • Delete Existing Metadata: Check to remove any Metadata from memory. This option is disabled on initial input tasks, and is checked by default on secondary input tasks.

Job Information definitions

  • %1 - User name: Contains the user name that was used to connect to the FTP server. This is useful if this task is used as a secondary input and the information is defined dynamically.
  • %2 - FTP Server: Contains the FTP address of the server from which the files were retrieved.
  • %3 - Source file name: Contains the name of the current file that was retrieved from the server.
  • %4 - Folder: Contains the FTP folder from which the current file was retrieved.

On Error Tab

For a description of the options on the On Error tab see Using the On Error tab.

Miscellaneous Tab

The Miscellaneous tab is common to all tasks.

It contains a text area (Task comments) that lets you write comments about the task. These comments are saved when the dialog is closed with the OK button and are displayed in The Task Comments Pane.

Check the option Use as step description to display the text next to the icon of the plugin in the Process area.

The tab also provides an option to highlight the task in The Process area with the default color, set in the Preferences (see Colors), or the color selected or defined under Highlight color on this tab.
To revert the selected highlight color to the default color, open this tab, turn the Highlight option off and close the dialog with the OK button; then turn highlighting back on.
Highlighting can also be turned on and off via the task's contextual menu and with the Highlight button on the View ribbon.