Error "File Not Found" when Publishing to Gallery

Question

When I try to publish my application to the Alteryx Gallery I am receiving a "File Not Found" error for my input files. Error is pictured below.

I followed the instructions found here: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Knowledge-Base/Avoid-getting-quot-external-1-quot-when-Publishing-an/ta-p/39274 to insure that the input and output file will keep the same path and not be kept in external folders. By using the "Manage workflow assets" options I have kept my input & output file paths absolute (C:\Users\etc.) rather than relative (.\etc) by making sure the input and output files I want to keep absolute are unchecked. I have verified that my workflow dependencies are all full UNC paths and that the server has access to the mapped drive where the input files are store. However I am still getting an error.

PraphulSamavedam · Answer

I am also facing the same issue.

I have 4 workflows which access 4 files(1-1 mapping) in shared path. When the Workflow is run from my local system it runs perfectly, however when I try to publish the same to gallery I receive this error. In past for the first 3 workflows I used to restart my system and try to publish then voila it worked, however for the last workflow this technique is also not working.

Few points which I have kept in mind publishing is that:

1. Paths are kept as UNC.

2. My Gallery user has access to the shared path and even the file.

3. The file is not opened.

Note: I am using 2018.1 version. Is this issue resolved in later versions?

Sorry I cannot attach snapshot or workflow as proof.(Company policy)

Eagerly waiting for the reply.

StephenRuhl · Answer

@jrgo  That is the confounding issue here, because I specifically checked to make sure they were in the  included assets.  They finally went when I converted the asset paths to relative within the directory.

jrgo · Answer

@StephenR, @ksteph38,

Unless the external files are in a location that’s accessible by your Alt Server, you want to be sure that you KEEP those file as assets when you publish to your Gallery. This is especially important if the file you’re connecting to is on your local machine. Chances are your Alt Server will not have access to it for a couple of reasons. 1, the file path your input is configured with will not exist on the servers file system and even if it does, you would have needed to make sure that your file had been placed there. 2, the directory has not granted the server or service account used by the server with read permissions

@StephenR, in regards to your error message specifically... it is easy to think that error message is a mistake because the file clearly exist on your machine. However, what you need to understand is that the path it shows is relative to the servers file system, not yours. It’s saying that on the server that directory/file.ext does not exist, which it true if you’re using absolute paths and did NOT include it as an asset when publishing.

Hope this helps clear up the issue and if there’s a specific reason why you opted to use absolute paths and not include them as assets, let me know and I’d be happy to suggest some other options.

Kind regards,

Jimmy