Reading other types of files as Text

[dawid_nawrot]

I have a rather unusual request.. 

Let's assume I want to read JavaScript file as text (whole directory in the future). I've tried using INPUT TOOL and read it as CSV with 0 as a delimiter, it still outputs the file in multiple rows but I can use SUMMARIZE with CONCATENATE. 

But how do I do it for multiple files? The above is concatenating all files together.

Or is there a better way to read any file that I want and treat it as one big blob of text?

[RodL]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you have multiple JavaScript files and you'd like each file to be a separate record in the output of concatenated scripts?

What you would do is turn your current process into a batch macro. Then what you would feed into the macro would be the output from a Directory tool that would provide the list of each of the JavaScript files. The batch macro will process each record from the Directory tool separately and then output a record for each file.

Here are some resources you might find helpful...

Help on the Batch macro

On-demand video for how to build a batch macro

[NeilR · Accepted solution]

You should be able to do it by making sure the "Output File Name as Field" option in the Input tool is "Full Path" or "File Name Only", then adding a GroupBy on this new field in the Summarize tool. See attached. My example works with subdirectories as well, but you can uncheck that option if you prefer.

[dawid_nawrot]

What if one of the files is empty? I selected "Treat errors as warnings" but Alteryx still thinks it's an error just because "file has no fields"

[NeilR]

In that case you could use a Directory tool to get the list of files, filter for size > 0, then same as before except a Dynamic Input tool instead of Input tool, see attached.

[dawid_nawrot]

Almost there.. now I'm getting "too many fields in a record" but I guess in DYNAMIC INPUT I can't select "Treat errors as warnings" ? 

[s_pichaipillai · Accepted solution]

you can check that Treat errors as warnings check box in Dynamic IP tool 

click edit then you can see that option

[dawid_nawrot]

Of course! <hitting the wall>.. thanks a lot! 

[NeilR]

I'm curious why you're getting the "Too many fields" warning at all - with a null (\0) delimeter I wouldn't think you'd ever get more than one field. Would you be able to share the file that is causing the error?

[ScottK]

In case anyone comes back to this thread, I ran into a similar issue - trying to read in a csv file just as text so that I could later massage the data.  

I noticed in the results window that it was changing the 'Autodetected CodePage: UTF-8', and I expect that this triggers some kind of reset during batch processing.

Changing input tool option for Code Page to 'Unicode UTF-8' resolved the error and all files were parsed into a single field.

Cheers,

Scott