File Management tools (copy, rename, delete)

[rob_cottrell]

I have many use cases that involve one or more of the following:

• moving or renaming a file after importing it
• deleting a file after importing it
• moving or copying a file after successfully exporting it
• writing a temporary file (i.e. batch file for RunCommand tool), then deleting it when finished

A complete suite of file management tools (Copy, Delete, Move/Rename) would make this much easier.

[bobpeers]

I may be late to the party but file handling seemed like a major missing feature and relying on the cmd tool for everything feels like a hack.

To this end I created three custom tools (Python SDK) that fill these holes:

Delete files: https://gallery.alteryx.com/#!app/File-Delete/5f4770d8826fd309c4f9e427

Unzip files: https://gallery.alteryx.com/#!app/Zip/5f4017838a933718f4bef65d

Copy/Move files (also renames since a rename is just a move with a different name): https://gallery.alteryx.com/#!app/File-Operations/5f4016520462d715e4d43e97

The tools all use standard Python libraries already installed with Alteryx.

Hope this helps in the meantime,

Bob Peers, Inviso A/S

[jdrummey]

Hi @bobpeers , I just downloaded the delete tool from the gallery and I'm getting the black "tool not found" icon...did the macro not get packaged into the .yxi?

Jonathan

[bobpeers]

Hi Jonathan

its basically a limitation of the Gallery that you can’t upload yxi files so I had to make a sample workflow using the tool and then you need to grab the installer from the link in the workflow. 

The installer is on GitHub https://github.com/bobpeers/Alteryx_SDK_Delete 

[hroderick-thr]

bat file is a poor solution to this basic and common operations.

I find myself having to generate bat commands to run post completion.

No one wants to learn ms-dos anymore.

Here's a wish list selected from microsoft .net file system object documentation

! CopyFile Copies one or more files from one location to another.
! CopyFolder Copies one or more folders from one location to another.
! CreateFolder Creates a new folder.
! DeleteFile Deletes one or more specified files.
! DeleteFolder Deletes one or more specified folders.
! DriveExists Checks if a specified drive exists.
! FolderExists Checks if a specified folder exists.
! Move Moves a specified file or folder from one location to another.
! MoveFile Moves one or more files from one location to another.
! MoveFolder Moves one or more folders from one location to another.

[ChrisTX]

Adding one to @hroderick's list:

! FileExists

[hroderick-thr]

Good news @ChrisTX , FileExists is already there along with a few others  https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/file-functions

[SeanAdams]

@bobpeers - just downloaded your file move tool, and wanted to say thank you - it's well written; it has an error output to allow for reprocessing - and your code is easy to follow!