Forcing gallery app to accept .zip file

[changcc]

Hi,

I have an analytic app on a gallery that is supposed to accept a .zip file by the user containing files to be processed as there may be a variable number of such files and the server does not have access to the user's local directory.

The idea is for the zip file to be uploaded to the temp directory like for normal files, after which a powershell command can take care of file extraction. However, Alteryx gallery gives a "file type is not supported" error and does not proceed. Is there a way to ignore this error and upload the file regardless?

Much appreciated, thanks!

[MichalM]

@changcc 

I don't think there is.

Could you set up a shared network directory and allow users to upload the zip into it? You can then ask them to paste in the path to the file / file name using the Text Box tool, pick up the file using the powershell command which can also clean up once it's finished with the zip? 

[changcc]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately shared access rights especially between different user groups will be an issue.

It is possible for the user to rename the zip to an unknown extension (eg. upload.abcde), at which point Alteryx does not try to parse the incoming file and upload is successful. It is only when Alteryx actively recognises the file is a format it cannot directly read that the problem occurs. This solution however disrupts user experience and is something we want to avoid.

[MichalM]

Just out of interest @changcc, what's the content of the zip? 

[dkma]

I tried this, did not work :(

[apathetichell]

How are you bringing in the Zip file? Can't you use a blob input with a filebrowse to bring in a .zip file and then a blob output to write it to the location for your powershell tool to do the work?

Input data tries to bring a data into your datastream. You don't want that. You want the file to be uploaded as is (ie processed as a file) so you need a blob input tool.

[apathetichell]

at @dkma start a new thread on this topic - try the blob way. 2019 may not have had as good blob support. If you are hoping to bring in a .zip, unzip and then load in the same server workflow that is fairly difficult.