Render Tool not saving to path when workflow running in Gallery

[AlleghenyAnalyst12]

I have a workflow that looks like this. The render tool toward the end is outputting to a .pdf file that is on a network drive.

When I run this workflow it works, however, when I run this workflow in Gallery it tries to output the .pdf file, not to the path that I chose, but instead to the "Staging directory."

Currently my Gallery is being run as a 'proxy user,' but I know for a fact that that proxy user has access to the network directory I put in that render tool (in fact, when I run this workflow on the Designer copy that is sitting on the Gallery Server, it runs perfectly fine).

Does anybody have any experience with this where the Render Tool dos not output to the correct path when uploaded to the Gallery?

[patrick_digan]

@AlleghenyAnalyst12 I would suspect that your render tool output is being "packaged". When you save the workflow to your gallery, click on workflow options >>> manage workflow assets. You'll want to make sure that the render tool is unchecked. You'll want to double check this every time you save to the gallery. You will need to make sure that you've used UNC pathing (\\server\folder\file.pdf) instead of standard pathing (P:\folder\file.pdf). You can change this under options >>> advanced>> workflow dependencies and then click on "edit" by your directory. Then you can click UNC at the bottom.

Hope that helps!

[AlleghenyAnalyst12]

Hi Patrick, thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately I tried it with it being 'packaged' and 'unpackaged'. I unchecked everything in the 'Manage Workflow Assets" option and it had the same issue. It still wanted to write to that staging folder. Also in my render tool I definitely have it outputting to a UNC path.

[patrick_digan]

@AlleghenyAnalyst12 what version of designer are you running? There were some packaging issues with a couple versions. And I would try these 2 things to verify that packaging is the issue

1) Open your gallery workflow from designer. When it opens, see where the render tool is trying to save your file. 

2) Export your workflow (Options >> export workflow) and see if it's having the same issue when you leave the location unchecked. You can change the .yxzp to .zip and open the zip with windows. Then extract the workflow, and open it in notepad to see how the reference looks. If it's packaged, it would be something like this. See the line 3/4 of the way down with the pdf in it that shows it's packaged since it's writing to an externals folder.

[AlleghenyAnalyst12]

Hi Patrick,

I followed your instructions, and I see that the <outputfile> node just has my file name, without the "externals" directory (I redacted some part of the filename, but it was just the filename). The weird thing is that my output file is the full UNC path, not just the file name, so I'm not sur what it doesn't state that whole path.

Well, let me add one question. The error I keep getting is: "Cannot write to F:\GlobalWorksp\Service\Staging..." Now, that is the directory I set in the Server configuration for staging. Does that directory have to be in UNC? Is that possibly why this error is being thrown, and is it possible that the user I'm running Gallery as (because I do have a separate 'run as' user) doesn't have access to that directory?

[patrick_digan]

@AlleghenyAnalyst12 I would try reaching out to support@alteryx.com or using the virtual solutions center. Something just doesn't seem right between how your render tool is configured and the xml behind the app. In general, your render tool configured to an UNC path should work the way you're expecting, but for some reason Alteryx gallery is trying to write it to a relative path.

That F drive doesn't have to be UNC as it's presumably mapped for that machine (ie it's probably a local drive for your server). It shouldn't even be trying to write to that directory, it should be writing to the network location you've specified. 

If you do figure out what's going on, post back here in case it helps somebody else!

[AlleghenyAnalyst12]

Will do. I just checked and indeed that F: drive is mapped to a local hard disk on the server, so indeed it is strange that the render tool wants to write to this staging directory when it's in Gallery (as opposed to when it is run anywhere else). Thanks.