Managing file groups in a file connector workspace
Last updated
Last updated
Required workspace permission: Manage file connector file groups
To identify the source files to transform, you create file groups. A file group is a set of source files that have an identical format and structure.
For local files, you always select each file individually.
For cloud storage, you can select individual files and folders. You can also filter by file extension and automatically select files based on prefix patterns.
The selected files must use a supported file and content type.
Within a file group:
All files must use the same format. For example, you cannot have both CSV and XML content in the same file group.
All files must have the same structure. For example, for a file group that contains CSV files, the content in all of the files must contain the same columns and use the same delimiters.
You can combine .txt and .gzip files with other files, as long as the file content in all of the files has the same format and structure. For example, a file group can contain a .txt file, a .csv file, and a .gzip file, as long they all contain CSV content that has the same structure.
After you add the first file to the file group, Tonic Structural does not allow you to select files that do not have the same format.
On the workspace management view for a file connector workspace, to display the list of file groups, click File Groups.
For each file group, the file group list includes:
The name of the file group.
The type of file that the file group contains.
The number of files in the file group.
For cloud storage, the number of prefix patterns.
When the file group was most recently modified.
To filter the file group list, begin to type the file group name. As you type, the list is filtered to only include the matching file groups.
On File Groups view, to display the details for a file group, click the file group name.
The file group details view includes:
The type of content in the files.
For cloud storage files, any file type filters.
A list of files that were manually selected. For local file workspaces, you select all files individually. For cloud storage workspaces, you can select files individually or use prefix filters. The Individual Files tab lists the individually selected files.
For cloud storage files, a Prefix Patterns tab that contains the list of prefix patterns.
To filter the file or prefix path list, in the filter field, begin to type the name. As you type, the list is updated to only include matching items.
On File Groups view, to create and populate a new file group:
Click Create group.
Under File group name, enter a name for the file group.
Select the file group files:
For CSV content, configure the delimiters and file settings.
Click Save.
You can add files to an existing file group. The added files must have the same format and structure as the files that are already in the group.
To add files to a file group:
Either:
On the file group details view, click Add Files.
On File Groups view, click the + icon for the file group.
Change the file selection:
Click Save.
When you select an individual file to add, Structural automatically displays a preview of the file content. You can use the preview to verify the file content.
For files that contain CSV content, the preview also can help you to check that the CSV delimiter settings are correct. If the settings are correct, the preview should show a readable table with the correct columns.
Note that for Parquet files, there is no file preview.
To hide the preview, click Hide Preview. To restore the preview, click Show Preview.
For local file file groups, you cannot see a preview for existing files that you added previously. For cloud storage file groups, you can preview existing files.
For a local files file group, you can delete any file from the group.
For a cloud storage file group, you can only delete files that you selected manually. You cannot delete files that were added by a prefix pattern. You can only change or remove the prefix pattern.
To remove a file from a file group, on the file group details view, click the delete icon for the file.
To remove multiple files:
Check the checkbox for each file to remove.
Click Actions, then click Delete Files.
For local files, when you delete the file from the file group, Structural also deletes the file from the Structural application database.
To delete a file group, on the File Groups view, click the delete icon for the file group.
For local files, when you delete a file group, Structural also deletes the file group's files from the Structural application database.
For local files, you always select the individual files to include in the file group.
To add files to the file group from a local file system, either:
Drag and drop files from your file system to the add files panel.
Click Select files to upload, then navigate to and select the files.
To remove a selected file, click its delete icon.
For a cloud storage file group, you can select individual files and folders. When you select a folder, the file group automatically includes the files in that folder.
You can filter the available files based on file type. You can also automatically select files and folders based on their fully qualified path.
Finally, you can configure whether the data generation process only transforms files that were added since the previous data generation.
Under Select folders and files to add to file group, navigate to the folder where the file is located. You can only view and select from buckets and files that the configured cloud storage credentials have access to. For more information about the required permissions, go to Before you create a file connector workspace. You can use the search field to search for a particular bucket, folder, or file. For the bucket list, you can search based on any text in the bucket name. For a folder or file, the search text is matched against the beginning of the folder or file name. The file browser can only display a limited number of items. Structural warns you when the number of items reaches the limit. You must use the file filter to locate items that are not displayed.
To select a file, click its name or the file checkbox.
To select a folder, click the folder checkbox. When you select a folder, Structural automatically adds a prefix filter for the folder.
You use the File types dropdown list to filter the file extensions for the files to include. You can select multiple file types, as long as files of the selected types can be compatible with each other. For example, you cannot filter the files to include both .json and .csv files.
By default, the selected file type is All file types, and the files are not filtered by file extension.
To add a file extension filter:
Click the File extensions dropdown list.
Click each file type to include.
Prefix patterns allow you to automatically select files based on paths. A prefix pattern is a fully qualified path. When you select a folder, Structural automatically adds the folder as a prefix pattern.
You can specify more than one prefix pattern.
To add a prefix pattern:
In the Prefix pattern field, type the path for which to include folders and files.
Click the add icon.
To remove a prefix pattern, click its delete icon.
When you add a prefix pattern, Structural automatically selects the files that match both the prefix pattern and any file extension filters.
The first time you generate data from a file connector workspace, Structural processes all of the files.
For subsequent data generations, the Only process new files configuration indicates whether Structural processes all of the files in the file group, or only processes files that were added to the file group since the most recent data generation.
For example, for a folder that is in the file group, you might have a regular process that adds new files on a regular basis. In that case, you would only want Structural to process new files, and ignore all of the files that it processed before.
By default, Only process new files is toggled to the on position, and Structural only processes new files. To always process all of the files in the file group, toggle Only process new files to the off position.
For files that contain CSV content, you use the delimiter and file settings fields to provide information about the file structure:
Structural uses these settings to read and write the files.
After you save the file group, you cannot change most of these settings. You can change the Quote spaces setting.
Files that have a different delimiter configuration must be in a different file group.
If the file contains a header row, then toggle First row is column header to the on position.
To configure how to process spaces:
The Quote spaces setting indicates whether to enclose spaces in quotes in the output files. You can change this setting after you save the file group.
The Trim whitespace setting indicates whether to trim whitespace from before or after the values when the file is uploaded.
To specify the type of encoding that the file uses:
Toggle Specify encoding to the on position.
From the dropdown list, select the type of encoding to use.
If you do not specify the encoding, then Structural attempts to determine the encoding automatically. If Structural cannot identify the encoding, then the default encoding is UTF-8.
The following configurations identify the delimiter and special characters for the file group.
Column Delimiter - The file delimiter. The default is a comma.
Escape Character - The character that is used to escape characters. The default is a double quote.
Quoting Character - The character that is used to quote text. The default is the double quote.
Null Character - How null values are indicated. The default is \N.
The following options allow you to omit rows from the beginning or end of the file. By default, Structural does not omit any rows.
Skip First N Rows - The number of rows to omit from the beginning of the file.
Skip Last N Rows - The number of rows to omit from the end of the file.
