File Polling

The File Polling service is used to check the arrival or modification of file(s) on the Local LAN location.

Steps to create a File Polling service:

1. Click Configure > POLLING > File.

2. Click Create File Polling.
   
   
   
   

3. On the Create File Polling window, enter the name and description of the new File Polling service in the Name and Description fields.

4. Select the trigger from the Trigger Type drop-down list. 

   On FileModified	To configure the File Polling service to check for any modification in the file(s).
   On FileExists	To configure the File Polling service to check for the existence of the file(s).
   On FileCreated	To configure the File Polling service to check for the creation of a new file(s). In case a file is being created and after that it is being modified, then you need to enable the Check for File Modification option. This option is only used with On File Created option.
   Trigger Name	Description

5. Select Check for File Modification check box if you want to process files that are modified after creation. This option is enabled only if On FileCreated option is selected in the Trigger Type drop-down list.
6. Enter the name of file that File Polling service needs to verify in the File Include Criteria field.

7. Enter the name of the file that the File Polling service does not need to verify in the File Exclude Criteria field. 
   For example *.txt is entered in File Include Criteria, but two files Gdata.txt and Gdata1.txt are not required to be verified by File Polling service. Then Gdata.txt and Gdata1.txt file name need to be entered separated by comma in File Exclude Criteria field. You can use regular expressions listed in the table below.
   
   

   Expression	Description
   .	For all files with some extension
   *	For all files in a directory
   a*.txt	For files starting with a and having extension txt (e.g. arch.txt)
   a??????.txt	For files starting with a and have 6 more character followed by txt extension (e.g. archive.txt)
   a[1-9]	For a1, a2 ,a3 …………..a9
   b[aiu]t	For bat, bit or but
   a.txt, a.doc	For two files named as a.txt and a.doc

8. Provide the path of the file in the File Base Location text box, for example, C:/Gmdata.

   You can also use regular expression for folders, in File Include Criteria and File Exclude Criteria fields. For example, if you enter h*/*.txt in File Include Criteria field and C:/Gmdata in File Base Location field, it will search for all .txt file inside all directories which starts from h under C:\Gmdata.
9. Select Use VFS check box if you want to enforce the validation of User ID and Password every time while accessing the file on a remote machine. When Connect Server is installed on Windows Operating System, File Polling service uses windows service to connect to the remote machine to access any file. It just connects once and uses the same connection with the same User ID and Password (which is stored in the cache) every time.
10. Select the Secure checkbox, if the File Polling service is secured, that is, username and password are required to access it.
11. Type the username and password required to access the file in the User ID and Password text boxes respectively. This option is applicable only when the file specified is located on a remote machine.
12. Re-enter the password in the Confirm Password field.

13. Enter the time interval, the file polling service will check for the arrival of any file or modification of existing file in the textbox Polling Frequency. Enter the digit in the Frequency field and select the unit of time i.e. seconds, minutes or hours etc. from the Duration dropdown list.

    We recommended minimum Polling Frequency to be more than 60 seconds.
14. Enter the file stable time in the textbox File Stable Time. This is applicable only when you have selected On FileModified in trigger type. Polling will wait for the above specified time to become a file stable.
15. Enter the expiry time in the textbox Expiry Time. After expiry time process flow does not poll for the file.
    
    When a file polling service is used in a process flow, it creates a Polling Status activity variable. For more information, refer to Polling Status.

16. Expand the Advanced Properties section. 

    1. Select the Project from Project drop-down list.
17. Click Save.