FME Flow: 2025.0

Resource or Network Directory

The Resource or Network Directory trigger monitors activity on an FME Flow Resources folder or other location, and sends JSON messages about that activity, including when files and folders are added, changed, or deleted.

The Resource or Network Directory trigger has two output ports. The success port (✔) can send a message if the trigger polls successfully. The failure port (x) can send a message if the trigger fails to poll.

Note  You cannot monitor an Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 bucket with the Resource or Network Directory trigger.

Parameters

Note  See also Working with Parameters in Automations Workflows.
Tip  To test that your parameters work as expected, click Validate.
  • Directory to Watch: To watch a Resources directory, click the ellipsis (...), and select a directory to watch. To watch another directory, enter a local file system or network (UNC) path directly in the textbox.
    • Note  The user account that runs the FME Flow Core service must have Read/Write (Windows) or Read (Linux) permission on any directories that are not managed as FME Flow Resources. See here for information about adding directories as Resources.
  • Watch Subdirectories: To watch activity in the selected directory and all subdirectories, specify Yes. To watch activity only in the selected directory and not in its subdirectories, specify No. This setting also applies to directories that are added into the watched directory. If No, separate messages are not generated for files in a directory that is added.
  • Receive Notification for Folders: If Yes, the publisher monitors activities on both files and folders. If No, the publisher monitors activities on files only.
  • Events to Watch for: By default, all actions on the specified directory are monitored, including adding (CREATE), changing (MODIFY), and deleting (DELETE) files (and folders, if applicable). To monitor only one or two of these actions, click the "x" beside the action you do not want to monitor to remove it. To add an action after removing it, click inside the dropbox and select it.
    • Note  
    • CREATE and MODIFY events do not trigger until file transfer is complete.
    • Events trigger based on changes in file date. If a file is overwritten, a MODIFY event is triggered.
  • Poll Interval: How often to poll the specified Directory to Watch for activity.
    1. Initial Action

      2. When an action (CREATE, MODIFY, DELETE) occurs, it enters into the current poll interval, which has partially elapsed.

    2. Message
      • DELETE actions: A message is sent after the current poll interval elapses.
      • CREATE and MODIFY actions: An additional poll interval occurs. If the action is complete after the additional poll interval, a message is sent. Otherwise, one additional poll interval occurs, and a message is sent, whether or not the action is complete.
        • Note  Sending the message after a maximum of two additional poll intervals acts as a timeout in case the trigger cannot determine if the action is complete. In some cases, the message would be considered premature and may cause problems in subsequent workflows. To avoid this situation, the best practice is to set Poll Interval longer than the time required to complete an action.

      Note  A CREATE and MODIFY action on the same file within a single poll interval triggers only a CREATE message. A CREATE, MODIFY, and DELETE action on the same file within a single poll interval triggers no message.
      Warning  If an FME Flow running on Linux watches a mounted Windows drive and a CREATE action occurs, a message is sent as soon as the first poll occurs, regardless of whether the action is complete. This message may trigger an Action or External Action (for example, an FME Workspace) to use the file before it has completely transferred, causing an error.

Output Attributes

See Also

Attribute Description
time Event time
source Event type
error.type

(Failure port only) Error type:

  • InvalidMessage: An error occurred while configuring this component, such as missing or malformed values.
  • DeadLetter: An error occured while connecting to an external resource. Examples may include connection issues, invalid credentials, or generic external resource exceptions.
error.message (Failure port only) Error message
file.event (Success port only) File action (Create/Modify/Delete)
file.path (Success port only) File path
file.rootName (Success port only) Name of the file that was modified