Files over connectors: here with r391!

Announcements
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1

Hi everyone, quick update on files over connectors.

As of r391, HTTP connector functions can return files, such as PDFs and images, from external systems. This complements the native File input type, so files can now move in both directions. You can now dynamically show a work instruction from your document system on a step, or save a certificate from a supplier to a table record.

How it works

Add an output to your connector function, set its type to File (or Image), and pick a decoding that matches how the file appears in the response:

  • URL: the response contains a link to the file. The link is returned as-is, so it needs to point to the file itself (not a web page that displays it) and be reachable without signing in.
  • Base64: the response contains the file as a base64-encoded string. Tulip decodes it, stores the file, and you can preview it right from the test results.

file-output-connector-function

Using it in an app

Store the output in a File variable and show it in a PDF or Image widget, or save it to a table’s File field.

file-output-app

We’ll be adding raw binary response decoding pretty soon, stay tuned!

Best,
Cana

2

Hi @canaalpaslan
Thank you for that update.

Will TULIP store the actual file or just the original link? I wonder, because I have use cases, where the connector function provides a temporary link.

3

Hi @thorsten.langner, just the original link. URL decoding returns the link as-is and doesn’t copy the file, so temporary links will stop working once they expire.

With base64 Tulip stores its own copy and that copy doesn’t expire Raw binary decoding will also store the file once it ships.

Best,
Cana

4

@canaalpaslan
Is there any solution in planning? Or any function, that you can enter/load an URL in runtime and copy the file/image to tulip table?

One Use-Case is a SharePoint connection, where I get temporary signed URLs for download. There is no point in saving the URL to table.