Directory Browser
This page is no longer maintained (Nov 12, 2025). For the most current information, go to https://docs.snaplogic.com/snaps/snaps-core/sp-binary/directory-browser.html.
In this article
- 1 Overview
- 1.1 Snap Type
- 1.2 Prerequisites
- 1.3 Support for Ultra Pipelines
- 1.4 Limitations
- 1.5 Known Issues
- 2 Snap Views
- 3 Snap Settings
Overview
This Snap browses a given directory path from various sources (such as FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SLDB and S3) and lists the attributes (such as Name, Type, Size, Last Modification Time) of the contents (files or sub-folders).
You must install the AzCopy utility, if you use the ABFS (Azure Blob File Storage) file protocol Azure Data Lake Gen 2 for bulk operation. The utility must be installed in Snaplex to fetch the file path. If the path is null, the native Azure Storage SDK is used for all operations. Learn more about the AzCopy command. If AzCopy Utility is not installed for ABS file transfer, the file transfer will not be as fast as using AzCopy because a REST call will be invoked for each file content instead of a bulk operation.
The SnapLogic Platform does not support the installation of utilities or processes on Cloudplexes. Learn more.
Snap Type
The Directory Browser Snap is a Read-type Snap.
Prerequisites
Support for Ultra Pipelines
Works in Ultra Pipelines.
Limitations
None.
Known Issues
This Snap Pack does not natively support SHA1-based algorithms to connect to SFTP endpoints. With the August 2023 GA release, you can now leverage the properties specified in the Configuration settings for Snaps to add support for ones that are disabled on your Snaplex.
Snap Views
Type | Format | Number of Views | Examples of Upstream and Downstream Snaps | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Input | Document |
|
| Directory Path to be browsed and File Filter Pattern to be applied. It contains values for the directory path to be browsed and the GLOB filter to be applied to select the contents. |
Output | Document
|
|
| The attributes (name, size, and so on) of the contents of the directory path matching the filter pattern. This Snap provides the various attributes (such as Name, Type, Size, Owner, Last Modification Time) of the contents of the given directory path. Only those contents are selected that match the given GLOB filter. |
Error | Error handling is a generic way to handle errors without losing data or failing the Snap execution. You can handle the errors that the Snap might encounter while running the Pipeline by choosing one of the following options from the When errors occur list under the Views tab:
Learn more about Error handling in Pipelines. | |||
Snap Settings
Asterisk (*): Indicates a mandatory field.
Suggestion icon (): Indicates a list that is dynamically populated based on the configuration.
Expression icon ( ): Indicates the value is an expression (if enabled) or a static value (if disabled). Learn more about Using Expressions in SnapLogic.
Add icon (): Indicates that you can add fields in the fieldset.
Remove icon (): Indicates that you can remove fields from the fieldset.
Upload icon (): Indicates that you can upload a file.
Field | Field Type | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Label*
| String | Specify a unique name for the Snap. | ||
Directory Default Value: N/A Examples:
| String/Expression | Specify the URL for the data source (directory) that should begin with a protocol. Following are the protocols that are currently supported:
| ||
File filter Default Value: N/A
| String/Expression | Specify the Glob pattern for filtering the files. The Glob pattern can be applied to select the contents (files/sub-folders) of the directory. You cannot recursively navigate through the directory structures. | ||
Ignore empty result Default Value: Selected | Checkbox | Select this checkbox to enable the Snap to not write a document to the output view when the result is empty. Deselect this checkbox in the following cases:
| ||
Display update time and owner for S3 subdirectories
Default Value: Selected | Checkbox | Applicable only for S3 directory. If selected, the Snap produces Update time and Owner attributes in the output documents for S3 subdirectories. However, it may take a long time or even freeze if there are very large number of files and subdirectories in the file structure under the specified S3 directory. This is because the Snap has to completely examine the S3 objects under the directory recursively in order to get Update time and Owner attributes for subdirectories. If not selected, the Snap does not produce Update time and Owner attributes in the output documents for S3 subdirectories. Snap output is faster since it examines only S3 files and subdirectories immediately under the specified S3 directory. | ||
Number of retries
Default Value: 0 | String/Expression | Specify the maximum number of retry attempts in case of a network failure. Minimum value: 0 | ||
Retry interval (seconds)
| String/Expression | Specify the minimum number of seconds the Snap must wait before attempting recovery from a network failure. Minimum value: 1 | ||
Advanced properties | Use this field set to define specific settings for directory browsing. | |||
Properties | SAS URI | Dropdown list
|
| |
Use fast file-type check for wasb/wasbs protocols | String/Expression |
| ||
Snap Execution
| Dropdown list | Select one of the three modes in which the Snap executes. Available options are:
| ||
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