Connecting to a file

Last modified by Aurelie Bertrand on 2026/06/29 17:27

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DigDash Enterprise allows you to retrieve information from the following data files:

  • Excel
  • CSV
  • FTXT
  • HTML table
  • XML
  • Access MDB
  • JSON

To do this

  1. In the Create a new data model box, click on the All types button in the Files section.
    Files button
    ➡ The Search for remote files dialog box appears.
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  2. Select the document server from the Server drop-down list at the top left.
    ➡ The files on the document server are displayed.
  3. Choose the type of file you wish to use: Excel file, CSV file, ....
  4. Select the file you wish to use or add a new file to the server by clicking on the Add a file... button. See the Add a file paragraph below for more information.
  5. Click OK : the File type window will open.
    See the page Configuring the data source page for detailed instructions.

Add a file

Clicking on the Add a file... button opens the Select a file box.

Select file

Three options are available, as described below.

From your computer

  1. Drag and drop the file or click Browse to select the file to add.
  2. Click OK: it is added to the list of files available on the selected document server.

You can add several files simultaneously to a server

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From a remote address or service

You can use this option to access data files available on the web, or your intranet, as long as the data format is supported by DigDash Enterprise.

Enter the URL of the file:

  • If the Only add the URL link to the file server check box is unchecked, the content pointed to by the URL is uploaded to the document server only once.
  • If the Only add the URL link to the file server box is checked, the content pointed to by the URL is uploaded by the server each time it needs it (for a data model or on request from a user).

The HTTP GET Parameters button is used to configure the GET request, for example, to specify a file or filter the data.

The Custom HTTP Headers... button is used to specify request headers.

Notes:
In the latter case, the URL must be accessible by the server.
You can also insert user variables in the URL (${user.uid}...).
You can use a "file://" URL, but in this case the Add only URL link to document server mode is forced. The "file://" URL must be a file on a server disk. The link name must end with the extension specific to the type of file added (.csv, .html...).

For example, this option can be used to access data from a web service. To do this, check the option Add only the URL link to the document server. Next, you can specify specific URL parameters and HTTP headers that will be sent with the request and allow the web service to respond.
In the case of a web service with pagination, see the page Case of a web service with pagination options.

Note: An implementation constraint is necessary at the web service level: it must implement a valid response to HTTP requests of the HEAD type and specify a content length identical to that returned by the same GET request (W3C recommendation). In most cases, this constraint is known and respected. However, if this is not the case, the data source cannot be previewed in the Studio (no line displayed), so you will need to contact the web service developer. Since version 2022R2, this header can be ignored on HEAD requests to accept web services that do not respect this constraint.

From a WLNK file server (Web Link)

You can enter a link to another file on a file server connected to DigDash Enterprise.

  1. Click Browse to select the source server and file, then click OK.
  2. Enter a Name for the link. The link name must end with the extension appropriate to the type of file being added (.csv, .html...).

Notes:
You can also insert user variables in the URL (${user.uid}...).
You can use a regular expression to prefix the URL (link://server_id#regex.csv).

The file pointed to is the last document (in alphabetical order) corresponding to the link. For example, a "document*.csv" link will point to the last CSV file starting with "document".

Example: a CSV file updated daily is published on the document server. Its name includes the current date. We want to create a link to the most recently generated file.

The format of the date in the file name is critical when sorting by file name. Use the date format <YYYYMMDD>.

  1. Select Create a new link then click Browse.
    ➡ The list of corresponding files is displayed.
  2. Select one of the files displayed (for example source_20220527.csv) and click OK.
    ➡ The automatically generated link looks like 12345678|source_20220527.csv.
  3. We want this link to represent any source_*.csv file and not just source_20220527.csv. To do this, change the link to 12345678|source_*.csv.
    The file used by the link is the last in the list in alphabetical order. In our example, the file used by the link is source_20220602.csv.
    The name of the link generated is source_.csv.wlnk (the file name can be changed but must keep the .<file type>.wlnk extension).
  4. Click OK.
    The Type file window appears. If the link is to a CSV, JSON, MDB or XML file, you can change the properties so that the link uses all the CSV files and not just the last one.
  5. To do this, click Advanced : the Advanced CSV file properties box appears.
  6. Tick Use multiple files (WLNK only).
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Note:
The newly created WLNK file can be modified manually later if required. Right-click on the file and then click on Configure WLNK file.

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