A peek into Deluge's file functions

Hello everyone,

Recognizing the importance of files in Zoho products, Deluge implements FILE as a unique type of data. It also comes with a set of built-in functions that operate on FILE data type to identify the properties of files, zip or unzip files, and more. In this post, we will cover Deluge file functions that let you work with your digital documents using Deluge.

Files in Deluge

Files in Deluge must be fetched from the web or cloud service. It doesn't operate on offline files. The following are the ways you can bring files into Deluge scripting:

Use invoke URL or get URL to fetch files from web.
Use invoke URL to fetch files stored in any Zoho or third-party services.
Use integration tasks that return a file as response. Example: zoho.writer.mergeAndDownload
Use Zoho Creator fetch record task or input.<file_field> expression to fetch values uploaded in file type fields like "file upload", "image", "video", "audio", and "signature" fields. This is applicable only for Zoho Creator.

Irrespective of the format, all the files fetched using any of the above-mentioned methods, except the "fetch records" task and "input" keyword, are treated as file objects (or FILE data type). For example, be it a .pdf format file or a .jpeg format file, both are categorized under FILE data type. The files fetched using the "fetch records" task and "input" keyword are not considered as FILE data type, and hence file functions cannot be applied on them. However, such files can be used in integration tasks (for example in attach file crm task), or in the send mail task to send as a file attachment, or to assign the file as a value to another Zoho Creator file field.

File functions

File functions are built-in functions that operate on file objects (or FILE datatype). These functions cannot be applied on files fetched using the Zoho Creator "fetch records" task or "input" keyword.

The following table lists the file functions available in Deluge:

Function	Description
isFile	Checks if a variable is of FILE data type.
toFile	Converts a TEXT or COLLECTION value into file object. This function is supported in all Zoho services except Creator.
getFileName	Returns the name of the input file.
getFileSize	Returns the size of the input file.
getFileContent	Returns the content of the input file.
getFileType	Returns the type of the input file. This function is supported in all Zoho services except Creator.
setFileName	Renames the input file with the specified name.
compress	Compresses one or more file into a single zip file.
extract	Extracts the content of the input zip file.

Apart from the above-mentioned functions, we also have setCharset, setFileType, and setParamName which can be used only on invoke URL task to set file properties.

Example 1: Uses setFileName and compress functions

Imagine you want to rename a few documents, convert them into a single zip file, and send the compressed zip file as an email attachment. The following example performs these actions in the below order:

Fetches an invoice from Zoho Books.
Generates file name based on the customer name and current date & time, and renames the fetched invoice using the setFileName function.
Fetches the customer's contract from Zoho Workdrive.
Generates file name based on the customer name and current date & time, and renames the fetched contract using the setFileName function.
Converts the fetched invoice and contract documents into a zip file using compress function.
And lastly, sends the renamed file as attachment of sendMail task.

Step 1:

// Fetch the required invoice from Zoho Books. invoice_pdf variable holds the fetched file object
invoice_pdf = invokeUrl
[
url:"https://books.zoho.com/api/v3/invoices/pdf?organization_id=70XXXX516&invoice_ids=2155XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX09"
type: GET
connection: "books_connection"
];

Step 2:

// Generate the file name with customer name and current time. Here, customer_name is the input parameter of the custom function
generated_pdf_name = customer_name + "_invoice_" + zoho.currentTime.toString("dd-MMM-yyyy_hh:mm");
// Rename the file with the generated file name
invoice_pdf.setFileName(generated_pdf_name);

Step 3:

// contract variable holds the document fetched from Zoho Workdrive
contract = invokeUrl
[
url: "https://workdrive.zoho.com/api/v1/download/5crsmXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXf16b8"
type: GET
connection: "workdrive_connection"
];

Step 4:

// Generate the file name with customer name and current time. Here, customer_name is the input parameter of the custom function
generated_doc_name = customer_name + "_contract_" + zoho.currentTime.toString("dd-MMM-yyyy_hh:mm");
// Rename the file with the generated file name
contract.setFileName(generated_doc_name);

Step 5:

// Create a list to add files that need to be compressed
filesList = List();
filesList.add(invoice_pdf);
filesList.add(contract);
// Perform compress function
zip_file = filesList.compress("invoice");

Step 6:

// Send email with the compressed file as attachment
sendmail
[
from: zoho.loginuserid
to: customer_email
subject: "Invoice"
message: "Please check attachment to find your invoice "
attachments: file: zip_file
]

Example 2: Uses extract and getFileContent functions

The following example extracts .csv files from a .zip file and uploads the content of the extracted files into a Zoho Sheet worksheet:

Step 1:

// Extract .csv files from .zip file. file_collection holds the extracted files as KEY-VALUE collection
file_collection = compressed_file.extract();

Step 2:

// Iterate through the collection to access individual .csv files
for each file in file_collection
{
// Fetch the content of the extracted .csv file
content = file.getFileContent();
// Use Sheet integration task to insert the fetched CSV into the specified Zoho Sheet
response = zoho.sheet.insertCSV("6fbyeXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX44b56", "Sheet1", content);
}

Learn more about file functions from our help documents and do let us know your questions and suggestions in the comments.

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