Accessing an ExternalDataFileEx hosted on outside server

[jwhittaker]

I have a job right now that calls out to an external data file and pulls some text. The external data file, a csv, has an id field and a text field. So I have uploaded the csv file to Marcom as an external data file. It all works fine but now the customer wants to make changes to the text on a daily basis. I don't want to have to re-upload the updated csv file every day, so I wanted to place this data file on our ftp site and and call it in my template.

 

Right now, I have an OnJobStart getting access to the datafile and makes sure its there. It looks like:

externalDF = new ExternalDataFileEx("testextdb.csv", ",");

return externalDF.valid;

 

The external data file only has 2 columns: id and description.

So if they select an certain picture in the gallery it fills in the description. This one is real basic.

 

Now they want to be able to change the description on a daily basis. They are going to add different codes on a daily basis to try and do tracking or something, but not sure what.

 

I have tried putting the path, with username and password, in the OnJobStart but it wont see it. For example.

externalDF = new ExternalDataFileEx("http://username: password@www.company.com/testextdb.csv", ","); //no space after username:

return externalDF.valid;

 

and this returns false. If I copy and paste "http://username: password@www.company.com/testextdb.csv" into a browser, it finds the file and allows me to download it, so I know the path is correct.

 

Is there something that I'm missing or is there another way to do this?

 

Any help is appreciated

Thanks

Edited February 15, 2012 by jwhittaker

[Dan Korn]

With the exception of accessing Graphic resources via CreateResource, and certain Web Service integrations (such as for Personalized Images), FusionPro is not able to directly access files from the Internet via HTTP.

 

This kind of workflow would seem to be a good fit for a custom application using FP Server.

[jwhittaker]

Bummer

Thanks for the quick response.