Run Command Line Tool

With this node you can run a command line tool.

It has the following configuration options:
  • Command: here you can specify the command to run. Select the pencil to open Expression Builder. There are two typical use cases:
    • Run a system command that can be found in the path of the system. For example ls on OS X or dir on Windows. Specify the command to run.
    • Run an application of which you know the location on the file system. Specify the CLOUDFLOW path to the executable to run.
  • Arguments: here you can specify the arguments to pass to the command line tool. Select + to add an argument and - to delete an argument. Select the pencil to open Expression Builder.
    Note: By default all references to files will be passed as CLOUDFLOW paths. You need to specify that they have to be converted to local file paths if you want get the references in the notation of the OS where the tool runs. You need to do that for each argument that needs to be converted since the system does not know which parameters are paths.
  • Tool Generates Output Files: If you select this checkbox, the command line tool will generate output files.
  • Save Console output: here you can specify if the command generates output on the console that you want to save for later use in the flow. If you select this checkbox, the output will be saved.
    Note: You cannot select both the Tool Generates Output Files and the Save Console output checkboxes at the same time.
  • Save Console error output: here you can specify if the command generates error output on the console that you want to save for later use in the flow. If you select this checkbox, the error output will be saved.
    Note: You cannot select both the Tool Generates Output Files and the Save Console error output checkboxes at the same time.
  • Save Console Output As: here you can define how the console (error) output will be saved. Options:
    • JSON: if you select this option, the output is saved as an array of strings where each string contains one line of the output.
    • Text: if you select this option, the output is saved as a single string containing all the lines.
    • File: if you select this option, the output will be streamed to the specified file.
  • File for Console Output: here you can specify where the output should be saved on disk.
  • File for Error Console Output: here you can specify where the output should be saved on disk.
    Note: You can set the fields File for Console Output and File for Error Console Output to the same value, which means that both outputs will be saved to the same file. However, the order of the lines is not predictable.
  • Append new output data to existing files: if you select this checkbox, the output and/or error-output will be appended to an already existing file. If you leave this checkbox unselected any existing files are cleared before running the command line tool.
  • Working Directory: here you can specify the working directory to use when invoking the command line tool. You can leave this field empty if you do not want to specify the working directory.
  • Max Concurrent Workers: here you can specify the number of concurrent calls that can be executed to the command line tool. This can be useful if you do not want to lock your system on this node if the called command line tool will be running for a long time.

    If you set the value to 0, the concurrency is not limited. If you set it to 1, this node will only be executed once at the same time. If you set it to 2, this node will be executed maximum twice at the same time, etcetera.