The Zip Connector supports automatic compression and decompression of archives in various formats.

Overview

Zip Connectors automatically compress or decompress incoming files depending on the Operation setting of the connector. In Compress mode, each file is zipped independently, so the number of output Zip archives is equal to the number of input files. In Decompress mode, all files are extracted from input archives and output as an individual file; folder structure is ignored.

Zip Connectors can be configured to compress and decompress archives in a variety of formats, including 7zip, Bzip2, Gzip, and Tar.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Configuration

Settings related to the core operation of the connector.

• Connector Id The static, unique identifier for the connector.
• Connector Type Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
• Connector Description An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
• Operation Whether the connector is compressing or decompressing incoming files. Trying to decompress files that are not compressed in a supported format results in an error.

Archive Options

Settings related to the archive being processed or created.

• Archive Format The expected format of the input archive (when decompressing), or the format of the archive that is created (when compressing).
• Compression Method The specific algorithm to use when compressing.
• Compression Level The level of compression to apply when compressing. Higher values allow better compression; lower values allow faster compression. A value of 0 stores the file without compression.

Encryption

Settings related to encrypting archives during compression, if allowed by the archive format.

• Encryption Algorithm The algorithm to use when encrypting.
• Password The password required to decrypt the archive.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

By default, the Enable automation checkbox is checked. If you uncheck it, you cannot use the other automation settings.

• Send Whether messages arriving at the connector are automatically processed.
• Scheduled Send Whether to process incoming messages at a scheduled interval. This allows multiple files to accumulate in the input folder, then all be zipped together in the same archive.
  Note: The following archive formats do not support compressing multiple files: Bzip, Gzip, and Zcompress. An error is generated if this setting is enabled on those archive formats.
• Send Interval The interval at which to compress all available input files into the same archive. Only available if Scheduled Send is enabled.
• Minutes Past the Hour The minutes offset for an hourly schedule. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Hourly. For example, if this value is set to 5, the automation service downloads at 1:05, 2:05, 3:05, etc.
• Time The time of day that the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
• Day The day on which the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Weekly or Monthly.
• Minutes The number of minutes to wait before attempting the download. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Minute.
• Cron Expression A five-position string representing a cron expression that determines when the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Advanced.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

• Max Workers The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.
• Max Files The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.

Advanced Tab

Other Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

• Extract To Folder The folder where the connector should place files extracted from an archive.
• Processing Delay The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Input folder is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting.
• Local File Scheme A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use the following macros to reference contextual information:
  %ConnectorId%, %Filename%, %FilenameNoExt%, %Ext%, %ShortDate%, %LongDate%, %RegexFilename%, %DateFormat%, %Header%.
  For example: %FilenameNoExt%_%ShortDate%%Ext%

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing. You can save messages to your Sent folder or you can group them based on a Sent folder scheme, as described below.

• Save to Sent Folder A toggle that instructs the connector to keep a copy of sent messages in the Sent folder.
• Sent Folder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Sent folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all sent files for the week in that folder. The blank setting instructs the connector to save all files directly in the Sent folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders can help keep files organized and improve performance.

Logging

• Log Level The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
• Log Subfolder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
• Log Messages Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Input or Output tabs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

• Other Settings Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Subfolder Headers

The Zip connector makes use of the Subfolder header for reading from and writing to compressed files. A Subfolder header is added any time there are subfolders in the zip structure.

Note: When compressing files, the Subfolder header is only used when you set Scheduled Send on the Automation tab.

For example, this image from the Message Details page for a log entry shows the path to the subfolder in the Other Headers section.

When decompressing a file:

• The message for each file that is in a subfolder in the compressed file contains a Subfolder header in its metadata.
• This header displays the path to the subfolder in the zip folder structure.
• This subfolder header is supported by other connectors that support a subfolder header in Send operations.

When compressing files, the connector looks for a Subfolder header on messages that it processes to determine where to place the files inside the compressed structure.