File access covers reading from, and writing to, external files.  Pega’s file access is used when a standard Application Programming Interface (API) (such as REST or SOAP) is not available.

Pega File Listeners, combined with Pega Service File rules, can process incoming files, such as text files, Comma-Separated-Value (CSV) files, and completed PDF forms with integration content.  These files can both create and update data.  For example, they can import data to create or update a work object.  

For more information about File Listeners, see:

• Using file listeners
• Configuring file listener processing

For more information about Service Files, see:

• Service File rules
• Configuring a file service and file listener to process data in files

Connect-File rules were previously used to define the location and name of an output file on the Pega Platform to be created by Pega application. Connect-File rules are now deprecated.  After migrating to Pega Cloud, you cannot create new Connect File rules. However, existing Connect File rules will continue to function.

For more information about Connect-File rules, see:

• Connect-File method
• About Connect-File rules
• Connect File rules - Completing the Create, Save As, or Specialization form

How to identify

The rows in the report for File Listeners are:
Area:  Legacy Cloud Integration
Rule Type:  Data-Admin-Connect-FileListener
A Service File (Rule-Service-File) also needs to be present in order for the File Listener to function properly, but it does not need to be modified during modernization.

The rows in the report for Connect-File rules are:
Area:  Legacy Cloud Integration
Rule Type:  Rule-Connect-File

How to modernize

To manage your files in a Pega Cloud File Storage repository from within a Pega Platform application, use the Repository API to interact with your files, and configure a file listener to process them. Direct access to files using any method other than the Repository API is not supported.  Therefore, file connectors are not supported in Pega Cloud, since they are tightly coupled to local file systems, and do not support streaming. To modernize your application, use the Pega Repository APIs to interact with cloud storage providers like Amazon S3 and configure a file listener to process your files.

File storage and knowledge management repositories store assets and provide versioning and metadata support. Pega Platform can communicate with common repository technologies and can also act as a binary repository.

You can use repositories as follows:

• In a continuous integration and delivery pipeline, to provide centralized storage for software that is to be tested, shipped or deployed. Pega Platform can browse, publish, or fetch artifacts that are created whenever an action creates a RAP: for example, exporting an application, product, branch, or component.
• In case processing, to store and source file attachments.

Pega Platform includes wizards to create several common repository types.

To modernize File Listeners and File Services, configure your file listener to use a repository API.   

On-Prem Only:
For versions earlier than 8.7, use a Goofys-enabled path as the source location.

To modernize Connect-File rules, use the D_pxNewFile datapage with the pegacloudfilestorage repository.

On-Prem Only:
Use the D_pxNewFile datapage with the defaultstore repository.

For more information, see:

• Using repository APIs in your application
• Configuring a file listener associated with a storage repository
• Integrating with file and content management systems