File Upload

Description

This function allows you to upload tabular or 3D data directly from your machine into a notebook and that way to bypass the File Manager.

Application

This function is not intended to be used as the main way to import data in a notebook, especially as it is limited to single files. All your data to setup a workflow, and train and test models should be uploaded to the File Manager and imported into a notebook with the Tabular or 3D Data importer.

Once you have built a workflow and your models are ready for further use you could setup an additional notebook in which you import your trained model (see the following articles on Export Model and Import Global Model). If you add a File Upload step to that notebook and feed the uploaded data into a model prediction step you can very quickly use your model to get a prediction on new data. If you publish the File Upload step and the prediction result on a Dashboard you have a quick and easy way of making your model accessible to other users.

How to use

• When you create the step, there are only two options:

Import Type	This can be either Tabular (default) or 3D.
Name	This is the name of the dataset which will be created from the uploaded file.

• Click Apply once you completed all settings.

Uploading new data

The step in the notebook looks like this as long as no data was uploaded:

Click Browse to open a file selection dialogue and select a file from your machine. The step refreshes and now shows an additional info line “Generating data Uploaded Data.” Also, the field besides the Browse button shows the name of the uploaded file.

Now the dataset “Uploaded Data” is available for further use within the notebook.

Removing uploaded data

If you want to remove the uploaded data of a step and delete the created dataset you simply have to enter the edit mode of that step and click apply without changing any settings. The file is removed and the function is back to the initial state.

Limitations

Currently the limitations of this function are:

• The File Upload step does not indicate which file type is expected. A user would need to enter the edit mode to check the current configuration. Therefore do make sure to add a Note which documents which type of file is expected to inform a later user.
• xlsx files are not supported with this step, please convert to a csv before uploading. 
• Only single files are supported. You can’t upload several files at once.
  • If you need several files for your workflow/model to work (e.g. one 3D file with geometry and field data and second a table with boundary conditions), you need to have a separate File Upload step for each required file. After all files are imported you can use Transform functions like Append, Join, or Attach Parameters to 3D to bring the data together if needed.
• The function offers no advanced options to control the import process. Make sure uploaded data is clean so it is processed without problems. Also, make sure later users know which format is expected in your notebook so that all downstream functions work properly.