Pentaho Kettle - Get the file names dynamically

Question

I hope this message finds everyone well!

I'm stucked on a situation on Pentaho PDI Tool and I'm looking for an answer (or at least a light in the end of the cave) to solve it!

I have to import, every month, a bunch of xls's files of differents clients. Every file has a different name (witch is given aleatory) and this files are on a folder named with the name of the client. However, I use the same process for all clients and situations.

Is there a way to pass the name of the directory as a variable and change this variable on every process? How can I read this files on differents paths?

Answer 1

The answer you're looking for requires a flow with variables as you stated. In a JOB you will start with a KTR with the client's name and their respective folder. In the same JOB you are going to pass these results and use them as variables, to another JOB if needed, or to a KTR, and you are going to use the options "Copy previous results to parameters" and "Execute for every input row" (Advanced Tab), and in the parameters tab you will name the variables and stream column name (where the data is coming from in the previous KTR, ie.: Clients name and directory).

If you have trouble with creating this flow i can spare some more time and share a sample if you need.

EDIT: Sample Here

Answer 2

You have an example of this in the sample directory which is shipped with your PDI distribution.

Your case is covered by the samples/jobs/run_all.