Can I delete a file in Acumatica via the API? - acumatica

Question

I'm creating a file in Acumatica by calling an action from the API, so that I can retrieve the file in my application.
Is it possible to delete the file via API after I'm done with it? I'd rather not have it cluttering up my Acumatica database.
Failing this, is there a recommended cleanup approach for these files?

Answer 1

Found examples of how to delete a file from within Acumatica, as well as how to save a new version of an existing file! The below implementation saves a new version but has the deletion method commented out. Because I built this into my report generation process, I'm not later deleting the report via API, but it would be easy to translate a deletion into an action callable by the API.
private IEnumerable ExportReport(PXAdapter adapter, string reportID, Dictionary<String, String> parameters)
{
//Press save if the SO is not completed
if (Base.Document.Current.Completed == false)
{
Base.Save.Press();
}
PX.SM.FileInfo file = null;
using (Report report = PXReportTools.LoadReport(reportID, null))
{
if (report == null)
{
throw new Exception("Unable to access Acumatica report writer for specified report : " + reportID);
}
PXReportTools.InitReportParameters(report, parameters, PXSettingProvider.Instance.Default);
ReportNode reportNode = ReportProcessor.ProcessReport(report);
IRenderFilter renderFilter = ReportProcessor.GetRenderer(ReportProcessor.FilterPdf);
//Generate the PDF
byte[] data = PX.Reports.Mail.Message.GenerateReport(reportNode, ReportProcessor.FilterPdf).First();
file = new PX.SM.FileInfo(reportNode.ExportFileName + ".pdf", null, data);
//Save the PDF to the SO
UploadFileMaintenance graph = new UploadFileMaintenance();
//Check to see if a file with this name already exists
Guid[] files = PXNoteAttribute.GetFileNotes(Base.Document.Cache, Base.Document.Current);
foreach (Guid fileID in files)
{
FileInfo existingFile = graph.GetFileWithNoData(fileID);
if (existingFile.Name == reportNode.ExportFileName + ".pdf")
{
//If we later decide we want to delete previous versions instead of saving them, this can be changed to
//UploadFileMaintenance.DeleteFile(existingFile.UID);
//But in the meantime, for history purposes, set the UID of the new file to that of the existing file so we can save it as a new version.
file.UID = existingFile.UID;
}
}
//Save the file with the setting to create a new version if one already exists based on the UID
graph.SaveFile(file, FileExistsAction.CreateVersion);
//Save the note attribute so we can find it again.
PXNoteAttribute.AttachFile(Base.Document.Cache, Base.Document.Current, file);
}
//Return the info on the file
return adapter.Get();
}

Answer 2

The response from Acumatica:
S-b (Screen-base) API allows clean way of downloading report generated as file. C-b (Contract-base) simply does not have this feature added. I suggest you provided feedback here: feedback.acumatica.com (EDIT: Done! https://feedback.acumatica.com/ideas/ACU-I-1852)
I think couple of workaround are:
1) use s-b using login from c-b to generate report and get as file (see example below), or
2) create another method to delete the file once required report file is downloaded. For that, you will need to pass back FileID or something to identify for deletion.
example of #1
using (DefaultSoapClient sc = new DefaultSoapClient("DefaultSoap1"))
{
string sharedCookie;
using (new OperationContextScope(sc.InnerChannel))
{
sc.Login("admin", "123", "Company", null, null);
var responseMessageProperty = (HttpResponseMessageProperty)
OperationContext.Current.IncomingMessageProperties[HttpResponseMessageProperty.Name];
sharedCookie = responseMessageProperty.Headers.Get("Set-Cookie");
}
try
{
Screen scr = new Screen(); // add reference to report e.g. http://localhost/Demo2018R2/Soap/SO641010.asmx
scr.CookieContainer = new System.Net.CookieContainer();
scr.CookieContainer.SetCookies(new Uri(scr.Url), sharedCookie);
var schema = scr.GetSchema();
var commands = new Command[]
{
new Value { LinkedCommand = schema.Parameters.OrderType, Value = "SO" },
new Value { LinkedCommand = schema.Parameters.OrderNumber, Value = "SO004425" },
schema.ReportResults.PdfContent
};
var data = scr.Submit(commands);
if(data != null && data.Length > 0)
{
System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(#"c:\Temp\SalesOrder.pdf",
Convert.FromBase64String(data[0].ReportResults.PdfContent.Value));
}
}
finally
{
sc.Logout();
}
}
Hope this helps. Also, it would be great if you update the stackover post based on these suggestions.
Thanks
Nayan Mansinha
Lead - Developer Support | Acumatica