Azure-docs: Broken folder structure

[know-where]

I have a custom activity that had some dependencies in a folder. I had no issues transferring it to blob storage but when the custom activity was copied to Azure Batch, the folder structure was flattened. This behaviour is not documented. Is it expected?

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Document details

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• ID: a73a1ff2-94e8-a570-ff7b-7a57acca06e6
• Version Independent ID: 9ec244a7-d939-3918-fc87-34ab1eec5293
• Content: Use custom activities in an Azure Data Factory pipeline
• Content Source: articles/data-factory/transform-data-using-dotnet-custom-activity.md
• Service: data-factory
• GitHub Login: @douglaslMS
• Microsoft Alias: douglasl

[Alberto-Vega]

@Anded Thanks for the feedback! We are currently investigating and will update you shortly.

[Alberto-Vega]

@Anded Can you please provide more detail on your specific scenario?

[know-where]

I have a custom activity to decrypt PGP encrypted files. I am using GnuPG binaries to do it, so they have to be included with the activity. So, when built, I have activity executables and a folder with GnuPG binaries. Like so:

The problem is that it is structured exactly the same way on blob storage but the folder structure gets flatenned when Azure Batch copies the activity's files. My activity is expecting GnuPG binaries in GnuPG_bin folder and fails to find them when run on Azure Batch. I have figured this out by listing the activity's run directory on Azure Batch. It just ends up looking this this:

It looks like this is either an undocumented behaviour or a bug.

[Alberto-Vega]

@Anded I have assigned the issue to the content author to evaluate and update as appropriate. Thanks again!

[douglaslMS]

Forwarded question to PM

in-progress

[nabhishek]

@Anded Yes this is the behavior by design. It is on our backlog to improve this in order to maintain the same structure.
For now, suggestion is to zip the folder, so custom activity copies it as is, and then unzip it in custom code in the path you want.

[douglaslMS]

please-close

[know-where]

While the behaviour is by design, it is still undocumented in the article...

[douglaslMS]

@Anded We're talking about the contents of the _folderPath_ property of the Custom Activity, correct? Mentioned under here Custom activity?

[know-where]

That is correct.

[douglaslMS]

@Anded I have added the explanation and suggested workaround to the article under the _folderPath_ property. I'll let you know late tomorrow (Tuesday) when the updated page is published, for you to take a look at for me. Thanks.

[douglaslMS]

@Anded Please check the expanded description of folderpath. I believe that this resolves the issue.

[douglaslMS]

please-close