Folder data sources may be flagged in the data source setup window as 'Real Time' data sources. This means that the associated map will be triggered every time a file is placed in the source directory as defined by the data source. The triggering process is managed by the SmartConnect windows service and requires the service to be running (although not necessarily on the machine that created the data source)

When the windows service processes folder real time data sources (every minute) the system will check for new folder data sources that have been created since the last run. When a data source is found, the system will register a File System Watcher against the source folder defined in the data source. The file watcher then monitors the source folder and will trigger the associated SmartConnect map every time a file is placed in the source folder. The monitoring process will continue until either the windows service is shut down, or the Create Real Time Trigger flag is de-selected in the data source and saved.

If more than one windows service is running on the network, the first service triggered by a file placement will run the map, the other services will skip processing as the map is locked by the first service.\

Note: folder data sources set to run as real time should not be scheduled.