Hey Bob, I think that Option 1 does make sense. We should show the attributes, etc. as they are when the FlowFile is cloned. I do not think the semantics would be accurate for Option #2. If we were to use the child/clone to populate the clone event, that would imply that the child was cloned. It is the parent that is being cloned, so the clone event should reflect the parent.
Thanks -Mark > On Oct 29, 2024, at 8:40 AM, Bob Paulin <b...@bobpaulin.com> wrote: > > Hi, > > In working with the Python Processors I've got some questions about how NiFi > handles Clone events. Currently when a clone event is displayed in a > provenance event in a processor the Attribute and Content information > attached to the event represents the originally cloned FlowFile. This > includes data modifications that are applied after the FlowFile is cloned. > My concern is this doesn't give the end user a clear idea of what was > actually cloned from the original FlowFile. A couple of different ways I see > this could be improved. > > 1) Treat the CLONE events like SEND events[1]. This would prevent the > FlowFile attributes from being updated prior to being written to the > Provenance repo. > > OR > > 2) Use the FlowFile's clone (the child) to populate the clone event[2]. The > cloned file has the proper representation of the data at the time of cloning > and will not contain any updates made to the original FlowFile when being > displayed. > > The first suggestion is more subtle. It freeze the attribute data but the > Output Content Claim displayed would still reflect changes to the parent file > following the clone. > > The second suggestion is a more significant/breaking change to how Provenance > stores clone events. However the more fundamental change means that the > Provenance Event will show the correct attributes and content from the time > of cloning. > > My preference is the second suggestion but I also understand if there may be > reasons for the design displaying the parent FlowFile's information. My > interest is improving the experience documented in [3]. Open to suggestions > if there are other paths to doing so. > > > Sincerely, > > Bob Paulin > > > [1] > https://github.com/apache/nifi/blob/aacbd514ce4af7e41f54fc2418394c563395c9bd/nifi-framework-bundle/nifi-framework/nifi-framework-components/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/controller/repository/StandardProcessSession.java#L1010 > > [2] > https://github.com/apache/nifi/blob/aacbd514ce4af7e41f54fc2418394c563395c9bd/nifi-framework-bundle/nifi-framework/nifi-framework-components/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/controller/repository/StandardProvenanceReporter.java#L457 > > [3] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NIFI-13808
