Can't find Fail Activity in Azure Data Factory

[map18]

I'm looking forward to using the Fail Activity. I can't find it in the web-based Data Factory Studio, and I wasn't able to create it when I create a pipeline via powershell.

Do I have to do something to have access to "Preview" features?

Thanks, Marek

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• ID: 2ede5096-17da-a69c-a54b-a558bb3b0854
• Version Independent ID: 098c1ba4-9f0e-9b81-db0a-6f34a87ab4dd
• Content: Execute a Fail activity in Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics (Preview) - Azure Data Factory & Azure Synapse
• Content Source: articles/data-factory/control-flow-fail-activity.md
• Service: data-factory
• Sub-service: orchestration
• GitHub Login: @chez-charlie
• Microsoft Alias: chez

[MartinJaffer-MSFT]

Thank you for your detailed feedback. We are looking into the issue, and we will respond when we have more information.

[MartinJaffer-MSFT]

I have checked on my end. I cannot see such activity in the authoring pallete either.

However, just to be thorough, I copy-pasted the JSON from the document into the pipeline definition JSON. Then I was able to see a fail activity in the pipeline.

I suspect someone forgot to flip the "display fail activity in pallette" switch.

I will inquire internally. Thank you for brining this to our attention @map18 .

[MartinJaffer-MSFT]

There are two classes of "preview" features. Public Preview and Private Preview. Public Preview is enabled by default. Private Preview requires special access.

[map18]

Hi,

Thanks for looking into this. Are you suggesting that this is a Private Preview?

I can't imagine I already have access to the Private Preview features. If it is a Private Preview issue, I can wait until the Public version. I have a workaround: I just divide by 0!

If it's supposed to be Public already, then I'll wait until you finish your internal inquiry.

Also, I'll try to figure out how to copy JSON into a pipeline definition.

Thanks,
Marek

[map18]

Re copying JSON into pipeline definition, that's something I do using a git repo?

[MartinJaffer-MSFT]

Not necessarily. In the top-right corner there is a button with brackets { }

This button displays the JSON definition (of the pipeline in this case). That is where I inserted code.

Also an update, one of my colleagues was able to find the fail activity in a repository-enabled factory, but not in his personal factory. Maybe this is a sporadic issue.

[map18]

Thanks for your helpful description.

I was able to edit the json via the {} button. And I was able to add the Fail Activity into the json. That part seemed to go well. I was able to Validate and Publish. I was able to modify the Fail Activity, suggesting all was good.

However, when I ran it (via Debug or via Trigger), I got an error. When I ran it via a Trigger, the message was clear:

Error
{"error":{"code":"BadRequest","message":"Fail activity is not available; pipeline cannot contain activities of type Fail.","target":"pipeline/My Fail Activity Pipeline/runid/aa36ddaa-f87e-4d76-a927-57275d55966f","details":null}}

On a side note, it took me a while to figure out how to insert the json code initially, because I was trying to edit/replace the code within an activity (not allowed) vs editing/replacing the code for the entire pipeline, which was allowed.

[map18]

One minor suggestion for an edit of the json example in the article. I believe it would be more natural to have the message and errorCode values switched. I imagine this as written would work fine, it would be more likely that errorCode is "500".

{
"name": "MyFailActivity",
"type": "Fail",
"typeProperties": {
"message": "500",
"errorCode": "My Custom Error Message"
}
}

[MartinJaffer-MSFT]

@map18 My colleagues noted that this Fail activity seems to be only available in some regions.
The product group is being slow to respond, probably due to Ignite.

[map18]

@MartinJaffer-MSFT I'm in East US. The Fail Activity is now available!

You still may want to pass along my 10/27 edit suggestion regarding the message and errorCode text in the documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/control-flow-fail-activity?source=docs

Thanks for all the follow up on this!