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Dear FME community,

 

 

we are currently using 5 licenses of FME Desktop and we have recently bought the FME Server to automate our geo processes further. I have a question regarding of what can be done with the server technology and if the use case we have in mind can principially be implemented.

 

 

Our road network is published via a Web Feature Service (WFS). I have a desktop workspace that adds attributes from an XML file to this road network of lines. The problem is, that the attributes are dynamic. What this means is, that initially I don't know which attributes are in the XML file. It could be only 10, or more than 100 (as an example) and the names are unknown.

 

 

We now want to create a website where the user has the ability to upload an XML file with an arbitrary number of attributes. In the background, the FME Server is supposed to map this file to our road network from the WFS and add the attributes. I imagine a site where the user has an upload button for the XML file and some input forms for the target format (MapInfo and Shape) and perhaps also the desired coordinate reference system. There should be an input field where one can enter an E-Mail address. As a result the user should get a download link per E-Mail, where he can download the processed road network, added with the information from the XML file as Shape or MapInfo.

 

 

The challenge is, as I see it, that I don't know for sure which attributes are in the XML file. The file itself has a known structure and has been loaded into FME Desktop successfully. But the attribute names, at least not all of them, from the input XML are not definitely known at the beginning. The position in the XML of the attributes, that means at which child element they can occur, however is known.

Is it possible to tell him to copy all attributes of the input file to the target? I have added a sample XML and a screenshot of the workspace where you can see that I use the XML Fragmenter to load the data and expose the attributes. How can I expose attribute that I don't know if they exist in the uploaded file?

 

 

There really could be a lot attributes 🙂 Is there a way to handle this with FME Server?

 

 

I'm grateful for every suggestions!

 

 

Many thanks and kind regards

 

Thomas

This is a great question. Just thinking about it now. I know it will have to be a dynamic writer. I'm thinking that the schema should be defined by list attributes that are read from the source datasets using the Schema reader. I'll try a few things out and get back to you.

 

 

OK, I think I've cracked it. Take a look at this workspace and tell me what you think.

I'm using MapInfo TAB as both source and destination, so you would obviously need to switch your own data and formats in. But it does what you need, in that it merges the attribute schema of both datasets in order to create a single, combined output schema.

You'll probably also want to set a merge filter on your secondary dataset. Basically there's a bit of editing and cleanup you'll need to do, but I think the overall process is sound.

OK, I think I've cracked it. Take a look at this workspace and tell me what you think.

I'm using MapInfo TAB as both source and destination, so you would obviously need to switch your own data and formats in. But it does what you need, in that it merges the attribute schema of both datasets in order to create a single, combined output schema.

You'll probably also want to set a merge filter on your secondary dataset. Basically there's a bit of editing and cleanup you'll need to do, but I think the overall process is sound.

Hi Mark, thanks a lot for your help and the workspace! I will look into it this week and get back to you. Kind regards, Thomas

 

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