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Before I proceed in my FME training I wanted to see if it is possible to create FME workspaces where it would require for it to ask for an input GIS file (Mapinfo TAB) and for it to run various processes (conversion, reprojection, renaming) based on where it is coming from.  I would need this to be a reoccuring tool that I would run for different folders at different times.

 

 

For example I have different folders that store different GIS files based on the specific geographic area it is in.  I have many of these folders that I run the same processes at different times based on which area I happen to be working in that day.  So I wanted to know if I could open an FME workspace and have it ask for an input file, then runs the process I set up for it to do based on the folder it is from? output file names would need to be custom to where its coming from everytime.

 

 

I am basically trying to decide if I need to learn FME, or Mapbasic to create mbx tools. Or can FME do anything a programing language can do?

 

 

So far in my FME training It seems like FME is set up for one time processes to accomplish one certain task, but I am early on in the training process.

 

 

Any comments are appreciated.
At a high level, FME can very simply allow for user input. I build workspaces all the time for clients with multiple user parameters as input. 

 

 

Same goes for output or you can hard code the output to be based on the input as you stated.

 

 

 

To quote from the FME Desktop training manual:

 

 

Successfully translating from one format to another requires a firm grasp on all the parameters that control the translation.

 

Parameters are what control a translation.   Chef Bimm says… “Parameters in a translation are like the options when you order a coffee. You get to choose what ingredients you start with,how they are combined, and what the end result of the process will be like. And I think both coffee and data are better when you add a whipped cream topping!”

 

So coming to your question of making your FME Workspaces interactive to the users, yes it is very much possible to the highest possible degree even without a drop of coding knowledge"

 

  In the hierarchy of different translation components, each different level of the hierarchy has a set of parameters that belong to it.

 

So there are: Workspace Parameters Reader Parameters Writer Parameters Feature Type Parameters Format Attributes (Feature Parameters)

 

Having parameters right down to the feature level provides a huge degree of control over every aspect of a translation.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Happy FME :-)

 

Cheers

 

SRG
...and if you are still doing research on this. Take a look on FMEPedia for the terms "Generic" and "Dynamic", where Generic refers to the data format and Dynamic refers to the data schema. To summarise then if a workspace uses a Generic format on the Reader and Writer and it is in Dynamic mode, then you could theoretically put pass any data through it and carry out a process like data validation on it without the process needing to know what format you have at run time or what format you want out and also it doesn't need to know your data's schema in advance. This then decouples the data from the process, throw in parameters as mentioned by SRG and you can then control the process. So FME allows you to write code, without having to write code using the Workbench GUI.

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