This idea is a bit of a follow up on the following question I created on the FME Community; https://community.safe.com/s/question/0D5Dm00000goQFoKAM
It feels a bit odd that in the 'Feature Information' window you can sometimes see that an attribute is of (Data) type 'bytes', but nowhere in transformers or functions of Workbench you seem to be able to leverage this information. E.g. the following two features;
- feature 1; text (bytes): 48656C6C6F
- feature 2; text (string: UTF-8): 48656C6C6F
are virtually inseparable/indistinguishable in FME. A sample dataset is attached (as zipped FME Feature Store (FFS) file).
Therefore, I think it would be nice if the Data Type 'bytes' could get a bit more formal position in FME. E.g.;
- When testing/filtering with 'Operator' = 'Type is', add the ability to select 'Bytes' as a type.
- In AttributeManager/AttributeCreator (as of 2023), add option to set Type equal to 'Bytes'
- In Python FME (Objects) API, add 'bytes' as a formal data type. See e.g. the following; fmeobjects.FMEFeature.getAttributeType — Python FME API FME 2023.0 b23309 documentation (safe.com)