I love the HTTPCaller, SQLExecutor, and FeatureReader, but I have to admit I was confused how to make them work. It turned out I had to use a Creator transformer, which is not obvious. I'd prefer if they just worked without adding a Creator transformer.
Released
Don't require Creator for transformers that read data
+63
I guess that would work if they "just need to be triggered once", but sometimes you want to trigger them with specific features, so there would still need to be an input port for that.
+26- Contributor
Agree with @redgeographics: all these transformers can be triggered by a "dummy" feature (Creator) or an actual feature read or created by the workspace. That is part of the power of these transformers.
Don't take that power away!
+2So I asked myself this question today, so here's my thoughts:
I can see the use of the Creators but when it's being added to just initiate with 1 feature it's a bit redundant and not obvious. What about incorporating the functionality with the AttributeManager - rename to FeatureManager.
Perhaps an option in the navigator could be set where you say how many initiating features you need, and the input ports for these transformers could follow similar colour convention to the cogs, so input port triangle colour could be yellow to suggest it can initiate without input features, or with an input stream. Red would mean it's dependent on something entering the transformer.
+10- Contributor
I agree with the fact that we should not take the power away that makes these transformers so useful. However, I think there would still be an upside to be able to use these transformers without the need to add a Creator.
What if there would be an option like a checkbox 'Initiate on time', to be able to run the transformer one time without the need to connect a Creator.
I see the fact that you need to add a Creator right now more as an non-chique way to work around the fact that you need to run this transformer one time.
I vote up!
+23- Supporter
Definitely agree we need to keep the Initiator port - makes these transformers so much more powerful. My workflows would be far more complicated without it. However when just needing to run once at start of translation, this idea makes sense. Although not for the SQLExecutor.
There is already the SQLCreator transformer for that, that runs once are the translation start
+5- Contributor
One of the benefits of having a creator attached to such a transformer is the ability to define the order that the creators run in a workbench. A typical case is where you have several "lookup datasets" with a few dozen records and then the main data set with thousands of records. By setting the creator run order it enables the lookup datasets to be loaded first then the main dataset starts processing. otherwise you may get the situation where all the main data has to load in memory before the lookup datasets are loaded and referenced.
+21- Safer
The following idea has been merged into this idea:
All the votes have been transferred into this idea.
All the votes have been transferred into this idea.
+5- Safer
In 25.2 we released Optional Input Ports. Since this was inspired by this idea, here are details on how it works!
- The UI will show input ports designated as optional as black outlines, instead of as a red error state. You can still connect an input, there is no change to functionality here. You now don't have to.
- If a transformer has an optional input port, as long as all mandatory fields are filled correctly, the transformer will run.
- Some transformers will enable or disable parameters based on whether an input is connected, only making relevant parameters available..
- We will not automatically upgrade any transformer in a workspace that has no connected input, where the input is now becoming optional. We will warn if this is the case, so nothing is going to run accidentally, and you can make a choice.
- Even without a Creator present, you will still be able to control runtime order in the same way (right click menu option).
- This applies to the following transformers
- And the Creator still exists and is not going anywhere! You just don’t need it for this situation.
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