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Open ideas have been reviewed by our Product Management and are open for commenting and voting.
Just for clarification - this is not about fme workspace parameters, rather about SQL named parameters.Named parameters provides better security against SQL injection, improved query plan caching, ensures proper type handling among other things. Another advantage is that it makes it easier to just copy/paste the sql-code from a sql editor (like ADS, Dbeaver etc) where one would be provided with prompts to fill in the parameters.It would be amazing if one just name a sql paramter the same as an attribute in the feature, and it would be picked up that way… !
hi there,I am working on a translation for some heavy 3d data. This creates lag when I want to check on some feature attributes in the visual preview window as FME has to load the geometry in the graphical preview window.I would like to turn this off so I can just see the table and not the geometry.Thanks,Marc
The SQLExecutor / SQLCreator should support bind variables rather than string substitution in SQL statements for the following two reasons:Security, preventing injection attacksPerformance, see http://www.akadia.com/services/ora_bind_variables.htmlI suggest making bind or string substitution an option within the SQLExecutor.
An Export Action Item completes the backup FeatureServer item type workflow into a local computer or another cloud storage system like S3 or OneDrive.The portal UI for this Action Item is shown below:The backup workflow would be a combination of Export, Download, and Delete action items. Adding a List Action item in the beginning would complete a batch export and download.In addition the Export Action item can be used to download formats of the FeatureServer for use in other clients beside ESRI applications.The best part to the export API (on FGDB), it includes the attachments, if there’s any.Reference: https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/users-groups-and-items/export-item/ Current available solution is the Hub transformer from Abley. Its a great tool but it’s limited to FGDB. Quite the obvious after all since its called ArcGIS_AP_FILEGDBExport.
In a number of situations schema scanning and bulk mode can drastically decrease performance.One example is when reading a few records from a database with big blobs and writing to another database (postgres to postgres in this case). Reorganizing records into feature tables and then reorganizing them back into records at once was in one case causing a lot of unnecessary work and io.By editing the metafile for postgres we could avoid this but tampering with the installation-files is probable often very inconvenient.. Having the option to configure readers and transformers in this aspect would really help.It would also help in many situations to be able to control of the process of supplying the schema.One example here is the SQLExecutor/transformer. The extra execution of the SQL statement that take place in order to resolve schema could have side effects that can be hard to forsee. I’d vote for making this "not default behaviour" and also marked as advanced. Another idea here could be to give the developer some support to specify (and validate?) a "canned schema" instead. To summarize: convenience should in my opinion never stand in the way of fine grained control and I belive that the promotion of bulk mode and dynamic schema has in some situations led to that.
In a number of situations schema scanning and bulk mode can drastically decrease performance.One example is when reading a few records from a database with big blobs and writing to another database (postgres to postgres in this case). Reorganizing records into feature tables and then reorganizing them back into records at once was in one case causing a lot of unnecessary work and io.By editing the metafile for postgres we could avoid this but tampering with the installation-files is probable often very inconvenient.. Having the option to configure readers and transformers in this aspect would really help. It would also help in many situations to be able to control of the process of supplying the schema.One example here is the SQLExecutor-transformer. The extra execution of the SQL-statement that take place in order to resolve schema could have side-effects that can be hard to forsee. I’d vote for making this “not default behaviour” and also marked as advanced. Another idea here could be to give the developer some support to specify (and validate?) a “canned schema” instead. To summerize - convenience should in my opinion never stand in the way of fine grained control and I belive that the promotion of bulk mode and dynamic schema has in some situations led to that.
I'm using FME Desktop 2020 and have a workbench with several SQLExecutor transformers. These are performing 1000s of SQL queries against a PostGIS database and working fine. The only issue I have is that every SQL statement is being logged in the FME log, which is creating a bloated log file (100s of MBs in size). I don't need to see the individual SQL statements in the FME log, but these are coming through as INFO level messages (I would actually class this type of logging as DEBUG not INFO level log messages). I know there are options to turn off INFO messages, but other INFO messages may be useful. So it would be beneficial to either:Treat logging of SQL statements as DEBUG level messages so that they do not get logged with the default INFO level set.Have an option to turn off logging of SQL statements globally.Have an option to turn off logging of SQL statements on the individual transformers (e.g. SQLExecutor, SQLCreator).This would prevent bloated log files when hundreds/thousands of SQL statements are executed during a workbench run.
We need a reader for the format of Nemetscheck Vectorworks *.vwx. We would like to be able to read out project files directly and not have to go via the DXF/DWG export.
When using the Parallel processing option in FME the number of threads always depends on the number of cores of the machine. For example 'Moderate' is one process per core on the machine. If your machine has a tonne of core you can potentially get a tonne of threads. This is really nice on one hand but on the other hand maybe you want to restrict the process to just a few threads. Especially if the process is memory intensive and the machine perhaps doesn't have enough to support so many parallel threads.If you want to restrict your process to a certain number of threads then you need to do a few backflips in order to figure out which level or parallel processing to use and in the end the least you can use is half the number of available cores.It would be pretty nice to be able to just specify the number of parallel processes you want to be able to use.
Hi there, It would be a good idea to allow to remove attributes after they have been used in a transformer. For example, I could keep an attribute to be used in a tester transformer, and once it is used in the tester transformer I don’t need it anymore so I set up an ‘AttributeRemover’ afterwards to remove the attribute. Doing this often clutters up the workspace, so it would be good to have a checkbox inside a transformer to remove the attribute after it has been used within a transformer so no need to have an attribute remover afterwards. This can apply to any transformer that uses an attribute, like AttributeCreator, StringConcatenator etc.
Add Writer for ArcGIS Pro Layer (.lyrx) format.
Would it be possible to add the “Measure Distance” tool that we have in the Data Inspector in the Visual Preview window of the workbench?It would be really helpful when deciding what distance needs to be chosen for any tolerance parameter.Thank you!
Yet another geocoder you say, well yes, but the Placekey service does offer some enrichment.Placekeys encode both what is at a location plus where it is in a resolution 10 H3 cell.If you include a location name (aka POI name) in your query the response can include base placekey, address placekey and building placekey, all potentially different.My understanding is this is backed by the SafeGraph Places database, so you are getting a POI validation service with the geocode.
When updating several workspaces including several custom transformers, I’d love to see these enhancements to make upgrading faster:Upgrade all the transformers inside embedded custom transformers from the Main view. Now the user has to go to each custom transformer tab, and upgrade the transformers separately. Disable warning when upgrading multiple transformers, and automatically create a backup. Many users are already aware of the risks. Perhaps add an option to disable it in FME Options. Disable Transformer Upgrade report. You could similarly disable the report in FME Options with an option to automatically export the upgrade report.Hope to see these enhancements in a future FME version!
ArcGIS Server has a web page where you can "Validate Data Stores". You can test the connections to all of the databases that you have in your ArcGIS Server with a few clicks. This would be a great feature for FME Server.
I would love for the bookmarks to snap to the grid when they are created Would be a small change, but big QoL update !
Hi there, when using hidden connections, I still like to know the counts of features going through the outputs, however using hidden connections doesn’t show this. I can add a junction afterwards to show the count and then create a hidden connection, but it looks a bit messy to do that for things like test filters etc. So putting counts inside the transformers seems like a good idea. Can have the ability to turn this off if needed. Alternatively, can show the count at the start point and end point of a hidden connection
Using FME as a mail merge tool to fill in form content to a word document with pre-defined fields would be great. Currently the data has to be written to excel then mail merged to the template document. It would be good to do this within FME.
As FME continues to grow in popularity and power, it would be incredibly valuable to have an official FME mobile app that connects users more closely with both the community and their FME workflows. ield teams can stay connected and monitor automation workflows. New users can learn anytime, anywhere. Community engagement will increase, especially for those using mobile devices. It enhances the overall reach and impact of the FME platform. I believe this app could significantly enhance the FME ecosystem and empower both professionals and learners in more flexible, modern ways.Looking forward to the community’s thoughts and Safe Software’s consideration!
The message parameter on the desktop side can be formatted (for color styling) using html tag. However, when the FME workspace published to the FME Flow, the message is not getting formatted and displaying the html tag as part of the message.
Hi there,In ArcGIS Online/Portal if you are writing to a feature service, and that feature service already exists, then almost always you want to write to an existing layer. However the current workflow is:Add writer Add bogus feature type Import Feature type from existing layers Delete bogus feature typeI feel like this could be optimised. When you add a Portal/Agol Writer, and you choose an existing feature service, you should be prompted to select from the existing layers from that feature service.This would be a great quality of life update for people that write to Esri Web Layers often.Thanks,Marc
Currently FME can’t guess a format, if the dataset is a zip file, and the user has to select the Format manually.
I’ve become a fan of AI assist, particularly for writing regex. However, I note that on returning to a workspace after a break, I can’t remember exactly what the prompt I gave it was.Might be useful to be able to expose that prompt as an annotation or as a comment within the transformer, as I see now with certain transformers.
When joining data sources with lots of attributes, it can be a little difficult to track what came from where. One potential solution would be to be able to add a coloured tag based upon the input. E.g.
It would be really helpful to have the ability to save a post as a draft before publishing it—whether it's a question, conversation starter, or idea. Sometimes I need a bit more time to refine things or come back to it later.
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