Shape the future of FME with your ideas
Open ideas have been reviewed by our Product Management and are open for commenting and voting.
I've just come across an issue where a back-end system has migrated from one server to another and as part of the process the server name changed, for example; from server01 to server02. The problem I had was that whilst I could easily go into Database Connections and update the connection details in there I also had a number of workspaces that pulled MapInfo TAB files from various locations on that server. I had to go and update the UNC paths to the file locations for each of these.In a similar vein to the Database Connections and Web Connections options would it be possible to have a new option for defining commonly used UNC paths which you could then assign aliases to, for example; \\server01applicationmaps could have an alias of app_maps which could then be used in readers and writers. The advantage of this would be that if a server name changed or path moved then this could be updated in a single place which would take effect immediately across multiple workspaces.
When clipping with two datasets, I don't realize they are in different coordinate systems. FME is completely silent about this and succeeds. It would be nice if there was some indication that my desired result won't happen.Maybe log that that coordinate systems are different between the features?I suppose this warning could be given for all spatial overlay transformers.
Hi, would it be possible to make the clipper coordinate system aware? Like data inspection which displays data in different coordinate systems on the right position with respect to the background. Currently, the clipper just treads geometries as coordinate lists and if two feature have different coordinate systemen (for example the first has a projected cs and the second a geocentric cs) the results are unpredictable, since projected cs usually have large coordinate values and geocentric cs usually have angular values in general smaller than 360 degrees. There is allready an idea to have the Clipper flag a message if coordinate systems are different, however, not every one studies log files thoroughly. See Clipper: Add a note in the log when coordinate systems are different
I would like the option to disable all other bookmarks.
If you want to mass select then disable both objects and connections, you have to do this in two stages by 'disable objects' and 'disable connections'. Having a third option to do both would be very nice.
The DWGStyler transformer is useful when styling features but it's functionality of setting By Layer to certain attributes is inadequate. This idea is for expanding the functionality of the DWGStyler transformer to be able to explicit set color and linetype to By Layer.I would like to have a choice in the dropdown meny for Color and Linetype that is By Layer.
When writing to the AutoCAD DWG-format you often want to set color, linetype and linewidth to By Layer.Right now this can be done with a AttributeManager setting these attributes to these values:AttributeValueautocad_color256autocad_linetypeByLayerautocad_lineweight-1This idea is for making it possible to use By Layer as attribute value for all of these attributes. Right now it's not that user friendly to have 3 different values that means the same thing but in different attributes.
I would like to have an ability to rename an attribute, so it will change in all transformers also. Example is when I defined a column name for storing in Oracle, and then I need to rename it, so I open all Keepers, Filters and have to pick new attribute manually
When you set up many mappings from a source value to a destination value in the AttributeValueMapper it would be useful to have a row number left of the source value column in the GUI so one can check that you have done all mappings.Right now it look like this:And it would be great to have the row numbers to the left as in Notepad++
It would be wonderful, if you could upgrade all the same transformers (e.g. testers) at once. Many clicks are required for each Transformer upgrade. With many upgrades, it quickly becomes annoying. I know, that there are already some simular ideas... Alternatively, a shortcut would also be helpful, to make it easier/faster :-)
In a serverapp you can choose to add a map with Geometry Picker. You can also change map within the app.I would be nice to be able to set a default map to help the user.
The base map within the geometry parameter is set to an Open Streets base map. If this is not the base map you would like to use, you would need to change this map every time you want to use this parameter. I would like the ability to set the base map within the geometry parameter to one of my choosing and for that base map to be set within that parameter.
Hi there,When inspecting selected features in the DI, what I really miss is a combo button that does not only shows the feature information but also zoom's into the feature.I know it is possible to zoom into the selected feature, but once you select the following feature ( via the arrows in the bottom of the Feature Information window) you need to press the 'Zoom to selected feature' button again.My idea is to add 2 new buttons next to the arrows (at the bottom of the Feature Information window) one to select + zoom next feature and second to select + zoom previous feature.What do you think?
Despite the statement from this post that the Zoom-to-feature-Function in Table View of Data Inspector is implemented:https://knowledge.safe.com/content/idea/35681/zoom-to-feature-function-in-data-inspector.html I could not find Zoom-to-feature-Function in the tableview context menu. I really miss this feature.FME Version 2020
Currently these parameters in the RasterDEMGenerator cannot be specified through feature attributes.Output DEM X SpacingOutput DEM Y SpacingOutput DEM Raster Nodata ValueThere could be a case where those attributes should be set dynamically based on the source dataset. In fact, recently I had to implement this workflow.Read a 1-band numeric raster with Nodata cells. The properties including cell spacing and Nodata value could be vary for each input.RasterPropertyExtractor and RasterBandPropertyExtractor: Extract cell spacing and Nodata value.PointCloudCombiner: Convert the ratser to a pointcloud.RasterDEMGenerator: Fill the Nodata cells and re-create a raster with the same cell spacing and Nodata as the source raster.Currently cell spacing and Nodata value cannot be specify via feature attributes, so you will have to create two workspaces to implement the workflow above. The first workspace reads a source raster and performs the step 3 and 4. The second workspace reads the source raster, extracts properties and then calls the first workspace with WorkspaceRunner/FMESurverJobSubmitter, passing the cell spacing and Nodata value which are extracted from the source raster.It's possible but not elegant. Especially I don't like the latter workspace should have both WorkspaceRunner and FMEServerJobSubmitter if you want to use the workflow with either FME Desktop or FME Server.It would be nice if you could set feature attributes to those parameters in the RasterDEMGenefator.Alternatively it would also be nice if the NumericRasterizer would have an option to perform fill operation, equivalent to Elevation Void Fill function.Comparison: Similar parameters in the NumericRasterizer can be set via feature attributes.
***Note from Migration:*** Original Title was: surface modeller / rasterDEMgenerator - allow attributes to populate output dem x/y cell spacing parameter it would be extremely helpful in my workflow if i could use an attribute value to populate the output dem xy cell spacing parameter, i'm using python to extract this information out of the raster@ a specific byte, so i've got them as attributes. Right now it only accepts a parameter or a number.
You can use this url to post a new named connection:http://localhost/fmerest/v3/namedconnections/connections but it's not documented in :http://localhost/fmerest/apidoc/v3That would be good to have it documented to use it for custom deployment with rest API.
Per this KB question, it appears that the FME Server REST API documentation could do with some updates:https://knowledge.safe.com/questions/78689/fme-server-rest-api-job-history-limited-to-1000.htmlIt would be great to see the documentation updated to acknowledge the limit of 1000 job history records per call.While you're in there, it would be nice if the documentation could also describe the "-1" values for the limit and offset parameters. Although these values are implied by the example given in the API test page, they are not actually documented.Finally, do the limit/offset values start at 0 or 1?All of this information can be discovered via trial and error but updated documentation would avoid the need to do this...
When something goes wrong or missing in a workspace it is really helpful that transformers show as being invalid by the cog becoming red, the input that is invalid is highlighted and it is then added to the invalid transformers list in the navigator. However, this is not the case for AttributeKeepers and AttributeRemovers, and it can sometimes be difficult to track down the source of where it went wrong in large workspaces. If these transformers can be treated the same way as other transformers it would save a lot of time!
In a workspace I use an AttributeCreator transformer to calculate a large number of conditional values:At some point during development a number of attribute names changed (for a good reason).That showed me some "Incomplete transformers".But this transformer does not give me any information where to find the issue.You have to go into "Conditional Values", then into the Test Clause and in my case into a large number of Text and Arithmetic Editors to find the issues.And I missed one and had to re-check all again.It would be great if this upper level (shown in the image) would tell me where the issue is (by coloring the field red as in other transformers).
***Note from Migration:*** Original Title was: Create a warning/error within/at transformers to indicate deleted parameter references (similar to missing attribute references) Whenever using attribute values in a transformer, FME provides users a clear error indication when an attribute is being referenced that doesn't exist anymore.However, when using a parameter value in a transformer, FME doesn't provide an error indication when a parameter is being referenced that doesn't exist anymore. Instead, when a parameter is being deleted that was still being referenced in the workspace, the parameter reference is replaced with the previously known (default) value of that parameter (at all of the locations where the parameter was being referenced).I believe it would be a great enhancement when the functionality for indicating missing/deleted attribute references, could also be implemented for missing/deleted parameter references.----- some considerations -----I believe that the current behaviour of replacing an active parameter reference with the parameter value, on the moment this parameter is deleted, is a bit tricky. This is because in case a user deletes a parameter while overlooking that it still has an active parameter reference, he/she might still expect certain settings/values to be handled dynamically, while in fact settings/values now rely on the fixed previously held value of the parameter.I know that one can check at which locations a parameter is being referenced from within the Navigator window (a functionality I'm really happy with), and may also use this in combination with the workspace search functionality from the navigator window to alter/correct all parameter references before removing an existing parameter. However, when one is in the developing/testing fase of a workspace/custom transformer, changes are made quite quickly and forgetting about a specific parameter reference is an easy mistake to make.----- example 1, FeatureReader -----A1) (See zipfile) Correct Dataset configuration using attribute 'fileurl'A2) Current result when attribute 'fileurl' no longer exists (Incorrect Dataset configuration)(Note that within the AttributeCreator the attribute name was (deliberately) changed to 'fileurl_2')Note that the cogwheel of the FeatureReader turns red, and that the 'Dataset Field' turns red, while still showing the old invalid attribute reference, (indicating it no longer exists).B1) (See zipfile) Correct Dataset configuration using parameter 'fileurl'B2) (See zipfile) Current result when parameter 'fileurl' is deleted (Incorrect Dataset configuration)(Note that by deleting the parameter 'fileurl' the reference is replaced with the previously held value of the parameter 'fileurl', which in this case was not set, resulting in an empty dataset field).Note that the cogwheel of the Featurereader does not turn red in this case, while the dataset field does turn red in this case.B3) Desired result when parameter 'fileurl' is deleted (Incorrect Dataset configuration)Note that I changed the image to match the current 'attribute error formatting' as shown by A2). In particular I would like to see the cogwheel of the FeatureReader to also turn red in this analogous parameter case. Furthermore I would like to see that the 'Dataset Field' is red (which it currently already is), while still showing the old invalid parameter reference, (indicating it no longer exists, which is currently not the case).----- example 2, AttributeCreator -----C1) (See zipfile) Correct value configuration (c.q. evaluation) for attribute 'numberAttribute_times_2'C2) Current result when attribute 'numberAttribute' no longer exists (i.e. invalid configuration (c.q. evaluation) for attribute 'numberAttribute_times_2')(Note that within at AttributeCreator_2, the attribute name was (deliberately) changed to 'numberAttribute_2')Note that the cogwheel of the AttributeCreator turns red, and that the 'Attribute Value Field' turns red, while still showing the old invalid attribute reference (c.q. expression). Also note that within the Arithmetic editor the name of the no longer existing attribute is colored red (indicating it no longer exists).D1) (See zipfile) Correct value configuration (c.q. evaluation) for attribute 'numberParameter_times_2'D2) (See zipfile) Current result when parameter 'numberParameter' no longer exists (i.e. invalid configuration (c.q. evaluation) for attribute 'numberParameter_times_2')(Note that by deleting the parameter 'numberParameter' the reference is replaced with the previously held value of the parameter 'numberParameter', which in this case was not set, resulting in an invalid arithmatic expression for the value of the attribute 'numberParameter_times_2').Note that the cogwheel of the AttributeCreator does not turn red in this case, nor that that the 'Attribute Value Field' turns red (the invalid arithmic expression will only show when running the workspace, warning the user that due to the invalid expression the value will be set to 'Null'). At last, also in the Arithmetic editor, there is no indication that the expression is invalid.D3) Desired result when parameter 'numberParameter' no longer exists (i.e. invalid configuration (c.q. evaluation) for attribute 'numberParameter_times_2')Note that I changed the image to match the current 'attribute error formatting' as shown by C2). In particular I would like to see the cogwheel of the AttributeCreator to also turn red in this analogous parameter case. Furthermore I would like to see that the 'Attribute Value Field' turns red, while still showing the old invalid parameter reference (c.q. expression). At last it would be nice that the invalid parameter reference would also be shown in the Arithmetic editor by coloring the name of the no longer existing parameter red.figures.zip
The ExpressionEvaluator contains the Math Function @pi().It would be useful if it were also available in the RasterExpressionEvaluator.
As mentionned in https://knowledge.safe.com/questions/31389/postgis-reader-different-geom-column.htmlThe only way to use second geometry column in postgres / postgis is to go through a view OR to go through an sql creator/executor.It would be nice to have it native instead of creating a new sql reader everytime.
Feature caching and partial runs are a great addition to FME 2018 but are limited to the main workspace canvas. It is currently (FME 2019.0) not possible to initiate a partial run from within an embedded custom transformer. It would be great if this could be enabled.This enhancement would complement the similar request listed in this Idea:https://knowledge.safe.com/idea/76399/feature-caching-and-custom-transformers.html(It would also be great if "partial run" and "feature caching" topics could be created for tagging KB Ideas/Questions as these do not currently exist and the closest I could find was the old terminology of "run with full inspection".)
In-depth courses for all FME skill levels.
Explore our extensive collection of how-to guides and tutorials.
Log an issue with us. Our support team is ready to help.
