BulkAttributeRenamer in Dynamic Workflow: no features and attribute names did not change

Perhaps this is the solution? : https://knowledge.safe.com/questions/2168/shapefile-fieldnames-always-uppercase.html

issue-dynamicworkflow-bulkattributerename.zip

- data.shp - sample data

- ..\\output\\data.shp - sample results with renamer in the dynamic workflow

- dynamicworkflow_bulkattributerenamer.fmw - workspace with dynamic workflow and renamer

I think you can work around it by using a FeatureReader to separate the schema feature, then set that to lowercase and use it as a source for the output schema.

Still doesn't work:

 

I have multiple shapefiles as input.

 

Then I have to connect all those shapefiles seperately to the Writer (as far as I know)

 

After running the Workspace, the output contains the geometry, but the attribute values are gone (NULL). But yes, the attribute names are now in lowercase.

 

 

And an addition from @Mark2AtSafe : posted here in the Dynamic Workflow Tutorial: https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/1050/dynamic-workflow-tutorial-introduction.html?childToView=79361#comment-79361

"This is because the writer schema no longer matches the reader schema. A dynamic workspace lets you write any data by assuming the source data is the schema to be written. So if you change the attributes in the workspace then it is no longer a match and will fail.

 

If your source data is going to remain constant (i.e. the data being read always has the same attributes), then you'd be better to use the Automatic mode on the writer attributes (not Dynamic).

 

If your source data is going to change (i.e. the data being read may vary in its attributes) then changing those attributes mid-translation is more complicated. You'd need to have a schema defined somewhere that matched (either a dataset, or as a table) or you would need to construct the output schema during the translation."

Sharing the solution....

 

- Dynamic workflow with two Workspaces

 

- Shapefiles to test with

 

 

Follow settings as mentioned in the Dynamic Workflow Tutorial mentioned somewhere in this Question...

 

 

Some specific things to be aware of:

 

> Workspace "bulk_renamer.fmw"

 

- I am not sure if it is necessary, but I did it: clean up the file list in the Reader

 

- Set 'Case-sensitive Filter' to be checked (properties reader on the Parameters tab)

 

- Clean up the list of attributes in the Writer. Only some exposed 'fme_' attributes cannot be deleted, but that's ok

 

 

> Workspace "bulk_renamer_workspacerunner.fmw"

 

- no specific things

 

 

 

Dynamic Workflow:

 

 

WorkspaceRunner that runs the Dynamic Workflow:

The ZIP file with Workspaces and shapefiles: bulkrenamer.zip

I think you can work around it by using a FeatureReader to separate the schema feature, then set that to lowercase and use it as a source for the output schema.

Hi @HarmenKampinga, I think @redgeographics's approach should work if you insert a BulkAttributeRenamer onto the data features' flow, like this.

 

dynamicworkflow-bulkattributerenamer.fmwt (FME 2017.1.2.1)

 

Note: In this configuration, the value of "fme_feature_type_name" in the schema feature will be used as the schema definition name, which should be equal to the value of "fme_feature_type" (source feature type name) in the data features. Therefore, it won't work if the source Shapefile filename contains upper case characters, because the value of "fme_feature_type_name" in the schema feature will also be changed to lower case (i.e. it will become different name from "fme_feature_type").

 

If a source Shapfile filename could contain upper case characters, you will have to add one of these operations.

 

• On the schema features' flow, save the value of "fme_feature_type_name" as a global variable before the StringCaseChanger and restore it later.
• Or, on the data features' flow, change the value of "fme_feature_type" to lower case, if it's allowed to change all the destination feature type names to lower case.

Hope this helps.

Hi @HarmenKampinga, I think @redgeographics's approach should work if you insert a BulkAttributeRenamer onto the data features' flow, like this.

 

dynamicworkflow-bulkattributerenamer.fmwt (FME 2017.1.2.1)

 

Note: In this configuration, the value of "fme_feature_type_name" in the schema feature will be used as the schema definition name, which should be equal to the value of "fme_feature_type" (source feature type name) in the data features. Therefore, it won't work if the source Shapefile filename contains upper case characters, because the value of "fme_feature_type_name" in the schema feature will also be changed to lower case (i.e. it will become different name from "fme_feature_type").

 

If a source Shapfile filename could contain upper case characters, you will have to add one of these operations.

 

• On the schema features' flow, save the value of "fme_feature_type_name" as a global variable before the StringCaseChanger and restore it later.
• Or, on the data features' flow, change the value of "fme_feature_type" to lower case, if it's allowed to change all the destination feature type names to lower case.

Hope this helps.

Interesting! Thank you @takashi

 

I will have a look at it