PostGIS Writer Parameters

Database Connections
Connections store authentication information. For general information about sharing database connections, please see Using Database Connections. Note: Depending on context and/or database format, you might see different combinations of Database Connection parameters. Connection Select an existing connection, or Add Database Connection to define a new connection. The new connection can be made visible only to the current user, or can be shared among multiple users.

Host

This specifies the machine running the PostGIS/PostgreSQL ORDBMS as either an IP address or host name. The database must have proper permissions and be set up to accept TCP/IP connections if connecting from a remote machine.

Port

When connecting remotely, this specifies the TCP/IP port on which to connect to the ORDBMS service. The default port is 5432.

Database

This specifies the name of the PostGIS-enabled PostgreSQL database. The database must exist in the ORDBMS.

Username and Password

Enter the username and password to access the database, user account, or wherever authentication is required.

Spatial Column Type

Select either geography or geometry columns for the table.

Spatial Column

Enter a name for the table.

Create Generic Geometry Columns

This setting applies at generation time, not at translation time. The default setting of "no" indicates that you want to create geometrically constrained geometry columns on the destination tables. For example, a POINT geometry table would be restricted only to points. Now you have the option to create generic or non-constrained geometry column types.

Effectively this means you can insert multiple geometry types into one table. Specifically the geometry column is created to have the generic type GEOMETRY and there are no constraints placed on the geometry types allowed.

Lower Case Attribute Names

If checked, changes the case of attribute names to lowercase.

Bulk Insert

If No, the writer inserts data into the database using SQL INSERT statements. If Yes, the writer inserts data using the SQL COPY command, which yields better performance.

Starting Feature

The number at which the writer will start writing features into the database. The writer skips the number of features in this parameter, and then it begins writing the features that follow.

Usually, the value specified is 0 (this is the default) – a non-zero value is usually only specified when a data load operation is being resumed after failing partway through.

Features Per Transaction

The number of features that FME places in each transaction before a transaction is committed to the database. (Note that VARIABLE is an accepted value, to work with the fme_db_transaction attribute.)

The default value is 1000.

SQL to Run Before Write

This parameter allows for the execution of SQL statements before opening a table for writing. For example, it may be necessary to drop a constraint before attempting to write to it. The statements will be executed only when the first feature arrives at the writer.

For detailed information about SQL functions, click the corresponding menu item in the SQL to Run editor help.

Available menu options depend on the format.

Multiple SQL commands can be delimited by a character specified using the FME_SQL_DELIMITER directive, embedded at the beginning of the SQL block. The single character following this directive will be used to split the SQL block into SQL statements, which will then be sent to the database for execution. Note: Include a space before the character.

For example:

FME_SQL_DELIMITER ;
DELETE FROM instructors ;
DELETE FROM people
WHERE LastName='Doe' AND FirstName='John'

Multiple delimiters are not allowed and the delimiter character will be stripped before being sent to the database.

Any errors occurring during the execution of these SQL statements will normally terminate the reader or writer (depending on where the SQL statement is executed) with an error. If the specified statement is preceded by a hyphen (“-”), such errors are ignored.

SQL to Run After Write

This parameter allows for the execution of SQL statements after a set of tables has been written. For example, it may be necessary to clean up a temporary view after creating it.