XMLFormatter
Provides various options for formatting and cleaning up XML documents.
Input Ports
Input features that contain the XML document information.
Output Ports
If a feature is successfully formatted, it will be output through this port.
If a feature does not have a well-formed XML document, it will be output through this port.
Parameters
Selecting from the list enables that selection's corresponding parameter:
- Attribute with XML Text: Choose the attribute that contains XML Text.
- XML Filename: Browse to the XML file.
Formatting Options
Select the desired formatting of the XML input:
- None: No formatting is performed
- Pretty-Print XML: XML elements will be formatted by adding indentations and new lines for improved readability. Any white spaces between the start tag and end tag will be preserved.
- Linearize: All XML contents will be put on a single line.
Select the desired whitespace handling for XML Formatting:
Preserve all whitespace: all whitespace are considered significant and will be preserved as much as possible
Remove excess whitespace: excess whitespace will be removed, lines containing only whitespace characters, from the start tag to the first non-whitespace character and from the last non-whitespace character to the end tag.
As defined by xsi:schemaLocation: whitespace in the XML document is either significant or insignificant as defined by the schema in the xsi:schemaLocation attribute.
As defined by an external schema: whitespace in the XML document is either significant or insignificant as defined by an external schema file.
When enabled, pick an external schema file to be used to determine the significance of whitespace in the XML document.
Specifies the indentation size. The valid values are the numbers 0 to 9, with 1 being the default.
By default the Tab character is used to pretty-print the indentations; set this to Yes substitutes the Tab character with a Space. The size of a single indentation is controlled by the Indent Size parameter.
By default, the text within a tag is left untouched. If this parameter is set to Yes, the text will be pretty printed. If a tag contains both a text value element and another nested tag element, the second of either the text value or nested tag will not be pretty printed. The example below shows a block of XML code on the left along with its pretty printed output on the right.
Example | Pretty Printed |
---|---|
<example> |
<example> |
text value |
text value #text value is the first element |
<nestedTag> |
<nestedTag> #<nestedTag> is the second element |
some value |
some value |
</nestedTag> |
</nestedTag> |
</example> |
</example> |
XML Clean-up
When set to Yes, this parameter removes all comments within the XML input.
When set to Yes, this parameter removes elements that have no attributes and contain no content between the Start and End Tag.
For example,
<example> </example>
will be removed, however
<example property=”empty”/>
will not since it contains an attribute.
When set to Yes, this parameter creates an empty tag for elements that have no content between the Start and End Tag.
For example,
<example property=”empty> <example>
will be collapsed into
<example property=”empty”/>
Remove redundant and extraneous namespace declarations. For example, the following XML document that has redundant namespace declarations:
<root>
<f:element1 xmlns:f="http://www.w3schools.com/example">
<f:element2 xmlns:f=" http://www.w3schools.com/example"> some text </f:element2>
<f:element3 xmlns:f=" http://www.w3schools.com/example"> some text </f:element3>
</f:element1>
</root>
Selecting Yes for this parameter will return the following results:
<root>
<f:element1 xmlns:f="http://www.w3schools.com/example">
<f:element2> some text </f:element2>
<f:element3> some text </f:element3>
</f:element1>
</root>
When set to Yes, this parameter removes all embedded xsi:schemalocation attribute from all elements that are not the root element.
XML Output
The XML features that have been successfully processed can be output to a feature attribute by specifying an attribute name in the Attribute to contain XML output parameter, or to a file by specifying the path to the file in theXML Output File parameter.
Specify an encoding for the XML output. If not specified, UTF-8 is used.
Features with at least one warning or error will be output through the Failed port with a new list attribute added to the features.
If the default _xml_error is the list name, the elements of the list attribute contain the following:
Elements of List Attribute | Description |
---|---|
_xml_error{}.type | WARNING, ERROR or FATAL ERROR |
_xml_error{}.file | the file where the warning or error occurs |
_xml_error{}.line | the line where the warning or error occurs |
_xml_error{}.col | the column where the warning or error occurs |
_xml_error{}.desc | the details about the warning or error |
Note: List attributes are not accessible from the output schema in Workbench unless they are first processed using a transformer that operates on them, such as ListExploder or ListConcatenator. Alternatively, AttributeExposer can be used.
Editing Transformer Parameters
Using a set of menu options, transformer parameters can be assigned by referencing other elements in the workspace. More advanced functions, such as an advanced editor and an arithmetic editor, are also available in some transformers. To access a menu of these options, click beside the applicable parameter. For more information, see Transformer Parameter Menu Options.
Defining Values
There are several ways to define a value for use in a Transformer. The simplest is to simply type in a value or string, which can include functions of various types such as attribute references, math and string functions, and workspace parameters. There are a number of tools and shortcuts that can assist in constructing values, generally available from the drop-down context menu adjacent to the value field.
Using the Text Editor
The Text Editor provides a convenient way to construct text strings (including regular expressions) from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and constants, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.
Using the Arithmetic Editor
The Arithmetic Editor provides a convenient way to construct math expressions from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and feature functions, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.
Conditional Values
Set values depending on one or more test conditions that either pass or fail.
Parameter Condition Definition Dialog
Content
Expressions and strings can include a number of functions, characters, parameters, and more.
When setting values - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors - strings and expressions containing String, Math, Date/Time or FME Feature Functions will have those functions evaluated. Therefore, the names of these functions (in the form @<function_name>) should not be used as literal string values.
These functions manipulate and format strings. | |
Special Characters |
A set of control characters is available in the Text Editor. |
Math functions are available in both editors. | |
Date/Time Functions | Date and time functions are available in the Text Editor. |
These operators are available in the Arithmetic Editor. | |
These return primarily feature-specific values. | |
FME and workspace-specific parameters may be used. | |
Creating and Modifying User Parameters | Create your own editable parameters. |
Dialog Options - Tables
Transformers with table-style parameters have additional tools for populating and manipulating values.
Row Reordering
|
Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:
|
Cut, Copy, and Paste
|
Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:
Cut, copy, and paste may be used within a transformer, or between transformers. |
Filter
|
Start typing a string, and the matrix will only display rows matching those characters. Searches all columns. This only affects the display of attributes within the transformer - it does not alter which attributes are output. |
Import
|
Import populates the table with a set of new attributes read from a dataset. Specific application varies between transformers. |
Reset/Refresh
|
Generally resets the table to its initial state, and may provide additional options to remove invalid entries. Behavior varies between transformers. |
Note: Not all tools are available in all transformers.
FME Licensing Level
FME Professional edition and above
FME Community
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