Reader Directives

The suffixes listed are prefixed by the current <ReaderKeyword> in a mapping file. By default, the <ReaderKeyword> for the Generate reader is ARCGEN.

DATASET

Contains the folder name of the input Generate files, or a single Generate file.

Required/Optional

Required

Workbench Parameter

Source Esri ArcInfo Generate File(s)

DEF

Each Generate file must be defined before it can be read. The definition contains the file’s base name (without the .gen extension), the type of geometry it contains, and optionally a delimiter between fields. There may be many DEF lines, one for each file to be read.

Required/Optional: Required

The syntax of a Generate DEF line is:

<ReaderKeyword>_DEF <baseName> \
	ARCGEN_GEOMETRY (arcgen_point|arcgen_line| 	\
  		 arcgen_text) 	\
	[ARCGEN_DELIMITER “<delimiter char>”]

The file name of the Generate file is the basename plus the .gen extension.

The mapping file fragment below defines two Generate files—one containing point features and the other containing linear features:

ARCGEN_DEF nodes  ARCGEN_GEOMETRY arcgen_point
ARCGEN_DEF boundaries ARCGEN_GEOMETRY arcgen_line

If no delimiter clause is specified, a comma ( , ) is used as the delimiter.

IDs

Required/Optional

Optional

This directive is used to limit which available and defined Generate files will be read. If no IDs are specified, then all defined and available Generate files will be read. The syntax of the IDs keyword is:

<ReaderKeyword>_IDs <baseName1>	\
	<baseName1> …	\
	<baseNameN> 

The basenames must match those used in DEF lines.

Example:

The example below selects only the nodes Generate file for input during a translation:

ARCGEN_IDs nodes

Workbench Parameter: Feature Types to Read

CLOSED_LINES_AS_POLYS

This directive specifies how to determine the type of closed lines which may be indistinguishable from polygons.

Required/Optional

Optional

Example:

ARCGEN_CLOSED_LINES_AS_POLYS no

Value: YES | NO

Workbench Parameter: Read closed lines as polygons

SEARCH_ENVELOPE

Using the minimum and maximum x and y parameters, define a bounding box that will be used to filter the input features. Only features that interact with the bounding box are returned.

If all four coordinates of the search envelope are specified as 0, the search envelope will be disabled.

Mapping File Syntax

<ReaderKeyword>_SEARCH_ENVELOPE <minX> <minY> <maxX> <maxY>

Note: If all four coordinates of the search envelope are specified as zero, the search envelope will be disabled.

Required/Optional

Optional

Workbench Parameter

Minimum X, Minimum Y, Maximum X, Maximum Y

SEARCH_ENVELOPE_COORDINATE_SYSTEM

This directive specifies the coordinate system of the search envelope if it is different than the coordinate system of the data.

The COORDINATE_SYSTEM directive, which specifies the coordinate system associated with the data to be read, must always be set if the SEARCH_ENVELOPE_COORDINATE_SYSTEM directive is set.

If this directive is set, the minimum and maximum points of the search envelope are reprojected from the SEARCH_ENVELOPE_COORDINATE_SYSTEM to the reader COORDINATE_SYSTEM prior to applying the envelope.

Required/Optional

Optional

Mapping File Syntax

<ReaderKeyword>_SEARCH_ENVELOPE_COORDINATE_SYSTEM <coordinate system>

Workbench Parameter

Search Envelope Coordinate System

CLIP_TO_ENVELOPE

This directive specifies whether or not FME should clip features to the envelope specified in the SEARCH_ENVELOPE directive.

Values

YES | NO (default)

Mapping File Syntax

<ReaderKeyword>_CLIP_TO_ENVELOPE [yes | no]

Workbench Parameter

Clip To Envelope

EXPOSED_ATTRS

This directive allows the selection of format attributes to be explicitly added to the reader feature type.

This is similar to exposing format attributes on a reader feature type once it has been generated; however, it is even more powerful because it enables schema-driven applications other than Workbench to access and leverage these attributes as if they were explicitly on the schema as user attributes.

The result of picking a list of attributes is a comma-separated list of attribute names and types that will be added to the schema features. Currently all reader feature types will receive the same set of additional schema attributes for a given instance of the reader.

Required/Optional

Optional

Mapping File Syntax

Not applicable.

While it is possible for FME Objects applications to invoke this directive, the required format is not documented.

This directive is intended for use in our GUI applications (for example, Workbench) only.

Workbench Parameter

Additional Attributes to Expose