To access feature type format parameters, open the Feature Type Properties dialog by clicking the properties 
button on a feature type in the workspace.
These parameters apply only to a selected feature type, not to the entire writer.
Tip: If a feature type parameter listed here conflicts with a writer-level parameter, then the writer parameter will be ignored and this feature type parameter will be used.
Collection Settings
Feature Operation
This parameter specifies the type of write operation to perform for incoming features.
All operations require a value for the id property. The attribute to use as the source of id values can be configured by the Document ID Attribute writer feature type parameter.
| Feature Operation | fme_db_operation |
Description |
|---|---|---|
| Insert | INSERT |
Insert Document. If a Document already exists with the same id, a warning is logged, and the feature is skipped. |
| Upsert | UPSERT |
Upsert Document. If a Document already exists with the same id, it gets replaced. Otherwise, a new Document is created. |
| Replace | DELSERT |
Replace Document. If there is no existing Document with the same id, a warning is logged, and the feature is skipped. |
| Delete | DELETE |
Delete Document. If there’s no existing Document with the specified id, a warning is logged, and the feature is skipped. |
| fme_db_operation | Use the Feature Operation specified in the fme_db_operation attribute for each feature. If a feature has no value for fme_db_operation, it is treated as INSERT. |
Collection Handling
This parameter specifies the behavior around Document Collection (Feature Type) creation. The possible values are:
- Use Existing: (This is the default value.) If the Feature Type name doesn’t match the id of an existing Collection, an error is raised.
- Create If Needed: If the Feature Type name doesn’t match the id of an existing Collection, then create a Document Collection with id as the Feature Type name.
- Drop and Create: If the Feature type name matches the id of an existing Collection, delete the Collection, and create a new Collection with the same id. Warning: Any customizations to the Collection made outside of the DocumentDB Writer will be lost.
Note: Document Collections created by the DocumentDB Writer use default settings, so it is not possible to configure the performance level, indexing policies, triggers, stored procedures, and user-defined functions via the DocumentDB writer.
WARNING: Since there is an hourly cost associated with each Collection, use caution to avoid creating too many Collections. To avoid unintended creation of Collections, the default setting for this parameter is Use Existing. Writer Feature Types should be imported from the DocumentDB reader to avoid defining Feature Types that do not correspond to an existing Collection, and potentially triggering the unintended creation of a Collection. (By default, when the writer is added to the workspace, the Collection Definition is set to Copy from Reader.)
The DocumentDB Writer cannot be used to delete and not re-create a Collection.
Advanced
Document Source
The source of JSON documents to write to the database:
- Feature:: A Document is assembled for each incoming feature based on the writer feature type schema. Each attribute on the schema corresponds to a top-level property on the generated Document.
- JSON Attribute: Documents are obtained from an attribute containing the complete JSON Document.
Document ID Attribute
This optional parameter appears when Document Source is set to Feature.
This parameter specifies an attribute that contains the value of the id property for Documents. A GUID is generated and used for the id property if:
- This parameter is not specified.
- This parameter is specified, but the feature does not have a value for the corresponding attribute.
For Replace and Delete operations, this parameter must be specified, and all features must provide a value for the corresponding attribute.
Raw JSON Attribute
This parameter appears when Document Source is set to JSON Attribute.
This parameter specifies the attribute that contains the complete JSON for a Document. All features must provide a valid JSON Document in the feature. The writer will warn and reject features with invalid JSON, or JSON missing the id property.
Document Options
Geometry Property
If this optional parameter is specified, and the feature being written has geometry, the DocumentDB Writer will convert the geometry to GeoJSON and write it out under the specified property.
The resulting GeoJSON overwrites the value that may be present under any user attribute with the same name as this parameter.
Default: geom