The SpatialWare writer requires that every SpatialWare table to which a feature is written be defined within the FME mapping file. When reading from SpatialWare, it is not necessary that the source tables be defined. The SpatialWare writer uses this mapping file information to automatically create RDBMS tables and indices, if desired.
SpatialWare tables are specified within the FME mapping file using the <WriterKeyword>_DEF statement. All SpatialWare tables also require a column named sw_member, which does not need to be specified. This column will be created on every SpatialWare table automatically. Also, while SpatialWare may have more than one column store geometries, the column named sw_geometry is reserved, and it is the only spatial column where geometries are used in any spatial processing and queries.
It is important to note that to define a simple table with no spatial column using the FME, the spatialware_sw_geometry should be set to NO. E.g:
<WriterKeyword>_DEF <tableName> \ spatialware_mode WRITER_MODE \ spatialware_drop_table NO \ spatialware_sw_geometry NO \ [<columnName> <columndef>]*
The more general format of a table definition – in which a spatial column, along with attribute indices can be defined – is given here.
<WriterKeyword>_DEF <tableName> \ spatialware_mode <WRITER_MODE|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE> spatialware_drop_table <YES|NO> \ spatialware_sw_geometry <YES|NO> \ [<columnName> <columndef>]*
Update functionality is currently implemented for SQLServer only.