In addition to 2D or 3D view modes, you can view attribute data for features in table format. When either 2D or 3D view mode is active, the Table View appears outside of the View window, in another part of the interface (as long as it is selected in the View menu, under Windows). To replace the 2D or 3D data in the View Window with the Table View, click the Table View icon (
) on the toolbar, or press Ctrl+1 on your keyboard. The Table View appears directly in the View Window:
Alternatively, when not in Table View mode, you can drag and dock the Table View to another part of the interface, or as a separate window.
The Table View displays data for a selected feature type. To switch between feature types, for each dataset, use the Table drop-down selector above the table.
Tip: To search for a table, enter text in the Table field that corresponds to the dataset, data type, or feature type. Any tables that contain the matching text appear in the drop-down.
Alternatively, in the Display Control, double-click the feature type name, or right-click and select Show Table.
When you perform an initial switch between feature types, a series of tabs for each one that has been viewed appears above the table. These tabs make it easy to switch back and forth between the feature types you have viewed.
The data columns themselves can be moved by clicking and dragging on the column headers.
Table View displays only the first 2000 columns (attributes) of data.
Adding and Removing Columns
By default, Table View displays only exposed user attribute data. To add format attributes to the view, or remove attributes, click Edit Schema. The Table View Schema dialog opens. Under 'Available columns', select the attributes you want to display. The selected attributes appear under 'Selected columns'. Additionally, you can use the controls under 'Selected columns' to change the order of columns in the Table View.
Sorting Table Data
To sort table data, click on the header of the desired sort column. The last column header that is clicked becomes the primary sort column, the second-to-last becomes the secondary sort column, and the third-to-last becomes the tertiary sort column. You can sort on a maximum of three columns. Click a column header again to change the sort order from ascending to descending. Right click on a column header to specify a sort order or to specify that a column be sorted on either its alphabetical or numeric properties. To clear all sorting, right click on any column header and select Clear All Sorting.
Note: Unless Sort Alphabetical or Sort Numerical is explicitly specified, sorting is Natural. That is, Data Inspector sorts according to the values in the column, rather than the column data type. The following example shows how a column containing a mix of letters and numbers is sorted in ascending order (Sort Natural Ascending):
Aligning Column Data
FME Data Inspector chooses the optimal alignment of column data based on the schema data type of the column. To re-align the data of a column, right click anywhere in the column under the header, and select Align Left, Align Center, or Align Right. To let the Data Inspector choose the optimal alignment, select Align Auto.
Selecting and Copying Rows
You can select and copy table rows using standard mouse and keyboard functions. To include table headers when copying, right click on the selected rows and choose Copy With Headers, or use Ctrl+Alt+C. Table View supports pasting into Excel.
Searching and Filtering Table Data
Using the search tool beneath the table, you can display only the rows that contain the matching text you enter. Optionally, you can specify a single column from which to search and filter data.
Viewing Large Values
Some attribute values may be truncated because they are too large to display in the Table View. Double-click on the value to display it in full in a separate window. There are several display and search options at the bottom of the Value window. Mouse over each option to display its description.
Viewing Null, Missing, Empty, and Blank Values
Null values and missing values are displayed as <null> and <missing>, respectively, with a gray font color. In comparison, Strings whose content is "<null>" or "<missing>" are displayed with the system default font color. Note that the display for missing values in Table View differs from that in Feature Information, where they are simply not displayed.
Empty values and blank (white space filled) values both appear blank in Table View. They can be distinguished in one of two ways. One, double click a field value in Table View to see the actual value in the Value Viewer. Two, select the Value column for the attribute of interest in Feature Information, where blank values and empty values would be displayed differently.