Esri Geodatabase (File Geodb) Writer Feature Type Parameters

This parameter lets the user specify how features will be written into the destination table. Supported feature operations are:

• Insert: Append rows onto the destination table using attributes on features.
• Update: Update existing table columns using attributes on features. A selection method must be specified in the Row Selection group.
• Delete: Delete existing table rows. A selection method must be specified in the Row Selection group.
• fme_db_operation: The feature operation will be determined by the attribute fme_db_operation on each input feature. A selection method must be specified in the Row Selection group. The value of fme_db_operation will be processed as follows:
  • If the value is null, empty, or missing, it will be treated as Insert.
  • The value will next be matched to Insert, Update, and Delete, case insensitively.
  • If there is no match, the feature will be rejected.
  • If there is a match, the matched feature operation will be performed on the feature.

Tip: The fme_db_operation attribute will cause feature rejection when Feature Operation is set to Insert, Update, or Delete.

More information on Feature Operations.

Controls how the feature type handles destination tables or lists:

• Use Existing – Write to an existing table or list. If the destination table/list does not exist, the translation will fail.
• Create If Needed – Create the destination table/list if it does not exist.
• Drop and Create – (This option is not available for all formats.) Drop the destination table/list if it exists, and then create it. The writer will drop and re-create the table before writing any features to it. Tables will be overwritten when the first input feature is processed. If no features are sent to a feature type, then the corresponding table will not be overwritten.
• Truncate Existing – (This option is not available for all formats.) If the destination table/list does not exist, the translation will fail. Otherwise, delete all rows from the existing table or list.

When updating features, users have a choice to update, or skip, their spatial column(s). Possible options are:

• Yes: The spatial column(s) specified by the user will be updated. IFMENulls will be written as null values and replace existing spatial values.
• No: No spatial columns will be updated.

When inserting into a table, Row Selection is ignored. When updating and deleting from a table (if applicable, based on a format's available Feature Operation options), a condition needs to be specified for selecting which rows to operate on. This parameter group offers two methods to construct the selection condition:

Match Columns

The columns specified in the corresponding column picker dialog will be used for matching destination rows. All matching rows will be selected for update or delete. If any feature attributes corresponding to the specified match columns contain null or missing values, the feature will be rejected.

WHERE Clause

This parameter opens a WHERE Clause Builder. You can also type a WHERE clause inline, without launching the Builder. It is optional to start the clause with the word WHERE.

The WHERE Clause Builder makes it easy for users to reference feature attribute values, destination table columns, and invoke FME functions. The WHERE clause is first evaluated as an FME expression, before being passed onto the destination database.

If the WHERE clause is incorrect or if its evaluation results in failure, the translation will fail. Otherwise, if the WHERE clause passes FME evaluation but it is SQL invalid, the feature will be rejected or the translation will fail.

For advanced users, conditional FME expressions created through the Conditional Value editor can be used to create WHERE clauses.

Tip: You can set the WHERE Clause to an attribute. This supports workspace migration and existing workflows involving fme_where. (Direct support for fme_where has been deprecated.) To advanced users who are accustomed to using fme_where, if Feature Operation is set to Update, Delete, or fme_db_operation, an fme_where attribute that conflicts with Match Columns or WHERE Clause will result in feature rejection.

The name of the feature dataset to which a feature class belongs.

This optional field determines whether or not the dataset contains z coordinates. Valid values are Yes, No, or Blank. The default is Blank which will take the value from the table parameter.

This optional field specifies whether or not the features will contain measures. Valid values are Yes, No, or Blank. The default is Blank which will take the value from the table parameter.

The coordinates of the X false origins for all feature classes and all feature datasets. This is used as an offset so that coordinate data is stored as positive integers, which allows a range from 0 to 2147483647 (so if the X origin is set below 0, then the maximum value will also drop, and vice versa). By default, the values for the false origins are set to 0. This is only used when creating new feature classes.

The coordinates of the Y false origins for all feature classes and all feature datasets. This is used as an offset so that coordinate data is stored as positive integers, which allows a range from 0 to 2147483647 (so if the Y origin is set below 0, then the maximum value will also drop, and vice versa). By default, the values for the false origins are set to 0. This is only used when creating new feature classes.

Note: This parameter is only used when creating new feature classes. It is not used by the File-based Geodatabase writer, as default values are used for the domain and resolution.

A scaling conversion factor from world units to integer system units for all feature classes and all feature datasets. This is used to specify the level of precision to keep when storing XY coordinates, since all coordinates are stored as integers.

The x,y scale is the inverse of the spatial reference's XY Resolution. The resolution is defined as the minimum unit in map units that separate unique x values and unique y values for feature coordinates.

Note: Used only when creating new feature classes.

The coordinates of the Z false origins for all feature classes and all feature datasets. This is used as an offset so that coordinate data is stored as positive integers, which allows a range from 0 to 2147483647 (so if the Z origin is set below 0, then the maximum value will also drop, and vice versa).

By default, the values for the false origins are set to 0.

Note: Used only when creating new feature classes.

A scaling conversion factor from world units to integer system units for all feature classes and all feature datasets. This parameter is used to specify the level of precision to keep when storing Z coordinates, since all coordinates are stored as integers.

Depending on the scale, it changes the precision of the coordinates stored. For example, if you have the coordinate (5.354, 566.35) and you set the Z Scale to 100, then the coordinate stored will be (5.35, 566.35).

The default value is 100.

The minimum measures value possible. This is used as an offset because measure data is stored as positive integers (0 to 2147483647) relative to the measures origin.

A scaling conversion factor from world units to integer system units for all feature classes.

This optional field specifies what reference scale to use when creating an annotation feature class. The reference scale determines the scale at which the text’s size, on the screen, is the size indicated on each annotation feature. When the scale is larger in value than the reference scale, then the text appears smaller than that indicated on the annotation feature, and vice versa.

If no value is specified for this field, then FME uses first annotation feature for the annotation feature class. If the feature contains the attribute geodb_text_ref_scale then the value for the attribute is used as the reference scale. If the attribute doesn’t exist, then the default value for the attribute is used, which is 1.

Specifies the name of the column containing object IDs for the current table or feature class. If the value conflicts with a user attribute, then the writer will change the value for this field (by appending a numeric suffix) and log a warning.

Specifies the alias for the object IDs column for the current table or feature class. The alias is used in ArcMap (and possibly in other ArcGIS products) when viewing data; the object ID column will be labeled by its alias.

Specifies the name of the column containing the shape data for features in the current feature class. This applies only to feature classes. If the value conflicts with a user attribute, then the writer will change the value for this field (by appending a numeric suffix) and log a warning.

Specifies the alias for the shape data column. This applies only to feature classes. When viewing data in ArcMap (and possibly in other ArcGIS products), the shape data column will be labeled by its alias. The default value is SHAPE.

Specifies the configuration keyword. See ArcGIS documentation for additional details.

Sets the global grid 1 size for the whole translation. For the Enterprise Geodatabase writer, the default is 1000. This directive is only used when creating new feature classes.

This optional field specifies the estimated average number of points per feature. It is used in the creation of the spatial index for the feature class.

If this configuration parameter is not specified, then a default value will be assigned to the feature class, depending on its geometry type. This parameter must be an integer.