Microsoft Access Reader/Writer

FME can access attribute data held in live Microsoft Access database tables. This data may not necessarily have a spatial component to it. FME provides read and write access to live Access databases via Microsoft’s ActiveX Data Objects (ADO).

Microsoft Access Product and System Requirements

Format	Platform			Operating System
Reader/Writer	FME Desktop License	FME Server	FME Cloud	Windows 64-bit	Linux	Mac
Reader	Available in FME Professional Edition and higher	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Writer	Available in FME Professional Edition and higher	Yes	No	Yes	No	No

Reader Overview

FME considers a database data set to be a collection of relational tables. The tables must be defined in the workspace before they can be read. Arbitrary where clauses and joins are fully supported.

Writer Overview

The writer stores attribute records into a live relational database, and provides the following capabilities:

• Transaction Support: The Access writer provides transaction support that eases the data loading process. Occasionally, a data load operation terminates prematurely due to data difficulties. The transaction support provides a mechanism for reloading corrected data without data loss or duplication.
• Table Creation: The Access writer uses the information within the FME workspace to automatically create database tables as needed.
• Writer Mode Specification: The Access writer allows the user to specify what database command should be issued for each feature received. Valid writer modes are Insert, Update, and Delete. The writer mode can be specified at three unique levels: at the writer level, on the feature type, or on individual features.

Note: Only the standard SQL wildcard characters (% and _) are supported for SQL LIKE queries. Microsoft Access wildcard characters (*, ?, and #) are not supported.

Tip: The SQLCreator and SQLExecutor transformers allow arbitrary Structured Query Language (SQL) statements to be executed against any database.