Visual Preview

The Visual Preview is an embedded version of the FME Data Inspector that displays features. Many—but not all—of the functions available in the stand-alone FME Data Inspector application are available in the Visual Preview.

You can view features in the Visual Preview in these ways:

Right-click on a feature type in the Navigator or FME Workbench Canvas, and select View Source Data.
On the canvas, click the View Source Data icon on the mini-toolbar over a feature type or some transformers.
Run a workspace with Feature Caching.
Drag and drop data files onto the pane.

Tip You can overlay data that displays in the Visual Preview onto a background map, which allows you to view your data in context. For more information, see Background Maps.

To control when the FME Data Inspector opens instead of the Visual Preview, use the Data Inspection setting under Tools > FME Options > Workbench.

The toolbar icons in the Visual Preview allow you to control the following:

Toggle Automatic Inspect on Selection (Ctrl + Alt + A): When selected, Visual Preview displays feature caches associated with objects selected on the canvas. When not selected, Visual Preview only updates when you explicitly specify an inspect action, such as View Source Data, clicking a feature cache inspect icon, dragging a file, or running a workspace with Inspector transformers.
Toggle Display Control (Ctrl + Alt + `): Controls display of the Display Control window.
Toggle Table View (Ctrl + Alt + 1): Controls display of the Table View.
Toggle Graphics View: Controls display of the Graphics View. (Ctrl + Alt +2): Controls display of the Graphics View in 2D mode. (Ctrl + Alt + 3): Controls display of the Graphics View in 3D mode. (Ctrl + Alt + 4): Controls display of the Graphics View in Slideshow mode.
Show/Hide Feature Information window (Ctrl + Alt + F): Controls display of the Feature Information window.
Open in FME Data Inspector (Ctrl + Alt + D): To view features directly in the FME Data Inspector application.