FME Form: 2024.1

What is Quick Add?

Quick Add is the easiest way to add transformers, custom transformers, readers, writers, and FME Hub items to the workspace. To try it, click on a blank area on the workspace canvas and press a key on the keyboard.

For example, type the word area. A dialog appears on the canvas that contains of list of items that contain the word area.

Select the item you want, press the Return key, and the item appears on the workspace canvas. Press Return again to open the parameters dialog.

Tip  
  • Typing a sequence of letters can also identify objects whose names have those letters capitalized. For example, to find the GeometryPropertySetter transformer, type gps.
  • When adding readers and writers, you can also type the format type identifier, or "short name" of the format, to locate it. For example, to bring up the OGC/Google KML reader or writer, type its format type identifier, OGCKML.
  • Spaces in the search string act as AND operators.

In the right pane description, selections are identified by their origin:

  • Official: Created by Safe Software Inc.
  • Verified: Created by a Verified FME Hub Publisher.
  • Community: Created by an FME Hub contributor.

Additionally, FME Hub selections show the number of times the item has been downloaded by users, and an indicator if the item is already installed on your FME platform:

Controlling Search Results

The top of the Quick Add dialog contains filters you can apply to your search results. You can limit results to:

  • Readers, writers, and/or transformers.
  • Official, verified, and/or community origin.
  • Applicable categories, if enabled. To enable, click the gear icon to the right of the search bar, and select Apply Category Filter.

You can also control whether your search string applies to names of items, or to its description. Click the gear icon to the right of the search bar, and select Search By Name or Search Descriptions.

Finally, you can control how the search results are sorted: alphabetically (default) or by popularity. Click the gear icon to the right of the search bar, and select Sort by Alphabetical or Sort by Popularity.

Note  For Official items, popularity is determined by usage statistics, and identified by Rank in the description. For FMEFME Hub items, popularity is determined by Download Count.

Auto-Connect After Quick Add

Click Tools > FME Options > Workbench. Under General, make sure that Automatically connect after Quick Add is enabled.

If you select another object before initiating the Quick Add search for a transformer, it will connect automatically to the object.

Upon auto-connecting a transformer, a connection toolbar appears above the transformer . If you wish to remove connections while keeping the transformer on the canvas, click Undo Automatic Connection . To undo, add, or change input port connections, click Reconnect input port . To undo, add, or change output port connections, click Reconnect output port . The connection toolbar disappears when focus shifts away from the transformer.

Tip  If you add a transformer, then want to add the same transformer again, press the slash "/" key on your keyboard. The Quick Add box will appear showing the last selected transformer. Press the Return key to include it, then press Return again to edit its parameters.