TextAdder

Replaces any geometry with a single text label at the center of its bounding box.

Typical Uses

Labeling point features with angled text
Combining non-point geometry with text for further processing or storage

How does it work?

The TextAdder receives features with any type of geometry and replaces the geometry with a text label located at the center of the feature’s bounding box.

Label height is specified in ground units, and the text may be rotated.

In these examples, the output text feature is shown along with the original input feature and its bounding box (in red).

Geometry Type	Input	Result
Point
Line
Area
Raster

The feature’s original geometry may optionally be kept along with the text, but will not be viewable graphically in the FME Data Inspector, or storable in most formats. This geometry can be recovered with a TextLocationExtractor.

Any geometry can be handled in this way, including rasters and point clouds.

Examples

Usage Notes

The Labeller is generally more useful for labeling lines.
The LabelPointReplacer is generally more useful for labeling areas.

Creating and Modifying Point and Text Features

These transformers work with points, text, and labels in a variety of ways.

Points and Text Transformers Comparison

Transformer	Use this to...	Transformer Description
Creator	Create one or more new features with box geometry of a specific size and position (when Geometry Object is Point or Text).	Creates features using the parameters supplied, and sends them into the workspace for processing.
VertexCreator	Replace a feature’s geometry with a point at a specified location.	Creates a single vertex to replace, be appended to, or be inserted into existing geometry.
CenterPointReplacer	Create points inside features or their bounding boxes.	Replaces feature geometry with a point located within the feature, its bounding box, or at its center of mass.
CenterPointExtractor	Extract the coordinates of a calculated point within the feature.	Extracts the coordinates of a point located within the feature, its bounding box, or at its center of mass, and stores them as attributes.
2DGridCreator	Create new regularly-spaced points in a specified location.	Creates a regular grid of points or rectangular polygons of a specified size, position, and coordinate system.
2DGridAccumulator	Create new regularly-spaced points over the extents of other features.	Creates a regular grid of points or rectangular polygons that span the extents of all input features.
Chopper	Create points from every vertex of input line or area geometry.	Chops line, arc, path, or area features into smaller features based on number of vertices or approximate length.
Intersector	Create points where features intersect.	Computes intersections between all input features, breaking lines and polygons wherever an intersection occurs and creating nodes at those locations.
PointCloudToPointCoercer	Create points from point cloud features.	Converts point clouds to point or multipoint geometries, optionally retaining attribute and component values.
Labeller	Label lines.	Places labels along a linear feature, angled to the orientation of each labeled segment.
TextAdder	Label points at an angle.	Replaces any geometry with a single text label at the center of its bounding box.
LabelPointReplacer	Label points and areas.	Replaces point, line, or area geometry with a single text label.
TextLocationExtractor	Convert text to geometry.	Replaces text with its location geometry, usually a point.
TextPropertyExtractor	Extract text properties into attributes.	Retrieves text property values from text geometry, adding them to the feature as attributes.
TextPropertySetter	Set or modify text properties.	Modifies or creates text geometry according to new coordinates, text string, size, or rotation values.
TextStroker	Convert text to non-text geometry.	Converts text to aggregate line or area geometry according to a specific True Type font.
PointPropertyExtractor	Extract point properties into attributes.	Extracts point orientation to feature attributes.
PointPropertySetter	Set or modify point properties.	Adds or removes point orientation.

Labelling and Geometry

Geometry	Recommended Transformer	Example
Point	LabelPointReplacer or TextAdder
Line	Labeller
Area	LabelPointReplacer

Geometry

Recommended Transformer

Example

Point

LabelPointReplacer or TextAdder

Line

Labeller

Area

LabelPointReplacer

Configuration

Input Ports

Output Ports

Parameters

General

Text String	Specify the label text string.
Text Size	Specify the height of the text in ground units.
Text Rotation	Specify the text rotation, measured in degrees counterclockwise from horizontal.
Existing Geometry	Select an option for the handling the geometry of the input feature: Replace with Point (default): The input geometry is discarded and replaced with text. Keep: The input geometry is kept in addition to the new text geometry.

Editing Transformer Parameters

Transformer parameters can be set by directly entering values, using expressions, or referencing other elements in the workspace such as attribute values or user parameters. Various editors and context menus are available to assist. To see what is available, click beside the applicable parameter.

How to Set Parameter Values

Defining Values

There are several ways to define a value for use in a Transformer. The simplest is to simply type in a value or string, which can include functions of various types such as attribute references, math and string functions, and workspace parameters.

Using the Text Editor

The Text Editor provides a convenient way to construct text strings (including regular expressions) from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and constants, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Text Editor

Using the Arithmetic Editor

The Arithmetic Editor provides a convenient way to construct math expressions from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and feature functions, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Arithmetic Editor

Conditional Values

Set values depending on one or more test conditions that either pass or fail.

Parameter Condition Definition Dialog

Content

Expressions and strings can include a number of functions, characters, parameters, and more.

When setting values - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors - strings and expressions containing String, Math, Date/Time or FME Feature Functions will have those functions evaluated. Therefore, the names of these functions (in the form @<function_name>) should not be used as literal string values.

Content Types

String Functions	These functions manipulate and format strings.
Special Characters	A set of control characters is available in the Text Editor.
Math Functions	Math functions are available in both editors.
Date/Time Functions	Date and time functions are available in the Text Editor.
Math Operators	These operators are available in the Arithmetic Editor.
FME Feature Functions	These return primarily feature-specific values.
FME Parameters	FME and workspace-specific parameters may be used.
Creating and Modifying User Parameters	Create your own editable parameters.

Dialog Options - Tables

Table Tools

Transformers with table-style parameters have additional tools for populating and manipulating values.

Row Reordering

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

Add a row
Remove a row
Move current row up one
Move current row down one
Move current row to top
Move current row to bottom

Cut, Copy, and Paste

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

Cut a row - delete and copy to clipboard
Copy a row to the clipboard
Paste a row from the clipboard

Cut, copy, and paste may be used within a transformer, or between transformers.

Filter

Start typing a string, and the matrix will only display rows matching those characters. Searches all columns. This only affects the display of attributes within the transformer - it does not alter which attributes are output.

Import

Import populates the table with a set of new attributes read from a dataset. Specific application varies between transformers.

Reset/Refresh

Generally resets the table to its initial state, and may provide additional options to remove invalid entries. Behavior varies between transformers.

Note: Not all tools are available in all transformers.

For more information, see Transformer Parameter Menu Options.

Reference

Processing Behavior	Feature-Based
Feature Holding	No
Dependencies	None
Aliases
History

FME Community

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Examples may contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver, Open Government Licence - British Columbia, and/or Open Government Licence – Canada.