FME Transformers: 2025.2 BETA

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ArcGISBranchVersionManager
ArcGISOnlineConnector
Categories
Integrations

Integrations

Web

Web

Workflows

Workflows

Related Transformers
ArcGISBranchVersionManager
ArcGISOnlineConnector

ArcGISAttachmentConnector

Connects to an ArcGIS Feature Service to manage attachments.

Jump to Configuration

Typical Uses

  • Attaching images, PDFs, or other files to ArcGIS Feature Service features
  • Updating or deleting existing attachments
  • Listing attachment metadata for validation or logging
  • Downloading attachments for local storage or further processing

How does it work?

The ArcGISAttachmentConnector connects to an ArcGIS Feature Service to perform various tasks:

Action Task

Add

Upload a new attachment.

Delete

Delete a feature’s attachments.

Download

Download an attachment.

List

List attachment details.

Update

Replace an attachment.

Feature URLs

Feature URLs follow this form:

https://<feature_service_url>/<layer_id>/<object_id_of_feature>

They may be obtained with an Esri ArcGIS Feature Service reader (also available in the FeatureReader transformer) and are stored in the arcgisfeatureservice_feature_url format attribute. These may be used to provide values for the Feature URL parameter.

Note that the object ID (not the global ID) is required.

Usage Notes

  • When accessing branch-versioned feature services, the ArcGISAttachmentConnector will only download or modify attachments on the default branch of the feature service. See ArcGISBranchVersionManager.

Configuration

Input Ports

This transformer accepts any feature.

Output Ports

Features with added attributes, as specified in parameters and according to Action:

Action Output

Add

Input feature with details about the new item.

Delete

Input feature with details about deleted attachments.

Download

Input feature with details about the downloaded attachment.

List

Multiple features, one for each attachment on the specified feature, with details about the attachments.

Update

Input feature with details about the updated attachment.

Input features are output here unmodified, in addition to any other output locations (Output or <Rejected>).

Features that cause the operation to fail are output through this port. An fme_rejection_code attribute describing the category of the error will be added, along with a more descriptive fme_rejection_message which contains more specific details as to the reason for the failure.

If an Input feature already has a value for fme_rejection_code, this value will be removed.

Rejected Feature Handling: can be set to either terminate the translation or continue running when it encounters a rejected feature. This setting is available both as a default FME option and as a workspace parameter.

Parameters

Connection

Select or create a Web Connection, connecting to the appropriate Web Service:

  • Esri ArcGIS Enterprise OAuth (Template) - for Esri ArcGIS Enterprise sites
  • Esri ArcGIS Generate Token - to generate an authentication token
  • Esri ArcGIS Online OAuth - for Esri ArcGIS Online sites

See Using Web Connections.

Action

The type of operation to perform. Choices include:

  • Add
  • Delete
  • Download
  • List
  • Update

Feature

Feature URL

Specify the URL of the feature where attachment operations will be performed.

Data Source

Upload

Select the source type:

  • Attribute: Upload the contents of an attribute.
  • File: Upload a file.

Note that when working with large objects, File is generally the better choice as the data will be read from disk and not need to be held in memory.

File to Add

When Upload is File, specify the file to be uploaded.

Attribute to Add as File

When Upload is Attribute, specify the attribute containing the content for upload.

Metadata

Add with Filename

When Upload is Attribute, specify the filename, including extension, to contain the uploaded content.

Keywords

(Optional) Specify any keywords for the attachment (if enabled in the feature service settings).

Added Attributes

Output features will receive these attributes:

_attachment_id

The object ID of the newly added attachment.

_global_id

The global ID of the newly added attachment.

Request

Delete All Feature Attachments

Select an option for attachment deletion:

  • Yes: Delete all existing attachments.
  • No: Delete a specific attachment.

Feature

Feature URL

Specify the URL of the feature where attachments will be deleted.

Attachment ID

When Delete All Feature Attachments is No, specify the ID of the attachment to delete.

Added Attributes

Output features will receive these attributes:

_attachment_id

The object ID of the deleted attachment, when Delete All Feature Attachments is No.

_total_attachments

Total number of attachments on the feature, when Delete All Feature Attachments is Yes.

_attachments_deleted

Total number of attachments deleted, when Delete All Feature Attachments is Yes.

_attachment_ids

List of deleted attachments, when Delete All Feature Attachments is Yes.

_deletion_errors

List of attachments that were not deleted successfully with their respective errors, when Delete All Feature Attachments is Yes.

Feature

Feature URL

Specify the URL of the feature from which attachments will be downloaded.

Attachment ID

Specify the ID of the attachment to download.

Destination

Download as

Select a destination type for downloaded items:

  • Attribute: The downloaded object will be stored in the specified attribute.
  • File: The downloaded file will be stored in the specified folder.

Download to Folder

When Download as is File, specify the path to the folder that will store the downloaded item.

If File Exists

When Download as is File, select a method for handling existing files:

  • Reject: Leave the existing file intact and output the feature via the <Rejected> port.
  • Overwrite: Overwrite the existing file.

Download to Attribute

When Download as is Attribute, specify the attribute to contain the contents of the downloaded item.

Added Attributes

These attributes will be added to the output features:

_downloaded_path

The local path where the downloaded attachment is saved, when Download as is File .

_filename

The filename of the downloaded file.

_file_size

The size of the downloaded file in bytes.

_content_type

The MIME type of the downloaded file.

Feature

Feature URL

Specify the URL of the feature to list the attachments of.

Output Attributes

Attributes to Add

Select any available attributes to be included on the output features:

_attachment_id

The unique ID of each attachment found.

_attachment_name

The original filename of the attachment.

_attachment_size

The size of the attachment in bytes.

_content_type

The MIME type of the attachment (e.g., image/png).

_keywords

The keywords of the attachment.

_exifinfo

The EXIF data of the attachment. This field will be blank if the file format does not support EXIF data.

Feature

Feature URL

Specify the URL of the feature where attachments will be updated.

Attachment ID

Specify the ID of the attachment to update.

Data Source

Upload

Select the source type:

  • File: The specified file will be uploaded as the new content.
  • Attribute: The contents of the specified attribute will be uploaded as the new content.

Note that when working with large objects, File is generally the better choice as the data will be read from disk and not need to be held in memory.

File to Add

When Upload is File, specify the file to be uploaded.

Attribute to Add as File

When Upload is Attribute, specify the attribute containing the content for upload.

Metadata

Keywords

(Optional) Specify any keywords for the attachment (if enabled in the feature service settings).

Add with Filename

When Upload is Attribute, specify the filename, including extension, to contain the updated content.

Added Attributes

Output features will receive this attribute:

_attachment_id

The object ID of the updated attachment.

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.

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.

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.

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 Esri Access
Aliases  
History  

FME Online Resources

The FME Community and Support Center Knowledge Base have a wealth of information, including active forums with 35,000+ members and thousands of articles.

Search for all results about the ArcGISAttachmentConnector on the FME Community.

 

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