Hexagon GeoMedia SQL Server Warehouse Writer Feature Type Parameters

To access feature type parameters, click the gear icon on a feature type in the workspace. This opens the Feature Type Parameter Editor.

Tip  To always display the editor in FME Workbench, you can select View > Window Layout > Parameter Editor.

General

All feature types share similar General parameters, which may include Feature Type Name, Reader or Writer information, and Geometry.

In most Writer Feature Type parameter dialogs, you can also control Dynamic Schema Definitions. Some database formats accept Table or Index Qualifier prefixes on the output table feature type.

Features written to the database have the destination table as their feature type, and attributes as defined on the feature type.

Note  fme_any accepts any geometry type except fme_text geometry.
Important  These parameters apply only to a selected feature type, not to the entire writer. If a feature type parameter listed here conflicts with a writer-level parameter, then the writer parameter will be ignored and this feature type parameter will be used.

Table Settings: General

This parameter specifies how features will be written into the destination table. Supported feature operations are described below. Note that the described behavior can be dependent on the selected options, as well as the underlying table properties.

Option

Description

If the Row Does Not Exist

If the Row Exists

Insert

The writer appends a new row to a table using input feature attributes.

The writer creates a new row using input feature attributes.

Not always applicable: if the table does not have a unique key or it has an automatically generated unique key, insertion is always possible.

The database cannot violate its key constraints; therefore, errors can occur on row insertion. For example, if there is a unique key and a user specifies the value with the feature, and the feature already exists, then FME Workbench logs an error. This error might be in the form of a rejected feature, or the database may stop processing altogether.

Update

The writer updates existing row(s) in a table using input feature attributes.

A selection method must be specified in the Row Selection group.

The writer rejects the input feature or logs an error if it is unable to continue.

The writer only changes values of the existing row(s) corresponding to the input feature that differ from the input feature.

Delete

The writer deletes an existing row(s) in a table.

A selection method must be specified in the Row Selection group.

The writer rejects the input feature or logs an error if it is unable to continue.

The writer deletes existing row(s) corresponding to the input feature.

fme_db_
operation

The feature operation will be determined by the attribute fme_db_operation on each input feature.

A selection method must be specified in the Row Selection group.

The value of fme_db_operation will be processed according to the steps below.

Note   The processing steps listed below depend on a format's available Feature Operation options.
  • If the value is null, empty, or missing, it will be treated as an Insert.
  • The value will next be matched to Insert, Update, Upsert, Put, and Delete, case-insensitively.
  • If there is no match, the feature will be rejected.
  • If there is a match, the matched feature operation will be performed on the feature.

Note about earlier FME versions: To use fme_db_operation, you must set Feature Operation to this option. In previous versions of FME, you could set fme_db_operation when the destination feature type was set to Insert, Update, Upsert, or Delete. Doing this now will cause feature rejection.

 The action depends on the operation; however, in general, if nothing is specified, the value is treated as an Insert. The value is treated as an Insert.

Controls how the feature type handles destination tables:

  • Use Existing – Write to an existing table If the destination table does not exist, the translation will fail.
  • Create If Needed – Create the destination table if it does not exist.
  • Drop and Create – (This option is not available in all formats.) Drop the destination table if it exists, and then create it. The writer will drop and re-create the table before writing any features to it. Tables will be overwritten when the first input feature is processed. If no features are sent to a feature type, then the corresponding table will not be overwritten.
  • Truncate Existing – (This option is not available in all formats.) If the destination table does not exist, the translation will fail. Otherwise, delete all rows from the existing table.

When updating features, users have a choice to update, or skip, their spatial column(s). Possible options are:

  • Yes – The spatial column(s) specified by the user will be updated. IFMENulls will be written as null values and replace existing spatial values.
  • No – No spatial columns will be updated.

When inserting into a table, Row Selection is ignored. When updating and deleting from a table (if applicable, based on a format's available Feature Operation options), a condition needs to be specified for selecting which rows to operate on. This parameter group offers two methods to construct the selection condition:

Match Columns

The columns specified in the corresponding column picker dialog will be used for matching destination rows. All matching rows will be selected for update or delete. If any feature attributes corresponding to the specified match columns contain null or missing values, the feature will be rejected.

WHERE Clause

This parameter opens a WHERE Clause Builder. You can also type a WHERE clause inline, without launching the Builder. It is optional to start the clause with the word WHERE.

The WHERE Clause Builder makes it easy for users to reference feature attribute values, destination table columns, and invoke FME functions. The WHERE clause is first evaluated as an FME expression, before being passed onto the destination database.

If the WHERE clause is incorrect or if its evaluation results in failure, the translation will fail. Otherwise, if the WHERE clause passes FME evaluation but it is SQL invalid, the feature will be rejected or the translation will fail.

For advanced users, conditional FME expressions created through the Conditional Value editor can be used to create WHERE clauses.

Tip  You can set the WHERE Clause to an attribute. This supports workspace migration and existing workflows involving fme_where. (Direct support for fme_where has been deprecated.) To advanced users who are accustomed to using fme_where, if Feature Operation is set to Update, Delete, or fme_db_operation, an fme_where attribute that conflicts with Match Columns or WHERE Clause will result in feature rejection.

Table Creation

The parameters in this section take effect only when FME creates a table.

If the User Attributes tab does not contain a primary index column, and Table Handling causes table creation, a primary index column is created with this name.

This parameter controls the creation of a clustered index, which only occurs on table creation. These options are available:

  • None: – All indexes are created as non-clustered.
  • Primary: – The primary index column is created as a clustered index.
  • Extents: – A clustered index on the four extent columns ( <geom>_XLO, <geom>_YLO, <geom>_XHI, and <geom>_YHI) will be created, and the primary key column will have non-clustered index.