JSONFormatter

Provides options for formatting JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) text.

Configuration

Input Ports

Output Ports

Parameters

Source

Input Source	Allows for selecting between one of two options for JSON input: JSON Document or File/URL
JSON Document	If selected, The JSON document can come from any string expression, including attribute values and workspace parameters.
File/URL	If selected, the JSON source can be read from a local file at a specified file path, or from the internet at a specified URL.

Formatting

Formatting Type	Select the desired formatting of the JSON text: Pretty Print: The JSON text will be formatted by adding indentations and new lines for improved readability. Linearize: All JSON contents will be put on a single line, to reduce the size of the JSON text.
Indent Style	When using the Pretty Print formatting type, this option may be used to control the indent style of the formatted JSON text. Each indent may be a tab or 1-8 space characters. This parameter is disabled when using the Linearize formatting type.
Remove Empty Strings	When this parameter is set to Yes, the formatter will remove any empty string values. It will not remove strings which contain only whitespace. If the empty string is an object value, the associated object key will also be removed. Empty strings which are object keys will not be removed. For example, suppose the following object is the input JSON: { "key1" : "", "key2" : " ", "key3" : [""] } The output from the transformer will be: { "key2" : " ", "key3" : [] }
Remove Null Values	This option is similar to the Remove Empty Strings option, except that it applies to null values. When it is set to Yes, the formatter will remove any nulls in the input JSON. If the null is an object value, the associated object key will also be removed. For example, suppose the following array is the input JSON: [ null, { "key1" : null, "key2" : "a value" } ] The output from the transformer will be: [ { "key2" : "a value" } ]
Remove Empty Objects and Arrays	When this parameter is set to Yes, the formatter will remove any empty objects or arrays from the input JSON. This is applied recursively in conjunction with the Remove Empty Strings and Remove Null Values parameters. That is, if empty strings, null values or nested empty objects or arrays cause an object or array to become empty, it will be removed. The root object or array will not be removed, so it is possible that the output from the formatter will be an empty object or array even if this parameter is set to Yes. For example, suppose the following JSON object is the input to the formatter, and both the Remove Empty Strings and Remove Null Values parameters are set to Yes. [ [], {}, [ null, "" ], { "key1" : "", "key2" : null, "key3" : [] } ] The output from the formatter will be: []

Output Attribute Names

Result Attribute

Name the attribute to contain the formatted JSON text.

Result Encoding

Specifies the character encoding for the Result Attribute. Valid options are UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32.

List Attribute for Formatting Errors

Name of the list attribute that contains information on JSON validation errors. The features that exit the transformer through the <Rejected> output port will have validation errors listed in this list attribute. Each validation error message is made up of four parts:

Error description
Line number where the error occurred
Column number where the error occurred
Error type/severity

Note List attributes are not accessible from the output schema in FME Workbench unless they are first processed using a transformer that operates on them, such as ListExploder or ListConcatenator. Alternatively, AttributeExposer can be used.

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.

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