Esri ArcGIS Portal Feature Service Reader Parameters

Connection

The host or URL for the ArcGIS Portal. For example:

https://arcgis.example.com/portal

The mechanism used to authenticate with the ArcGIS Portal. The available options are:

  • Generate Token – Obtain an ArcGIS Token from the server using a given username and password. This is the default.
  • Basic – HTTP Basic authentication.
  • Digest – HTTP Digest authentication.
  • NTLM – Also known as Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA). Authenticates using a given username and password.
  • Kerberos – Also known as Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA). Authenticates as the current Windows user. This option is supported only on Windows systems connected to a domain.
  • Web Service – Use an OAuth 2.0 Web Service and Connection, or a token Web Service and Connection. Organizations with SAML or federated login should use an OAuth 2.0 Web Service.
    • To configure an OAuth Web Service for your Portal, refer to the instructions in the Esri ArcGIS Portal Web Service template included with FME. (From FME Workbench, open FME Options > Web Connections and click the Manage Services button. Navigate to the Esri ArcGIS Portal template.) Otherwise, a token Web Service can be created which will use a username and password to generate a token.

If the Authentication Type is Web Service, specify the Web Connection to use.

If the Authentication Type is Generate Token, Basic, Digest, or NTLM, specify the username.

If the Authentication Type is Generate Token, Basic, Digest, or NTLM, specify the username.

Feature Service

This parameter specifies the Feature Service from which to read layers (feature types). You can click the Browse button to obtain a list of all Feature Services accessible by the current user. A connection window appears while the system browses all accessible folders and groups for Feature Services. Only one Feature Service may be selected.

This parameter takes the form of “folder or group name/feature service name”, and optionally suffixed with the Feature Service item ID if the name is ambiguous.

The Feature Service’s item ID is alphanumeric. The provided name and/or ID must match a Feature Service item on ArcGIS Portal.

Note  This format does not support reading from raster layers. If a raster layer is selected as a feature type when using this format with the FeatureReader transformer, an output port will not be generated.

Constraints

After you have entered a valid Feature Service, click the Browse button to select layers or tables for import. A connection window appears while the system retrieves a list of layers and tables from the selected Feature Service.

Once the layer list appears, you can select one or more layers or tables, and then click OK to dismiss the window. Their name(s) will appear in the Layers parameter.

This parameter specifies whether to add a label attribute for each coded domain attribute on the layer. For instance, the coded domain attribute foo would result in an extra attribute foo_resolved that contains the label corresponding to the coded value of the foo attribute.

ArcGIS Feature Service writers automatically recognize label attributes when working with existing Feature Services. If a valid label value is provided, and no value was provided for the corresponding coded domain attribute, then the coded domain attribute is set based on the label value. If there is no corresponding coded domain attribute, then the label attribute is treated as a regular attribute.

Enable this option to work with the Version Management Server.

Version Name

The name of the Branch Version to read.

Click the Browse button to list the available Branch Versions for the selected Feature Service.

Version Data to Read

The type of versioned data to read. Select one of:

  • Features – Read the features on the selected Branch Version.
  • Differences – Compare the selected Branch Version against the DEFAULT version. The resulting features have the fme_db_operation format attribute with a value of “insert”, “update”, or “delete”, corresponding to the type of difference.

Advanced

This parameter specifies the maximum number of features that may be present in a single response from the server. Reduce this value if reads are failing due to timeouts.

The value for this parameter is capped to the maxRecordCount property on the Feature Service.

Default: 1000

Prior to FME 2022.0, web access through this format would automatically disable HTTPS Certificate verification when an SSL Error was received from the server. Now, this behavior must be explicitly enabled or disabled by this parameter.

The value of this parameter takes priority over the value of the Verify SSL Certificates parameter which might be defined by the Web Connection used with this format.

Schema Attributes

Additional Attributes to Expose

Use this parameter to expose Format Attributes in FME Workbench when you create a workspace:

  • In a dynamic scenario, it means these attributes can be passed to the output dataset at runtime.
  • In a non-dynamic scenario, this parameter allows you to expose additional attributes on multiple feature types. Click the browse button to view the available format attributes (which are different for each format) for the reader.
 

This parameter controls how field aliases are used.

  • None – (default value) Field aliases are ignored.

  • Replace Attribute Names with Aliases – (only applicable when adding a Reader) Attributes on feature types will be named for their aliases rather than their official names. An arcgisonline_feature_type_alias attribute will be included on each feature. Use this mode when the target format should create feature types using the aliases as attribute names.

    Note  

    To change the alias mode after you select Replace Attribute Names with Aliases, remove the reader from the canvas and re-add it with your preferred alias mode setting.

  • Expose Aliases as Metadata Attributes – For each attribute read, a second <name>_alias attribute will be added that stores the alias for the attribute in question. An arcgisonline_feature_type_alias attribute will also be included on each feature. Use this mode when the target format is a Feature Service format and the aliases should be preserved during feature type and table creation.
    • Note  

    If you want to make changes after you select Expose Aliases as Metadata Attributes, you can only change the setting back to None. To change the alias mode to Replace Attribute Names with Aliases, remove the reader from the canvas and re-add it with your preferred alias mode setting.

Use Search Envelope

A search envelope (also known as a bounding box) is a rectangular area that defines a geographic area. In FME, the easiest way to define a search envelope is to use search envelope parameters.

Defining a search envelope is the most efficient method of selecting an area of interest because FME will read only the data that is necessary – it does not have to read an entire dataset. Search Envelope parameters apply to both vector and raster datasets and can be particularly efficient if the source format has a spatial index.

Most FME readers have parameters to define the search envelope of data that is being read:

Screenshot with blank search envelope min and max x and y parameters

The parameters include the x and y coordinates of the bounding box as well as a parameter that defines the coordinate system.

How to Define the Bounding Box

Using the minimum and maximum x and y parameters, define a bounding box that will be used to filter the input features. Only features that intersect with the bounding box are returned. Note that the bounding box intersection is not a full geometry intersection (based on spatial relationships) that would be returned by a transformer like the SpatialFilter.

Note  If all four coordinates of the search envelope are left at 0, the search envelope will be disabled even if this option is checked.

Search Envelope Coordinate System

Specifies the coordinate system of the search envelope if it is different than the coordinate system of the data. The coordinate system associated with the data to be read must always be set if this parameter is set.

If this parameter is set, the minimum and maximum points of the search envelope are reprojected from the Search Envelope Coordinate System to the reader’s coordinate system prior to applying the envelope.

Clip to Search Envelope

The underlying function for Use Search Envelope is an intersection; however, when Clip to Search Envelope is checked, a clipping operation is also performed.

  • When left unchecked (set to No), features that overlap the boundary will be included in their full (unclipped) form.
  • When checked (set to Yes), this option instructs FME to clip features to the exact envelope boundary. FME removes any portions of imported features being read that are outside the search envelope.

Clip to Search Envelope: No

Clip to Search Envelope: Yes

Any features that cross the search envelope boundary will be read, including the portion that lies outside of the boundary.

Any features that cross the search envelope boundary will be clipped at the boundary, and only the portion that lies inside the boundary will be read.

The search envelope includes the bounding box and the extent of the raster.

The search envelope includes only the area within the bounding box.

The raster size will still match the bounding box, but the area without data will be filled with Nodata values to represent the absence of data, if the source raster has them.

Raster Nodata may be a single value across all bands, a single value per band, or a separate alpha or transparency band that indicates the lack of data values (this is more common in images than other types of rasters).