Generic (Any Format) Writer Parameters

Select the format that will be used at runtime to output the data.

If at run time, the Generic writer is instructed to output to a format that requires an output filename, the Generic writer will turn the output folder into a filename by appending the last portion of the folder name and the most common file extension (as read from the FME formats database) to the folder.

For example, if at runtime the Generic writer dataset was c:/data/roads, and the Output Format chosen above was Bentley Microstation Design, then by default it would pass the output dataset c:/data/roads/roads.dgn to the Design file writer that it would employ to do the actual writing.

Enter a base filename for the output feature types.

By adjusting this setting, the user is communicating to, and storing in the workspace, information on how the text file will be streamed back if it is used in the streaming service.

The valid values for this parameter include all valid MIME types. Several common types are listed and others can be entered as text strings.

Coordinate systems may be extracted from input feature data sources, may come predefined with FME, or may be user-defined. FME allows different output and input coordinate systems, and performs the required coordinate conversions when necessary.

For systems that know their coordinate system, the Coordinate System field will display Read from Source and FME will read the coordinate system from the source dataset. For most other input sources, the field will display Unknown (which simply means that FME will use default values). In most cases, the default value is all you'll need to perform the translation.

You can always choose to override the defaults and choose a new coordinate system. Select More Coordinate Systems from the drop-down menu to open the Coordinate System Gallery.

Changing a Reprojection

To perform a reprojection, FME typically uses the CS-MAP reprojection engine, which includes definitions for thousands of coordinate systems, with a large variety of projections, datums, ellipsoids, and units. However, GIS applications have slightly different algorithms for reprojecting data between different coordinate systems. To ensure that the data FME writes matches exactly to your existing data, you can use the reprojection engine from a different application.

To change the reprojection engine, Select Workspace Parameters > Spatial > Reprojection Engine. In the example shown, you can select Esri (but the selection here depends on your installed applications):