Essentials of Automations: Exploring Attributes & Automation Parameters

Building automations in FME Flow can save time, money, and help businesses scale by eliminating data silos and providing data to stakeholders in real-time. One essential component to orchestrating complex automations is the use of attributes & automation parameters (both formerly known as “keys”). In fact, it’s unlikely you’ll ever build an Automation without using these components, but what exactly are they?

Attributes & automation parameters enable the automation author to pass data values from one automation component to the next. During this webinar, our FME Flow Specialists will cover leveraging the three types of these output attributes & parameters in FME Flow: Event, Custom, and Automation. As a bonus, they’ll also be making use of the Split-Merge Block functionality.

You’ll leave this webinar with a better understanding of how to maximize the potential of automations by making use of attributes & automation parameters, with the ultimate goal of setting your enterprise integration workflows up on autopilot.

1. Essentials of Automations:
Exploring Attributes &
Automation Parameters

2. Bailey
Knapp

FME Flow Technical Support
Specialist
Safe Software

Tim
Shin

FME Flow Technical Support
Specialist
Safe Software

Kate
Brillinger

FME Flow Technical Support
Team Lead
Safe Software

3. Welcome to Livestorm.
A few ways to engage with us during the webinar:


Audio issues? Click this for 4 simple
troubleshooting steps.

4. Poll: Have you ever used
FME Flow Automations?

5. Automation Webinar
Series
●May 29: Optimizing FME
Workflows with Parameters
●June 5: The Art of Triggers and
Actions in FME
●Today! Exploring Attributes &
Automation Parameters

6. Agenda
1What are Output Attributes & Automation Parameters?
2Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters
3Bonus: Intro to Split-Merge Block functionality
4Using Attributes and Parameters in an Automation App
5Q&A


Agenda

7. Automating processes saves
time & money, improves data
quality, helps businesses scale
and so much more.

8. 1
What are Output
Attributes and
Automation
Parameters?

9. FME Flow Automations allow you to build complex enterprise integration workflows by sending
JSON-formatted messages between components (Triggers & Actions).







Output Attributes and Automation Parameters store the JSON key-value pairs in a user-friendly
format so they can be used downstream in the workflow.

Resource: Working with Output Attributes in Workflows


What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

10. Event Attributes
What: predefined output attributes specific
to the trigger, internal and external action
type.

Why: to create dynamic workflows that
process event information in real-time.
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

11. Custom Attributes
What: output attributes that can be defined on a component by the user building the
automation.

Why: when the same action is present more than once in a workflow to prevent overwriting
certain attributes or use attributes from multiple events in the same downstream parameter.
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

12. Manual Parameters
What: output attributes that can be defined
manually through the editor, or imported from a
JSON file. They are only present when a Manual
Trigger is used

Why: allows users to create output parameters
that allow for different types of user inputs at
workspace runtime

Resources: Manual Trigger and Manual
Parameters Editor
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

13. Automation Writer Attributes
What: attributes that store attribute
values from each feature processed by a
workspace. They are present on the Run
Workspace Action only when there is an
Automation Writer in your workspace
Why: Enhance Automations
functionality by orchestrating data-driven
workflows.
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

14. Deployment Parameters
What: parameters that are created in
FME Form or Flow and stored in FME
Flow. They provide a way to define and
reuse text string, database connections
and web connection parameters in
workspaces shared between FME Flow
instances
Why: allows workspaces that are
uploaded to multiple FME Flow
environments to run without having to
update parameter values
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

15. Automation Parameters
What: text values defined by the user building the Automation for use at the Automation level
without ties to a specific component.






Why: reduce maintenance efforts by enabling you to reference the same value in multiple
places.
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

16. For ultimate flexibility use
attributes and parameters
to create dynamic
Automation workflows.
What are Output Attributes and Automation Parameters?

17. 2
Demo: Build
Automation using
Attributes &
Parameters

18. Goal Block Key Result
Breakdown a State
into Counties & Blocks
for processing and
send a single email at
the end


Using Attributes and Parameters in an Automation
There are many
attribute and
parameter types, and
it’s confusing to know
when to use them.



Use Output Attributes
and Automation
Parameters to pass
information between
workspaces and send
messages
downstream.


Using Output Attributes,
Automation Parameters and
the Split-Merge Block allows
you to pass event, feature
attribute, or user-defined
information throughout an
Automation, and send a
single email at the end


Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters

19. Step One: Manual Trigger Parameters
●Provide a user-defined JSON message at
Automation runtime
●Create attributes from the JSON
key-value pairs
{“state”:“Hawaii”}
Note: This also applies to the Webhook Trigger


Resource: Run an Automation using the Manual Trigger
Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters

20. Step Two: Run Workspaces using
Automation Writer Attributes
●Create additional output port per Automation Writer Feature Type
●Use the Automation Writer to parse attributes out of a workspace downstream in
an Automation workflow
●Trigger one downstream event for every feature that enters the
Automation Writer





Resource: Building Integrations with the FME Flow
Automation Writer
Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters

21. Tip
To use Attributes and Parameters in a
Workspace Action, the Workspace
must contain Published Parameters!
Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters

22. Demo
Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters

23. Key Takeaways
●Manual triggers can be used to pass in user-defined messages at runtime as manual
parameters
●Automation Writers allow us to pass data downstream from one workspace to create
data-driven workflows
●Every feature that gets passed into an automation writer is submitted as a downstream
event.
○1 feature equals 1 event
Demo: Build Automation using Attributes & Parameters

24. Poll: How can we
consolidate workspace
actions?

25. 3
Intro to the
Split-Merge
Block
Functionality

26. ●Split-Merge Blocks will output one event
attribute per input
●Compatible with Automation writers
●Event attributes aren’t aggregated, you’ll only
receive information from the very last job



Resource: Job Orchestration with Automations
Step Three: Rethinking Attributes with the
Split-Merge Block
Intro to the Split-Merge Block Functionality

27. Step Four: Automation Parameters and Email
Recipients
●Automation Parameters can be used anywhere in an Automation!
●Great for repeatedly-used parameters (i.e: Email recipients, file paths)
●One single parameter to manage our Email To recipients

Resource: Send email from Automations
Intro to the Split-Merge Block Functionality

28. Custom Email Subject & Body using
Event Attributes
●Multiple attributes can be used in a single parameter
●Concatenate key values together or build custom text bodies
Intro to the Split-Merge Block Functionality

29. Demo
Intro to the Split-Merge Block Functionality

30. Key Takeaways
●Split-Merge Block allows you to output a single message for the final job in the block
●With Automation Parameters you can edit a single value and have it update everywhere
that it’s used in your automations.
●Use the Text Editor to add multiple attributes in a single parameter value.
Intro to the Split-Merge Block Functionality

31. 4
Using Attributes
and Parameters
in Automation
Apps

32. Automation Apps
●Allow users to run Automations that
originate from a Manual Trigger as "apps"
from a web browser
●Apps are shared as URLs, and may be
presented through customizable web
pages
●Manual Parameters allow for user input
into the Automation from the App
Using Attributes and Parameters in Automation Apps

33. Allow multiple
users to pass
parameters and
run automation

Goal Block Key
Manual Parameters in an Automation App
Result
Difficulty
configuring and
customizing
workflow
parameters

Leverage
Manual
Parameters and
Automation
Apps

Users can trigger
Automations
with custom
parameters
taken as inputs
Using Attributes and Parameters in Automation Apps

34. Demo
Using Attributes and Parameters in Automation Apps

35. Key Takeaways
●Manual Parameters send values that can
be used as input throughout the
automation
●Automation Apps pass Manual
Parameters to the automation triggered
from the app
Using Attributes and Parameters in Automation Apps

36. 6
Resources

37. Get our Ebook
Spatial Data for the
Enterprise

fme.ly/gzc


Guided learning
experiences at your
fingertips
academy.safe.com


FME Academy
Resources
Check out how-to’s &
demos in the knowledge
base
support.safe.com
Knowledge Base Webinars
Upcoming &
on-demand webinars

safe.com/webinars

38. 7
Next Steps

39. We’d love to help you get
started.
Get in touch with us at
[email protected]
Experience the
FME Accelerator
Contact Us
A world where data is not just a
commodity but a catalyst for
real change.
fme.safe.com/accelerator



Next Steps

40. Claim Your Community Badge &
Dive into the new Community!
●Get community badges for watching
webinars
●community.safe.com
●Today’s code: 4H7HE4


Join the Community today!
Next Steps

41. 8
Q&A

42. Thank You
Recap of Next Steps

1Join the FME Community
2Contact us
3Experience the FME Accelerator

Please fill out our
webinar survey