Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with Parameters

Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.

Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.

Here’s what you’ll gain:

Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.

Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.

Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.

Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.

We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.

Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.

1. Essentials of Automations:
Optimizing FME Workflows
with Parameters

2. Evie
Lapalme

Technical Support Specialist
Safe Software
Natalie
Clouthier

Technical Support Specialist,
FME Form
Safe Software
Matt
Meeboer

Technical Support Specialist,
FME Flow
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. Agenda
1Understanding Parameters in FME
2FME Form
3FME Flow
4Parameters Best Practices
5Conclusion
6Resources & Next Steps
7Q&A
Agenda

5. 1
Understanding
Parameters
in FME

6. One platform, two technologies
FME Form FME Flow
Build and run data workflows Automate data workflows

FME Flow Hosted
Safe Software managed instance
fme.safe.com/platform
FME Enterprise Integration Platform
Safe & FME

7. A Webinar on
Parameters?

8. Parameters are Valuable!


An improved application of parameters will:
●improve workflow outputs
●improve the user experience
●improve workspace maintenance

9. Parameters are Everywhere!

10. Parameters are Everywhere!

11. Parameters are Everywhere!

12. Parameters are Everywhere!



…or at least anywhere information can be entered or
selected somehow
●by the author
●by the user
●via reference to some other parameter

13. Parameter Categories Across
the FME Platform

14. Parameter Categories Across
the FME Platform



●Reader/Writer
●Feature type
●Transformer
●Custom transformer


●Workspace
●FME
○FME Flow
●User
●Deployment

15. Parameter Categories Across
the FME Platform



●Reader/Writer
●Feature type
●Transformer
●Custom transformer


●Workspace
●FME
○FME Flow
●User
●Deployment

16. Reader / Writer Parameters



Reference: Reader and Writer Parameters

17. Feature Type Parameters



Reference: About Reader Feature Type Parameters

18. Transformer Parameters



Reference: Transformer Parameters

19. Custom Transformer Parameters



Reference: Custom Transformer Parameters

20. Workspace Parameters



Reference: Workspace Parameters

21. FME Parameters



Reference: FME Parameters

22. 2
FME Form

23. User
Parameters
Choices &
Conditional
Visibility

24. Goal Block Key Result
Want the user to
be able to have a
choice

User Parameters
Ability to prompt
the user for input

User
Parameters!

User is able to
have an impact
on the outcome

25. User Parameter Types
●Most common: Choice

○Dropdown

○List

26. User Parameter Configuration
●Value:Display Pairs
○Value: what is being performed on in
the workspace
○Display: what appears to the user
●Import From Dataset
○Helpful when there are multiple
choices to configure.

27. Conditional Visibility
●control when parameters are exposed at runtime
●allows irrelevant parameters to be disabled/hidden depending on
the value of another user parameter.
●helps reduce translation errors by preventing the input of incorrect
parameter values at runtime.

28. Demo

29. Key Points
●User Parameters allow for user input to
your workspace
●Conditional Visibility allows you to have
parameters depend on each other

Resources
Published Parameters in FME Form
Working With Conditionally Visible Published User Parameters

30. Which types of
parameters do you
currently use?

31. 3
FME Flow

32. FME Flow Parameters
●Helpful for authoring your workspace for
FME Flow
●Reference parts of FME Flow system
when the translation is run on FME Flow

33. FME FORM
FME FLOW

34. User Parameters on
FME Flow
●Select an area of interest
●Drag and drop files
●Generate rich user experiences for those
who consume the workspaces you author

35. Deployment Parameters
●Parameters that can be different across
FME Flow instances
●One parameter name = many values

38. Extract Data
for an Area

39. Slide Title
Allow a non-FME
user to interact
with a
workspace to
extract data
Goal Block Key
Extract Data for an Area
Result
User has no
knowledge of
geojson and
want to simply
draw their area of
interest on a
map
Geometry User
Parameter with
an FME Flow
App
Easy to use,
no-code app

40. Demo

41. Key Points
●User parameters render differently in
FME Flow
●The Geometry Parameter allows users to
draw geometry on a map in FME Flow
●User parameters let you build rich web
user experiences with no code

42. File
Submission

43. Goal Block Key Result
Slide Title
Allow non-FME
user to upload
their file and
have it go to the
correct
destination DB
Goal Block Key
File Submission
Result
File submission?
Schema
Validation file
location?
Database
environment?
File User
Parameter,
FME Flow
Parameter,
Deployment
Parameter
Easy to use,
no-code app

44. Demo

45. Key Points
●File/Folder user parameters allow users
to submit files to a workflow through drag
and drop
●FME Flow parameters let you author your
workflow for FME Flow
●Make FME Workspaces easier to deploy
to different environments with
Deployment Parameters

46. 4
Parameters
Best Practices

47. Parameter Type is Key

●Every parameter in FME has an
underlying type
○Choice, Text, Script, Url, etc

●Type must match between user
parameter and its target parameter(s)

●Create user parameters from the target
object’s Parameters dialog / Parameter
Editor
○Type match by default


Reference: FME Parameter Types

48. Simplify your parameter use
●Make use of Conditional Visibility
○Keep the runtime Parameter Prompt
looking clean
○Reduce errors by unnecessary input

●Use the Import from Dataset feature
○Keep the values consistent with your
dataset
○Reduce confusion from the users

49. Leverage Deployment Parameters
ok nice very nice!

50. 5
Conclusion

51. Summary
●Parameter application and management
are both important
○poor instructions → poor results

●Use parameters effectively
○simplify the user experience
○limit the potential for errors
○improve workflow maintainability
○increase workflow security
○make workflows easier to deploy

●Avoid the defaults temptation

52. 4
Resources

53. Get our Ebook
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Enterprise

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54. 5
Next Steps

55. We’d love to help you get
started.
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Next Steps

57. 8
Q&A

58. Thank You
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