FME: Tester on published parameters + composite test

I just discovered a very cool feature in FME. In the past, when I wanted to test a published parameter, I had to use a ParameterFetcher, than a Tester. I found it pretty annoying. Yeah, I know, I’m a lazy person. Ask my wife. So, I wanted the Tester to have the capability of testing published parameters. Well, it seems Safe Software read my mind! In FME2010 – and maybe also in the previous versions, I didn’t check – you can now use the Tester transformer to check the value of published parameters. Plus, there is a new powerful way of combining many tests in only one transformer: the Composite Test criteria! Here’s the easy way of doing all this.

1- Suppose you have a bunch of published parameters – strings, integers, and so on – that you want to test.

2- Use the good old Tester transformer, right click on a field, choose “Set to published parameter”, then select the parameter you want to test.

3- Select the “Composite Test” option in the “Pass Criteria” field. You can then put whatever logic you want in the Test Expression field.

Tadam! Enjoy!

FME: Microsoft SQL Native Client: Deferred prepare could not be completed.

I just ran into this error in FME:

Microsoft SQL Native Client: Deferred prepare could not be completed.

Initially, I thought that I received this error because I needed to install some SQL Server libraries, as explained on the ESRI Forums here, but then I realized that my WHERE CLAUSE in one of my FME datasource was erroneous…

Here is the error

Safe FME: How to add a ESRI ArcSDE datasource using Direct Connect for Oracle

Hey guys, I don’t know if you’re like me, but I find it pretty painful to connect to a ESRI ArcSDE (Oracle) database using Direct Connect in FME.

So here is a small reminder on how to do it.

1. First, you need to enter to database name (as defined in the TNSNAMES.ora file).
2. Then, enter the username. For example ‘sde’.
3. Enter the password with the following naming convention: ‘username@database’. For example ‘sde@Database’.
4. Instance. For example, if you have Oracle 11 g client installed, use ‘ sde:oracle11g’.
5. Just enter any value in the field Server, even though it is not used, unless FME won’t let you close the form.

Voilà!

Regular expressions, String Replacer and FME: A powerful trio!

Regular Expressions are a powerful way of dealing with strings, even in Safe FME Software. Here is an example of how to find some characters in a string and replace them by an other character.