Advanced Parameter Use
Parameters are controls that define how FME operates; for example, how a reader reads data, how a transformer transforms it, and how a writer writes it. Almost every component in FME has parameters of one type or another.
Types of Parameter
When looking at the types of parameter, it’s helpful first to consider the types of people who use FME and their role in the process.
Workspace authors are the people who design and create a workspace. Authors use FME Workbench and set parameters to control how the workspace runs.
Workspace users are the people who make use of a workspace, without necessarily having created it first. Users might have very little knowledge of FME, and may never have used FME Workbench, but they still may need to set parameters to control how the workspace runs.
In light of these two roles, we can say there are two different types of parameters: FME parameters (for authors to use) and user parameters (for FME users to use).
| FME Lizard says... |
| The concept of workspace users who have never heard of FME sounds like an oxymoron. However, FME is an enterprise-level data integration platform. People may use FME at that level without having any knowledge of FME Desktop. In fact, users on the client side of an FME Server installation might be using a custom web page or application that triggers a translation on FME. So it's entirely possible to set workspace parameters without even knowing what a workspace is! |