Inspecting Data

The FME Data Inspector includes several querying tools, but two are particularly important:

• Query individual feature(s)
• Measure a distance within a View window

The query tool button is like a toggle. By default it is active when you start the FME Data Inspector; if you click it again - or select a windowing tool - you turn the query tool off.

The results of a feature query are shown in the Feature Information window.

Feature Information Window

The upper part of this window reports on general information about the feature; which feature type (layer/table) it belongs to, which coordinate system it is in, whether it is two- or three-dimensional, and how many vertices it possesses.

The middle part reports the attributes associated with the feature, including user attributes and format attributes (for example fme_type).

The lower part reports the geometry of the feature. It includes the geometry type and a list of the coordinates that go to make up the feature.

Table View Window

Also available is a window called the Table View.

The table view is a way to inspect data in a tabular, spreadsheet-like, layout. Although it does not have the same depth of information as shown by the Information Window, the Table View is particularly useful for inspecting the attribute values of multiple features simultaneously.

You can switch back and forth between feature types in the Table View by clicking the dropdown menu at the top of Table View.