New Features in 2018
FME Desktop 2018 introduces many new tools and functionality to both FME Workbench and the FME Data Inspector. These tools make wide-ranging changes to the methods workspace authors use in designing and creating workspaces.
Top Tools
The most important new tools will be covered during this course. They are:
- Caches and Partial Runs
- The ability for FME to cache data at each point of a translation, and to re-use that cached data.
- Collapsible Bookmarks
- The ability for bookmarks to be collapsed to simple input/output ports, to hide the contents.
- Precision and Tolerance Parameters
- The ability to set tolerance on a number of spatial operations, to work around coordinate precision differences.
- Microsoft Formats
- The ability to write data to Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word, and the addition of styling transformers for all Microsoft formats
- FeatureJoiner
- A SQL-based transformer for carrying out joins in a more powerful version of the FeatureMerger
Other Updates
Besides these top tools, it is also worth mentioning other highlights from the FME2018 release:
New Formats
There are multiple new formats supported in FME2018, with over 50 new raster formats based on GDAL technology. Some of the key formats are:
- Apple Venue Format (AVF) Reader and Writer
- Bentley i-Model Reader
- Esri Indexed 3D Scene Layer (I3S)
- LDAP (Active Directory) Reader
- PCD (Point Cloud Data) Reader and Writer
- PDF Reader (2D/Raster/Text)
- Qlik Data Exchange Writer
- Well Log ASCII Standard (WLAS) Reader
There is also an FME AR format and associated app on the iTunes store.
New Transformers
Aside from Microsoft-related functionality, new transformers in 2018 mostly revolve around connecting to web services:
- HDFSConnector (Hadoop)
- ProjectWiseConnector
- S3Connector
- SalesforceConnector
Workbench Updates
FME Workbench includes a number of upgrades - some small, some large - separate to what this course covers. These include:
- Copy/paste transformer parameters
- Dynamic log window filtering
- FeatureWriter output ports
- New geometry type support (clothoids and 3D arcs)
- Support for new German and Australian coordinate system datums
- Tester DateTime support
- Change Rejected Feature handling with a right-click
- Annotation word wraps by default. Bookmarks filled by default
- New Windows rendering options for high DPI displays and web views
- Place new annotation direct to the canvas using Ctrl+K
Further Reading
For more information on what else is new and great in FME 2018, see the FME2018 unveiling webinar, the FME Desktop Deep Dive webinar, and the FME Server Deep Dive webinar