Self-Serve and Parameters
Workspace parameters are the key to controlling Self-Serve and the Data Download service
What are Parameters?
Parameters are what control a translation.
| Chef Bimm says… |
| “Parameters in a translation are like the options when making coffee. The machine can be set with the ingredients to be used, how they are combined, and what the end result of the process will be like.” |
In the hierarchy of different translation components, each different level of the hierarchy has a set of parameters that belong to it.
So there are:
• Workspace Parameters • Reader Parameters • Writer Parameters • Feature Type Parameters
Published Parameters
Published Parameters are those that have been exposed to the end-user, so they can set the values themselves. They are also called “User Parameters”.
In a self-serve application, published parameters are important to let the end user control how the data is served in terms of style and structure.
| Chef Bimm says… |
| “Published Parameters are like when you are given control of the machine to make your own coffee.” |
Parameter Uses in FME Server
For self-serve systems, parameters can be used to set:
• Coordinate System Selection • Feature Types (Layers) to Read • Geographic Area (Bounding Box or Area of Interest) • Any other Reader, Writer, or Transformer parameters
With FME Server, the key to successful workspace authoring is flexibility. Workspaces need to be flexible to allow end-users to make choices without seeing all of the complexity of the workspace or the data behind it. Parameters are one way to accomplish this.