FME Templates are a particularly useful form of shared resource. Like similarly-named items in other software, FME templates are a means of creating a workspace with/from a predesigned format and structure.
The closest analogy is to think of templates as a blueprint design.
They have their own extension (*.fmwt) and their own storage folder (<user>/FME/Templates).
Perhaps the most interesting thing about FME templates is that they can include source datasets within the file. This way both a workspace example, and the data required to run it, can be bundled together and provided to another user.
Templates have potentially very many uses. The most obvious ones are:
- A Complete Translation
- Wrapping up source data and workspace inside a single file makes it a very elegant way of providing a complete set of translation files to another user.
- Pre-Defined Data
- When a series of workspaces are all to use the same source or destination data, a template allows the author to duplicate Readers and Writers without having to recreate the workspace each time.
- Pre-Defined Transformation
- Templates are a great way to store a set of processing tasks for re-use. The end-user can simply create a workspace from the template and add their own readers and writers.
- An Example Translation
- A template is also a great way to share demos and examples in a way that another user can run immediately.
Templates are created by saving a workspace using File > Save As Template on the menubar:
| Miss Vector says... |
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Templates are very useful functionality. You really should be aware of how to create and use them.
What ways can a template be opened for use in FME Workbench (there might be more than one correct answer): 1. Open it using File > Open 2. Open it using File > Open Recent Template 3. Double-click the fmwt file in Windows Explorer 4. Use Create Workspace from Template in the Getting Started part of the start tab |