Can FME be used in Batch Mode?

Question

Can FME be used in Batch Mode?

Answer

Q) Can FME be used in batch mode?

A) Yes. In its heart FME is a command-line program, and in fact all the FME user interface does is create command lines and then start up FME to execute them, so it is very well suited to batch processing.

Instead of processing a single workspace and dataset, the FME batch mode permits you to process a large array of datasets, using either the same workspace or a different one each time.


Q) So selecting a whole load of source datasets count as batch processing?

A) In theory selecting a group of source datasets does count as batch processing – the difference would be that, depending on your workspace, you might only get a single output dataset. You could always use the Dataset Fanout to fan-out by the format attribute fme_basename, in which case you are batch processing in all but name. There are easier ways though.


Q) Then how should I run FME in batch mode?

A) There are a number of ways to operate FME in batch mode. Some methods are similar, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages that might be of use under particular circumstances.

The three methods are…

• Batching from the command line or a batch file (including GEN_TRANS)
• Batching from an FME Command File
• Batching with Batch Deploy