FME Desktop Shared Resources and Gridshift Files in Citrix

Introduction

FME Desktop can be configured to use a network share for Shared Resources and the Implicit Transformations for coordinates transformations.

By default the Shared Resources and the Implicit Transformation settings are stored in HKEY_USERS profile and thus is saved in each user profile. This may not be favourable for a Citrix deployment of FME Desktop. You don't want every user having to configure this when they connect to the Citrix environment to run FME Desktop. Additionally the user profiles may not maintain these registry settings in a Citrix Farm environment, requiring the user to configure this each time they use FME Desktop.

It is possible to configure the default location for Shared Resources and the settings for Implicit Transformations and GridShifts in advance for all users that connect to the Citrix environment to use FME Desktop.

Assumptions

In this example we will show how to set the NAD27 to NAD83 override to "USA Only" and ensure the only US grid shift file that can be used is for continental US.

Normal Configuration for single user installation
In a locally installed FME Desktop this can be done by
(1) Implicit Transformations: Change Workbench -> Tools -> FME Options... -> Coordinate Systems -> Implicit NAD 27 to NAD83 Transformation to "USA Only".

(2) Maintain Grid Transformations: Change Workbench -> Tools -> FME Options... -> Coordinate Systems -> Maintain Grid Transformations -> NAD27_to_NAD83 to include only conus.las. This has the impact of only using the continental US grid shift file for this case.

(3) Shared Resources: Change Workbench -> Tools -> FME Options...-> Default Paths -> Shared FME Folders. Adding a new folder will make available the directory to the single FME Desktop user.

Solution for a Citrix to affect all users of FME Desktop
(1) Implicit Transformations
Ensure the following registry values do not exist:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Safe Software Inc.\Feature Manipulation Engine\CoordSys] -> "NAD2783 Datum Shift"

For 64-bit FME, add:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safe Software Inc.\Feature Manipulation Engine\CoordSys] "NAD2783 Datum Shift"="usa only"

For 32-bit FME, add:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Safe Software Inc.\Feature Manipulation Engine\CoordSys] "NAD2783 Datum Shift"="usa only"

(2) Maintain Grid Transformations
Add the list of grid files to use for that transformation* to the shared directory. You want a file called " WorkbenchGridOverride_NAD27_to_NAD83.txt" with contents:

> # This file is auto-generated and may be overwritten.  Do not edit!
> # Last modified on Wed Nov 04 11:56:48 2015
>
> XFORM_GRID_OVERRIDE_DEF NAD27_to_NAD83  \
>     GRID_FILE NADCON,Fwd,.\GridData\Nadcon\conus.l?s  \
>     FALLBACK NAD27-48_to_WGS84

Don't copy the contents listed here but instead get the one from the system after configuring FME Desktop the way you like. For example, mine appears here:

"C:\Users\<username>\Documents\FME\CoordinateSystemGridOverrides\WorkbenchGridOverride_NAD27_to_NAD83.txt"

Put this file here (location from step 3):

shared directory path\CoordinateSystemGridOverrides

*Please note that the effort in step 2 is not really needed as the other "las" files will not be used for coordinate transformations within the continental US but this example still shows how to control the las file to use or that are available.

(3) Setting up a shared directory for Shared Resources

Ensure this value doesn't exist:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Safe Software Inc.\Feature Manipulation Engine] -> "Shared Resource Directory"

For 64-bit FME, add:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safe Software Inc.\Feature Manipulation Engine]
"Shared Resource Directory"="z:\\desktop\\foo"

For 32-bit FME, add:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Safe Software Inc.\Feature Manipulation Engine] "Shared Resource Directory"="z:\\desktop\\bar"  

Change the Z: paths as appropriate.

Those settings should now influence all users default settings when use FME Desktop through Citrix application.

Please report any issues or other common Citrix to Safe Software Support or by commenting on this article.