Workarounds to Known Issues in FME 2020.x

Liz Sanderson
Liz Sanderson
  • Updated

FME Version

Known Issues for all FME 2020.x

FME Desktop

FME Desktop: SQL Server Native Client 2012 no longer included in installation

Problem As of FME 2020 and newer, the SQL Server Native Client 2012 will no longer be included in the installation. As such you may encounter issues with connecting to an Enterprise (SDE) Geodatabase.
Workaround

If you are unable to connect to an SDE Geodatabase after upgrading to FME 2020.X, or newer, please install the SQL Server ODBC client.

For more information about supported SQL Server clients for ArcGIS, please see the following page: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/system-requirements/latest/database-requirements-sqlserver.htm

 

FME Desktop: SQL Server driver missing in the installer

Problem If attempting to connect to SQL Server on a new system with no previous install of FME Desktop 2020.0, you may encounter a missing driver error.
Workaround

If you are unable to connect to a SQL Server database, install the MSOLEDBSQL driver that is present in the FME Desktop installer. Searching in your FME install directory for 'MSOLEDBSQL' should bring up the installer. If you run that installer, and re-launch FME Workbench it should connect to SQL Server as expected.

JDBC Database Connections missing

 

Problem

As of FME 2020.x, certain JDBC Database formats were split from their original format family, and as a result, no longer share database connection details between Non-JDBC and JDBC database formats.

When opening workspaces created in an older version of FME with these types of database connections you’ll notice a message in the Format dropdown “Microsoft SQL Server Non-Spatial (JDBC) (replaced by MSSQL_JDBC_NONSPATIAL_2)”. This will indicate the need to recreate the Database Connection in most cases.
Workaround

As such, database connections created in pre-2020.x FME builds will have to be remade for the specific Database format.

Eg: A database connection created in 2019 for SQL Server, could be used for both the JDBC and non-JDBC SQL Server format. In 2020.x, you will have to make a new JDBC database connection to use it with SQL Server.

 

FME Server

FME Server: Workspaces that contain web/database connections fail due to lack of proper permissions

Problem After upgrading your FME Server to 2020.0 or newer, when users run workspaces that contain any web or database connections the translation will fail with the error “Unauthorized request by user due to lack of proper permissions”.
Workaround

We made some security improvements regarding Web or Database connections for FME Server 2020. Therefore, after upgrading you will be required to reconfigure the necessary permissions. Please see this article for more information.

 

FME Server: Unable to change engine count from 2 to 1

Problem

After install, FME Server continually tries to launch two engines, however I am only licensed for a single engine. This results in errors reported in the fmeserver.log and subsequently System Events. However when I try and change the engine count to one, it always reverts back to two.

Workaround

Drop the engine count from 2 to 0 first and then change the count back up to 1 and this change should now be applied successfully.

 

FME Server: FMEServerNotifier transformer not working on FME Server 2020

Problem

If the FMEServerNotifier transformer is used in FME Desktop 2019 to notify an FME Server 2020 topic it will not work. This is because the FME Server REST API V1 was deprecated in 2020 and the FMEServerNotifier used V1 in 2019.

Workaround

If you use FME Desktop 2020 to notify an FME Server 2020 topic it will work. 

FME Server: Unable to read files in FME Server Web UI from a network-based resource

Problem

When trying to view a file stored in a network-based resource in the FME Server web UI it returns 'Path <sharedresource>/<filename>.ext is not a valid path'. 

Workaround

Edit the shared resource to include a trailing slash at the end of the file path. 

 

FME Server: cannot connect to IMAP Email Server with TLS 1.0 and 1.1 disabled

Problem

If an IMAP email server is only enabled to use TLS1.2, then FME Server will not be able to connect to it. 

Workaround

To fix this modify the FMEProcessMonitorCore file:

  1. Find your processMonitorConfigCore.txt file (it should be in your install directory which is by default located C:\apps\FMEServer\Server or C:\Program Files\FMEServer\Server)

  2. Create a backup of this file (it's good to have if we want to revert this).

  3. Open it as an admin and find # Start FME Server Publisher Plugin (imap) then insert -Dmail.imap.ssl.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dmail.imaps.ssl.protocols=TLSv1.2 after -Dmail.imaps.fetchsize=1048576

 

FME Server: Published parameter file paths are redirected to the repository where the workspace is saved

Problem

On FME Desktop, we create a relative path to find data if the data is located in the same folder as the workspace or a subfolder of the workspace. Once the workspace is uploaded to FME Server, sometimes these relative paths are not removed. One way to check if this issue is affecting you is to open up your workspace in a text editor and see if you can find the parameter value FME_MF_DIR_ENCODED. 

Workaround

  1. Save your workspace in a new location
  2. Update your readers to ensure that the relative path is removed. Save the workspace again.
  3. Upload the workspace to FME Server.

 

FME Server: Using SVG Images in Workspace App Logo/Icon/Banners or Gallery App Browser Icons fails to load

Problem When an SVG image is uploaded into a Workspace or Gallery App it looks ok on the edit page, but once the App is created the image does not load.
Workaround Use a PNG or JPG image instead. 
Status In FME Server 2021.0 and newer file type for Server App images has been restricted to allow PNG and JPG only.

 

Known Issues between FME 2020.0 and 2020.2

FME Desktop

FeatureReader cannot read from Feature Types with spaces in the name

Problem Reading features fails when using the FeatureReader if feature type names contain spaces. Reading is successful using a regular reader for the same feature type.
Workaround Use the regular reader or upgrade to the latest release of FME 2020.
Status This issue was fixed for Windows 2020.0.0.1 b20202

 

GML Reader can no longer read GML with embedded xlinks

Problem GML reader generates the message "xml-geometry-ref Geometry Builder: unable to adopt the below geometry because construction for its own geometry has already been finalized". This is most likely because it contains xlink_href="". We added support to xlinked, referenced geometry in 2019.1. Previous versions of FME ignored this.
Workaround Use GML reader's ignore schema mode, or upgrade to the latest release or beta of FME
Status This issue was fixed for 2020.1 b20566 and backported to 2020.0.3 b20249

 

FME Desktop can see Hub custom formats, but cannot download or use them

Problem Issue affects non-offical packaged formats. For example, in Workbench try to add a reader of type "Japanese Fundamental Geospatial Data". You can find it in the formats list, but when you select it, the formats field doesn't accept it.
Workaround No workaround. Upgrade to 2020.0.2.1 b20238
Status This issue was fixed for 2020.0.2.1 build 20238 and newer

 

FME Options crash with FME Desktop and ArcGIS Pro 2.6 

Problem When accessing Tools>FME Options, FME may become unresponsive and crash. This is a result of an identified issue with FME Desktop 2020.1 (builds 20594, 20596, 20608) and ArcGIS Pro 2.6
Workaround

There are a few ways to workaround this issue:

  • Use FME 2020.1 32-bit with ArcGIS Desktop 10.8.1, OR 
  • Use FME 2020.0 with ArcGIS Pro 2.6, OR 
  • Use FME 2020.1 64-bit with ArcGIS Pro 2.5
Status To work with ArcGIS Pro 2.6 and FME, please use FME 2020.1.2

 

Feature caches do not appear on any transformers downstream from Reader feature types with spaces in the name

Problem The correct feature count appears on the Reader feature types with spaces in name but no feature cache will appear in any downstream transformers when using Partial Runs.
When this behavior occurs in a workspace where some Reader feature types contain spaces and some do not, features may appear to 'disappear' within the workflow. This behavior affects FME 2020.1 (builds 20591, 20596, all platforms).
Workaround There are a few ways to workaround this issue:
  • Disable Feature Caching
  • Purge feature caches from Reader feature types and perform Partial Runs from a downstream transformer
Status This issue was fixed for FME 2020.1 build 20608 and newer

 

FME Workbench Crash with FME_TEMP set to root volume

Problem

Using FME 2020.1.x and FME_TEMP environment variable set to a root volume (eg. D:\ ), FME Workbench, Data Inspector or Licensing Assistant, will crash when starting up.

In the Windows Event Viewer, an application error is logged with the faulting module name: fmeutil.dll

Workaround Please make a top-level directory on the drive (e.g. D:\FMETEMP) and set FME_TEMP to this directory.
Status This issue was fixed for FME 2020.2 build 20773 and newer

 

FME Licensing Assistant: This application cannot be used with the current license

Problem Using FME 2020.1 (builds 20594 to 20624) and connecting to a floating license, the FME Licensing Assistant reports "This application cannot be used with the current license". This is error is due to the presence of an expired temporary license. An example of the dialogue you may see:
Workaround

To resolve this issue, you can remove the temporary license by finding the *.fmelic file in one of the following directories:

  • C:\ProgramData\Safe Software\FME\Licenses
  • <fme-install-folder>/licenses
  • C:\users\<user>\Documents\FME\Licenses 
You can open the *.fmelic file in a text editor to see if it has an expiry date and then delete the file. You should be able to continue using your floating license.
Status This issue was fixed for FME 2020.1.3 build 20632 and newer

 

ArcGIS Online/Portal Writer: Can not select or write to an existing feature service shared with a group

Problem

In FME Desktop 2020.2.x, when creating a new ArcGIS Online/Portal writer, you can not select an existing feature service within a shared group. For an existing feature service writer shared with a group, you may encounter an error as well.

Workaround

Use the ID to select the layer
Open the feature service that you want to add in a web browser, in the web URL, there is an "id="
Copy the value to the "Feature Service" parameter for the ArcGIS Online writer inside brackets e.g.  (64d00a7c2ed14b0f9da3857d83bd40aa)

Status This issue is fixed in FME Desktop 2021.0

 

FME Workbench fails to write out .kmz with “.” in filename.

Problem

Using FME Desktop 2020.2.x writing out with Fanout Dataset Fanout Expression with the .kmz file extension resulted in an error and no data being written out. Files with “.” at beginning of the filename.

Workaround

Do not set kml_document attribute on output features. Or do not use “.” in filenames instead use “_”

Status This issue was fixed for FME 2020.2 build 20773 and newer

 

FME Server

FME Server: Username/Password with International Characters Causes FME Server Publishing Wizard to Fail. 

Problem When publishing a workspace to FME Server via FME Desktop, if the FME Server username contains international characters or the password contains international characters such as 本å ä ö à, FME Workbench will give an authentication error. 
Workaround Create an FME Server username and password without these characters, or use a different account to publish. Logging into FME Server is unaffected. 
Status This issue was fixed for 2021.0 build 21286


FME Server: Distributed Web Application/Database Install cannot view components in Web UI

Problem In the FME Server Web UI when I try and view Resources or Broadcast Messages it says “We could not find what you wanted”. In Automations I cannot set the protocol type for triggers or external actions.
Workaround You can either upgrade to 2020.0.0.1 or you will need to update a web application config file to correctly reference the database URL. For more information and full instructions on how to do this please see this article: https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/109765/known-issue-fme-server-resourcesautomations-could.html.
Status This issue was fixed for 2020.0.0.1 build 20202.

 

FME Server: FME Server 2020 Automation doesn't show database connections

Problem When building an Automations you see 'No Connections Available' while configuring a workspace that contains a database parameter. If you configure the job via the Run Workspace page the connection appears.
Workaround

Instead of using the default user parameter, create a text user parameter and link it database parameter. Step by step instructions on this can be found here.

Status This issue was fixed for 2020.1 build 20576


FME Server: Receiving a 422 Error publishing a workspace that is registered to the Notification Service

Problem When attempting to re-publish a workspace to FME Server (e.g. a workspace that is already uploaded to FME Server - not just via the re-publish button) if the workspace is registered to the Notification Service and the 'Parameter to Get Topic Message' is set the workspace will fail. Reason was: The following readers or writers are included in an enabled service, but are not present in the workspace: <FORMAT_PARAM>
Workaround Delete the workspace from FME Server, and then publish it again. Alternatively, change workflows to no longer use the Notification Service. See the best answer on this Community post for details on how this could be done. 
Status This issue was fixed for 2020.1.3 build 20622.


FME Server: Gallery App browser icons are missing

Problem

In FME Server 2020.2 when I view my Gallery App there are no browser icons shown.

Workaround

No workaround. Upgrade to 2020.2.1 

Status This issue was fixed for 2020.2.1 b20803 and newer.

 

FME Server: Workspaces with linked custom transformers will fail if the custom transformer is in the repository or workspace folder in FME Server 2020.2

Problem In earlier versions of FME Server 2020.2, workspaces with linked custom transformers will fail if the custom transformer is in the repository or workspace folder. This was fixed in FME Server 2020.2 build 20809.
Workaround

To fix this issue you can upgrade your FME Server or follow one of the workarounds listed in this article.

 

FME Server: HTTPCaller and FMEServerJobSubmitter not respecting proxy exceptions if Python is used in the workspace

Problem In FME Server 2020.1.1, if you have enabled a proxy in the UI and set up exceptions for the FME Server, FME Server will respect them, unless there is a Python in the workspace. 
Workaround If you open fmeServerConfig.txt.
Under the heading FME SERVER SETTINGS START, add the following line:
ENABLE_ENGINEPROXY=false
Status This issue was fixed for:

FME Server 2020.1.3.2 (b20638)

FME Server 2020.2 (b20793) 

FME Server 2021.0 (b21223)

 

FME Server: Merged Feature Types Not Working In FME Server

Problem After publishing a workspace to FME Server that contains a merged feature type reader it is not possible to run the workspace via the Run Workspace page or Automations. 
Workaround Either upgrade or see this article for a workaround.
Status This issue was fixed for:

2020.2 build 20824+, 2021.0 build 21296+, 2021.1 build 21520+, or  2022.0 build 22049+.

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