Gentrans
From Fmepedia
Introduction
FME’s GENTRANS mode is a simple and easy way to do a quick translation between two formats. GENTRANS performs translations that are very similar to the Universal Translator’s Generate/Translate functionality. GENTRANS is useful for when you need to perform quick translations between different formats, and don’t need to do any special operations that would normally be performed using either Workbench or a Mapping file.
GENTRANS Syntax
Simply type:
fme gentrans
...on a command line (eg DOS window) to discover the syntax and functionality of the GENTRANS command.
For more information see the FME online help (http://docs.safe.com/fme/html/Fundamentals/command_line_-_perform_a_generic_translation..htm#command_line_6587_105876).
GENTRANS and Pipelines
A pipeline is similar to an FME Mapping File, which itself is a non-graphic version of a workspace. The difference is that a pipeline doesn't have defined readers or writers, just a set of processing commands. GENTRANS doesn't allow use of workspaces, but you could probably turn a workspace into a pipeline by first saving it as a mapping file (File > Save As) and then editing the mapping file in a text editor to delete the source and destination dataset definitions.
It's complicated, so I guess the point is that if you need to process the data in some way, then GENTRANS might not be the best solution.
GENTRANS and Windows Shortcuts
See this page for an example of how to add GENTRANS commands to shortcuts in Windows Explorer.
Examples
Conversion with Coordinate System Reprojection
FME GENTRANS LOG_FILENAME gentrans.log ACAD drainage_design_P001.dwg COORDSYS,BritishNatGrid ACAD drainage_design2_P001.dxf COORDSYS,BritishNatGrid
Translation with a Parameter File
Generating a parameter file:
FME GENTRANS GUI GENERATE key.param ACAD drainage_design_P001.dwg ACAD drainage_design2_P001.dxf
Using a parameter file:
FME GENTRANS LOG_FILENAME logfile.txt parameter_file.txt
Generate a GENTRANS command from a GUI
This example opens a GUI which outputs a GENTRANS command line. Simply prefix it with "FME GENTRANS" to run it.
FME GENTRANS GUI GENERATE_CMDLINE
Generate a GENTRANS commmand from a Parameter File
FME GENTRANS GENERATE_CMDLINE key.param
Translation with Reader and Writer Keywords
FME Gentrans ACAD "S:\key-systems\drainage_design_P001.dwg" "RUNTIME_MACROS,\"METAFILE,acadScan,_EXPAND_BLOCKS,no,_EXPAND_VISIBLE,no,_BULGES_AS_ARCS,no,_STORE_BULGE_INFO,yes,_READ_PAPER_SPACE,no,ACAD_IN_READ_GROUPS,no,_IGNORE_UCS,no,_MERGE_SCHEMAS,YES\",META_MACROS,\"Source_EXPAND_BLOCKS,no,Source_EXPAND_VISIBLE,no,Source_BULGES_AS_ARCS,no,Source_STORE_BULGE_INFO,yes,Source_READ_PAPER_SPACE,no,SourceACAD_IN_READ_GROUPS,no,Source_IGNORE_UCS,no\",METAFILE,acadScan,COORDSYS,BritishNatGrid,IDLIST," ACAD "S:\key-systems\drainage_design_P001.dxf" "RUNTIME_MACROS,\"_ATTRKIND,external_attributes,_REL,Release2000,_TMPL,S:\key-systems\drainage_design_P001.dwg\",META_MACROS,\"Dest_ATTRKIND,external_attributes,Dest_REL,Release2000,Dest_TMPL,S:\key-systems\drainage_design_P001.dwg\",METAFILE,ACAD,COORDSYS,BritishNatGrid"
Batch Processing using GENTRANS
for /R x: %%F in (*.shp) do fme gentrans LOG_FILENAME "y:\%%~pF%%~nF.log" PIPELINE ground2grid.fmi SHAPE "%%F" SHAPE "y:\%%~pF"
