Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Make Your Workflow Self-Serve

Now that her workspace has been published to FME Server, Jennifer can turn it into an FME Server App. Anyone with the URL can access an FME Server App, no login required. Therefore, she’ll be able to provide the link to CAD contractors to validate their data before it will be accepted by the City.

To create an FME Server App, she logs into FME Server and clicks Server Apps > Build Workspace App in the left-hand menu.

Build Workspace App button in FME Server web interface menu

She fills in the dialog as follows.

Name

digital-plan-submission

Title (optional)

Digital Plan Submission

Description (optional)

Submit your CAD data here (DWG format) to receive a validation report. Your data must meet the following standards:

Lines

OGC Simple Features-valid

Has a value for the Diameter attribute

Repository

Self-Serve

Workspace

publish-your-validation-workflow.fmw

Service

Data Streaming

Expiration

Default (10 years)

Note

Jennifer could customize the appearance of her Server App by clicking the Customize section and adding custom branding elements. Taking advantage of these options lets you design apps that match your own website; the user doesn’t need to know they are using FME Server.

After filling in the form she clicks OK. Her app is now available at http://localhost/fmeserver/apps/digital-plan-submission. To confirm it works without an FME Server login, she opens a private browsing window (e.g. Incognito Mode in Chrome) and visits the URL. She is able to access it, upload bad_data.dwg, and run it, with the results streamed back to her in her browser.

Digital Plan Submission FME Server app

Deploy Your Automated Digital Plan Submission Workflow

Jennifer is ready to deploy her app in the city’s digital plan submission workflow. She adds a link to the City’s website where submitters can validate their data before submitting. The data quality of submitted plans should increase now that submitters can validate beforehand.

Note

As mentioned above, this workflow could be expanded and improved by performing data cleanup tasks as required and then actually loading the submitted data into City systems, for example, adding it to a GIS.

Note

If your organization produces multiple FME Server Apps, you can host them all in one place for easy access by creating an FME Server Gallery App.

Exercise

Make sure you have followed along with Jennifer’s steps.