The document discusses the use of Azure Pipelines for automating the deployment and testing of FME projects, addressing common frustrations such as version control issues and manual deployment. It outlines the CI/CD lifecycle and details how to improve FME processing through dynamic workspaces, reusable code, and automated testing. The conclusion emphasizes the simplicity and effectiveness of Azure Pipelines for enhancing FME project management.

1. The use of Azure Pipelines for
automatic deployment and automated
testing of FME content

2. Presenter
The
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of
Data
Integration
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Maarten
van Doornik
GIS consultant
Tensing - Avineon

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Introduction

4. The
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Working on a FME project
Common frustrations people face :
● Different versions of a workspace exist
● Environments are not equal
● Bugs exist due to lack of proper testing

5. The
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Working on a FME project
What is often encountered:
● No version control
● Deployment occurs manually
● No automated testing

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What is Azure Pipelines?
Azure Pipelines is a cloud service that we can use to build, test and deploy our code
project automatically.
CI/CD lifecycle
Continuous integration
- Build and publish an artifact from your source code using a build pipeline
Continuous deployment
- Deploy a published artifact using a release pipeline

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Deploy a FME project using
Azure Pipelines

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Our project (GAAS)
Improving the FME processing flow:
● Dynamic workspaces
● Reusable code 🡪 linked custom transformers
● Automations
● Version control (git)
● Automatic deployment
● Automated testing

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Build pipeline
Git repository
Run FME unit test workspaces

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FME unit testing example

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Build pipeline
Git repository
Run FME unit test workspaces
ZIP folder
Publish artifact
✔

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Release pipeline
Published
Artifact
Test Acceptance Production
✔
1) Extract ZIP file
2) Replace passwords in
Acceptance.ini
3) Run Install.py
• Arg: Acceptance.ini
1) Extract ZIP file
2) Replace passwords in
Test.ini
3) Run Install.py
• Arg: Test.ini
1) Extract ZIP file
2) Replace passwords in
Production.ini
3) Run Install.py
• Arg: Production.ini

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Run Install.py
FME Content:
- Project file (.fsproject)
🡪 automations
- Custom transformers (.fmx)
- Workspaces (.fmw)
FME REST
API
Install.py
lib.fme INI-file ⚙
FME Server
Read files
Import
Read FME Server
configuration
Upload

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Benefits of using a pipeline
● Equal environments
● Insight in your deployment status
● Deploy only tested functionality
● Deployment is just a “push on the button”

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Conclusion

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Azure Pipelines is:
● Actually not that complicated
● Also very useful in FME projects
● A great tool to automate your deployment
● A great tool to incorporate automated tests

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Resources
● What is Azure Pipelines? - Azure Pipelines | Microsoft
Learn
● FMEFlow Rest API V3 (safe.com)

18. ThankYou!
mvandoornik@tensing.com