Field names comparison using change detector transformer in FME

Question

I have two dbf files which each have a field containing the same feature type but it may contain same or different field names. I need to compare the field names alone in the two dbf files to find out where there are differences? Whether it is possible using changedetector transformer in FME?if so,how can it be done?

Answer 1

The ChangeDetector will tell you if the attribute values are the same (or not). If you want to know if the attribute names are the same then you need to use a Reader called the "Schema (Any Format)" Reader.

For example, here I'm reading a MapInfo TAB file in the FME Data Inspector. I can see fields that record all of the attributes in the dataset, what their name is and what data type they are (both the FME data type and the native format data type).

Once you have that information you could use the ChangeDetector then to see if any fields are different. Does that make sense?