Importing fmeobjects into PyQGIS

Question

I use FME a lot for manipulation of spatial data, and would like to leverage it's Python library, fmeobjects in PyQgis.

If I run the following in my standard Python IDE it works fine:

import sys 
sys.path.append("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\fme\\fmeobjects\\python27") 
import fmeobjects

But the exact same code, when run in PyQgis, throws ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

In actual fact, fmeobjects is a .pyd file. I don't know if that's the problem, as my understanding is that pyd and dll are analogous to each other.

How can I get fmeobjects to import into PyQgis?

Answer 1

2016 update! Been trying to get this to work myself and thought I'd put what I've researched so far. This is done on Windows 10. For Linux users - try this if you're encountering problems.

Warning: For those wanting to integrate FME 2016 into python qgis, know that it isn't as easy as 'pip install fmeobjects' :)

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Step 1

Locate your fmeobjects.pyd file. This I think is the hardest part really! See here for an intro to .pyd files. It's basically a Python Windows DLL file.

For Python 2.7 the file should be at:

C:\apps\FME2016\fmeobjects\python27\fmeobjects.pyd

QGIS doesn't use Python3 yet as of now, but if it does in upcoming QGIS 3 version, you should use:

C:\apps\FME2016\fmeobjects\python34\fmeobjects.pyd

For me, the file was located at D:\apps\FME2016\fmeobjects\python27\fmeobjects.pyd. So search around until you find that file.

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Step 2

Next, let's import the fmeobjects module! The most official documentation I can find is here, note that it refers to FME 2015, but it should work on 2016. In 'theory', the following code should work:

import sys
sys.path.append("C:\\apps\\FME2016\\fmeobjects\\python27")
import fmeobjects

Advanced

If you are getting the error "ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found", see here.

Now, if you're keen, you can go to http://www.dependencywalker.com/, download the application (it's portable) and search for your fmeobjects.pyd file, and run it

See how fme.dll, fmepython27.dll, fmeutil.dll and rwtool_fme.dll are yellow in the second image? Those are missing dependencies not in our sys.path.

Those four files appear to located in a higher level directory (D:\apps\FME2016\ in my case). So we add that top-level directory to our sys.path, and also cd (change directory) to where fme is located so that fmeobjects will load properly. The python script thus becomes:

import os
import sys
sys.path.append("C:\\apps\\FME2016\\fmeobjects\\python27")
sys.path.append("C:\\apps\\FME2016\\")                     #add this
os.chdir("C:\\apps\\FME2016\\")        #do this too (somehow needed)
import fmeobjects

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Step 3

Verify that things work.

licMan = fmeobjects.FMELicenseManager()               # Print FME license type.
print 'FME License Type :', licMan.getLicenseType()   # FME license property names.

Note: if you get the error "FMEException: FMEException: -1:" here, I think that means your python script is not running on the same machine as FME Desktop. E.g. your code is on your local drive but FME is installed on a server.

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Step 4

Run a workbench!

worker = fmeobjects.FMEWorkspaceRunner()
worker.run('D:/fme/Workspaces/test.fmw') 

---

Step 5

Immerse yourself in the API.

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Personally, I run my script over and over again alot, so I have some if-then statements and try-except stuff:

import sys
fmePydPath = "C:\\apps\\FME2016\\fmeobjects\\python27"      #fme file path
fmePath = "C:\\apps\\FME2016\\"
if fmePydPath not in sys.path: sys.path.append(fmePydPath)  #prevents too much appending
if fmePath not in sys.path: sys.path.append(fmePath)

os.chdir(fmePath)
import fmeobjects

#Verifies that things work
licMan = fmeobjects.FMELicenseManager()               # Print FME license type.
print 'FME License Type :', licMan.getLicenseType()   # FME license property names.

#Runs a workspace (.fmw) file
try:
    worker = fmeobjects.FMEWorkspaceRunner()
    worker.run('D:/fme/Workspaces/test.fmw')
except fmeobjects.FMEException, err:
    print "FMEException: %s" % err

Answer 2

In Windows QGIS has its own Python version. By default if you instal libraries (ex. pip install name_of_library) it will be installed only in your pure Python version not for QGIS.

Here is a guide, I think it may be helpful: http://quantumofgis.blogspot.be/2014/11/qgis-standalone-and-python-modules.html

Answer 3

Try copying the fmeobjects.pyd to QGIS site.

From:

\fmeobjects\python27\fmeobjects.pyd

To:

\Lib\site-packages\fmeobjects.pyd