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Generate Attachment Match Table with Prefix

KelseyM

I'm looking to batch upload hundreds of pdfs to a feature class based on a common ID field. Each point within the feature class has a unique ID and each point will end up with multiple pdf attachments. The PDFs naming convention is uniqueID_YYYYMMDD, for example 123_20240610.pdf. I've tried using prefix as the Match Pattern option however it ends up joining the pdfs to UID1, UID12 and UID123. Is there anyway to get around this? Any feedback is appreciated!

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KelseyM

Wanted to post an update, I was able to create a custom table (without using the Generate match table tool) in excel and used that as an input for adding attachments to my feature class.

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RPGIS

Hi @KelseyM,

Have you tried creating a separate field to calculate the ids found in the pdfs and use that field to specify the attachments? That may help with identifying the unique ids between the two and attaching each pdf.

KelseyM

Thanks for your response! Do you mean within the original feature class? The relationship will be 1 to many.

I was wondering if I could create my own custom Match Table with the unique IDs and path name but I believe as part of the generate match table it attaches the pdfs in the process.

RPGIS

Either the original or the pdfs. If you create a table using the IDs from the pdfs and then identify which ones the feature class are identical then it will help attaching the pdfs easier. If there are any ids that standout, then you know which ones might require some modification for the attachments to work properly.

KelseyM

Wanted to post an update, I was able to create a custom table (without using the Generate match table tool) in excel and used that as an input for adding attachments to my feature class.

PeterKnoop

Be aware that the current implementation of the prefix match algorithm does not do an "exact" match. It looks at the leftmost characters in the filename, up to the length of the in_key_field value being compared. It does not use the "_" separator to determine the prefix value. (This seems like a bug.)

For example, if you are using a key field that that has a value like UID1, then the prefix algorithm will match match all attachment filenames that start with "UID1". So UID1 would match UID1_20240610.pdf, UID12_20240610.pdf, and UID123_20240610.pdf.

As a workaround, you can convert your key field to one where all values of are of the same length, and ensure your filenames follow that same format for the key field prefix. For example, you could pad your ID values with zeros to make them all the same length: UID001 would only match filenames UID001_..., UID012 would only match filenames UID012_..., and UID123 would only match filenames UID123_....

So if you are using Export Attachments to create the directory of attachments, make sure you use a name filed for which all values have the same length.

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