GDB Replication & Attachments - is it supported?

Question

Hi, trying to prototype using attachments within a gdb rep environment - so far i have been unsuccessful in getting this working.  As its effectively just a relnshp class, i would anticipate this to work but it seems not to be the case?

Can anyone indicate whether or not this is supported as i cannot find this documented anywhere?

Brad

Anonymous User · Answer

Jake,

Big ups to you - nice, i like when forum threads get results.... Red face to me (I should have picked this up myself).

GlobalID wasn't automatically bought across when i created the attachment on its table (I was messing about with my existing fc);

Thansk again.

BradHere was the test scenario:

1.  Register SDE feature class as versioned
2.  Create attachments for the feature class
3.  Add Global IDs to the feature class
4.  Create the replica
5.  Add an attachment to a feature
6.  Synchronize

I found that if the attachments are created before you add the Global IDs that when you add the Global IDs to the feature class, the related attachment table will receive a Global ID field as well.  If the Global IDs are added before the attachments are created, the related attachment table will need to have Global IDs manually added to it.

Check to make sure your feature class and attachments table both have the Global ID field.

jskinner · Answer

Here was the test scenario:

1.  Register SDE feature class as versioned
2.  Create attachments for the feature class
3.  Add Global IDs to the feature class
4.  Create the replica
5.  Add an attachment to a feature
6.  Synchronize

I found that if the attachments are created before you add the Global IDs that when you add the Global IDs to the feature class, the related attachment table will receive a Global ID field as well.  If the Global IDs are added before the attachments are created, the related attachment table will need to have Global IDs manually added to it.

Check to make sure your feature class and attachments table both have the Global ID field.

Anonymous User · Answer

Can you elaborate what your test scenario was?

While my initional gdb rep setup works, gdb rep say it syncronises successfully, spatial this is the case but it does not recognise a newly added attachment on a polygon (e.g. the related data).

Looking at gdb replication a little deeper, gdb relates basd on objectid's can provide some scenario's that don't always work.  While i don't think this is the case specifically, it makes me suspicious of whether or not the attachment component in the gdb rep is supported.  I will go back & test however based on our findings.

Hi Brad,

I could not find any documentation, but after a quick test, this appears to be supported.  I was able to replicate an SDE feature class with attachments to another SDE geodatabase.  I am running:

ArcGIS 10 SP3
ArcSDE 10 SP3
SQL Server 2008 SP1

Are you receiving any error messages?