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Generate Schema Report tool feedback

JonathanMurphy

Hey Everyone!

We've added the Generate Schema Report tool to ArcGIS Pro 3.2 and want to hear your feedback about it. I've posted a blog post to add context to the project with a brief history and also a look at where we'd like to take it in the future.

We know X-Ray was a much-used tool and hope this can help with some of the same workflows. Moving forward we'll be addressing a key workflow many of you have asked for: The ability to make schema changes in the Excel output and then reimport to create a new geodatabase with those updates. We're hoping to get this into Pro 3.3.

The Schema Report is available now but it's also a work in progress and we'd very much like to hear from you:

What do you like and maybe want to see more of?
What is missing?
What could be improved?
What are your workflows?

Here are some links to related content:

Geodatabase Schema Reports - Blog post
Generate a schema report in ArcGIS Pro - Short Vid
What's new with geodatabases in ArcGIS Pro 3.2 - Blog post
Generate a schema report - Help topic
Generate Schema Report (Data Management) - Geoprocessing Tool Help
What's new in ArcGIS Pro 3.2 - Help topic

I hope you find the tool helpful. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Cheers!
Jonathan

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Accepted answers

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SSWoodward

@MichaelClement, Geodatabases objects are represented in the order they are recorded in the geodatabase and are not sorted by the tool. The Excel version of the Schema Report does allow filtering and sorting of your tables in the summary sheets.

MichaelClement

One of the features of the Xray tool export is that it would grab the feature class description and put it within the info about the feature class. It would be nice to have the ability to pull fields from the Metadata for a feature class (Description, Summary ect.) and put it in this export document.

Also is there a way to sort the feature classes by name? Mine seem randomly sorted.

SSWoodward

Users looking for this functionality may want to support the idea linked below.

Field Descriptions in GDB

SSWoodward

Thanks for the question @phess_luckstone

Generate Schema Report is currently available in ArcGIS Enterprise version 11.3 and higher. If you are not seeing the tool, check your version, an upgrade may be required.

phess_luckstone

@JonathanMurphy is it in the roadmap to add the Generate Schema report to the arcgis server / notebook server arcpy modules?

SSWoodward

Thanks for sharing this with us @Randall_Thompson. Are there any other details about these relationship classes that I could use to reproduce this? After some initial testing prompted by your comment, I am seeing non-attributed, one-to-many relationship classes between tables and feature classes represented correctly in schema reports produced from ArcGIS Pro 3.4.1.

Please feel free to DM me with specifics.

Randall_Thompson

When I run the Generate Schema Report tool (I'm at ArcGIS Pro 3.4.1) it does not capture relationship classes between Feature Classes and Standalone tables unless it is an attributed relationship class. One to many, unattributed relationships are not in the report. They DO show up when exporting to an XML schema.

SSWoodward

Thanks for the question @LauraleeGann25,

Can you clarify what you mean by a registered fileGDB vs an unregistered fileGDB?

Are you inquiring about registered tables inside of a fileGDB? or something else?

LauraleeGann25

Good morning Jonathan,

will the generate schema report ever be able to be run on just a plain File Geodatabase, or will is always require the registered file geodatabase??

IgorAtamanchuk

Please add Schema Diagram Capability. SQL, Access, etc., Allow You to have a visual representation of how tables relate to each other. I have not found the way to generate a schema diagram in ArcGIS.
Thank you!

JuneAcosta

Please enable Feature Dataset(s), Feature Class(es) and Fields descriptions... As a GIS Administrator, ensuring complete metadata—including field descriptions—is a crucial part of our workflow before any dataset is loaded into our enterprise system. With the ArcGIS Xray Add-In, we have been able to document field descriptions, make them available citywide, and publish them to our Open Data site. This makes it easier for staff to understand the data, especially as experienced employees retire and new staff take over responsibility for maintaining the datasets.

Our workflow relies on exporting the Xray metadata as an Excel sheet, allowing the requestor to populate field descriptions before we import them back into the FGDB. This ensures that when the feature class is published, users can access the metadata directly in ArcGIS Catalog to understand field values, data sources, and workflows (whether back-office or mobile collection).

It would be extremely beneficial for the new ArcGIS Pro Schema Report to support Feature Dataset, Feature Class, and Field descriptions. Without this capability, we lose an essential documentation tool that provides transparency and maintains data integrity across our organization. Ideally, when the .xlsx report is converted to an XML workspace document, the descriptions should be preserved or seamlessly imported into metadata.

I would love to see this functionality included so we can maintain our metadata-driven workflows in ArcGIS Pro!

BSBlagojevic

Would be good to enable Feature Dataset(s), Feature Class(es) and Fields descriptions. Because you can't name something like dB 'SchemaReport' if there is no description (?!), then only name enumeration. When the .xlsx report is converted to an XML workspace document the description can be ignored or imported direct into the metadata.

NikSandsTP

REQUEST THREE:

I would like to be able to produce a report that shows the differences between two schemas. I think the 'Analyze Differences' tool in XRay used to do this, but I didn't use that tool while I was using Desktop, so not sure what the output was like.

Our schema is based on one of the ESRI models, with some modifications. I would like to be able report on these differences periodically.

Do we really have to use Data Reviewer for this? Seems like overkill. ('Geodatabase Schema Compare' will apparently be available in Dara Reviewer in ArcGIS Pro soon: ArcGIS Data Reviewer product roadmap (January 2024) (esri.com) )

NikSandsTP

REQUEST TWO:

In the HTML report, can the feature datasets be moved into a list of their own instead of being included in the same list as the feature classes? Having them in the same list is quite odd and disconcerting (did XRay have them all in the same list? I can't remember).

I haven't checked yet, but if (non-spatial) tables don't have their own separate list, they probably should.

NikSandsTP

I have three requests for changes to the output of the Schema Report tool, so I'll post them in three posts to make it clear. But firstly, I just want to say THANK YOU! This is great step forward. And it is good to hear that further improvements are on the way.

REQUEST ONE:

It would be great if the HTML report included a table of contents with links to each section (I think the XRay version used to have this?). In particular, I want to be able to click a link to jump straight to the Domains section, without having to scroll through, or do a search for it.

ZakBaron

Thanks for this--great tool!

One thing I would like to see is whether or not a feature class is versioned and if so, what type of versioning.

Thanks,

Zak--

phess_luckstone

One thing I would love in the tool itself it the ability to over write the file that is created. This would help with automation, I did create a python file that kind of does that but it would be better if baked into the program.

# Name: GenerateSchemaReport_Example.py
# Description: GenerateSchemaReport of a file geodatabase

# Import the system modules
import arcpy
import os

# Set local variables
gdbWorkspace = "gdbWorkspace"
outputFolder = r"OutputFolderLocation"
outputFile = "SchemaReport.html"
outputPath = os.path.join(outputFolder, outputFile)

# Check if the output file exists and delete it if it does
if os.path.exists(outputPath):
    os.remove(outputPath)

# Generate schema report
arcpy.management.GenerateSchemaReport(gdbWorkspace, outputFolder, outputFile, ["HTML"])

JAMIELAU

Would it be possible to add one more level to the "Domain Usage" tab, whereby clicking on the domain name would give a report of the contents of the Domain?

TimMinter

I'd love to generate a schema report in the form of an Entity Relationship Diagram - ERD. If I recall right, Sparx Enterprise Architect can do it after importing a geodatabase XML Workspace Document. It would be proper to right-click the GDB and say, "make an ERD" as PDF or HTML format. Maybe there's already a tool for doing just that using the JSON or XLSX formats?

Like time-back-way-back with, what was it - ArcCatalog and Visio? https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/geodatabases/documenting-your-geodatabase-design.htm

Asrujit_SenGupta

Thank you to the Esri team for this much needed integration in ArcGIS Pro itself. A couple of suggestions from a quick look:

The Geodatabase Release in the report states 3.0.0 regardless of the actual geodatabase version. Even for an old 10.x.x gdb it states 3.0.0.
Possibility to include the Summary section in the PDF/HTML formats as well?
Add a hyperlink to go back to the top of the Page/Summary section in PDF/HTML. The Excel has this as TOC. The ArcGIS Diagrammer reports had something similar called "Back to Top" below each section. Helps a lot for large files.

JonathanMurphy

Yep, agreed. This was the key workflow. As mentioned in the blog, updating the schema in Excel and reimporting to create a gdb with the changes is the next phase of this project. I'll add this info to this post here so it's clear that's where we're going with it.

ChrisRumig1

Generating a report of one dataset or a group of datasets (along with domains) is a very useful tool. However, the gdb x-ray tools real power is being able to alter the schema domain and reload it to a file or enterprise gdb. The only workaround I've found is use use FME from Safe Software.

AlexMontalvo_IER

This tool needs the ability to not just create a schema report but also allow editing of the schema and upload those changes back to the database. This was a tremendous time saver.

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