How do I keep the internal element ID's from changing when I edit my network?

Question

I have thousands of networked items, each with a unique EID.  When I make a simple change to the network, the Object OID's stay the same, but the entire set of network ID's making up the connectivity of my network are blown away and replaced with a new set of numbers.

This makes it impossible to compare two networks which use complex edges and/or junctions for changes.

Is there a way to disable this?  i.e. can the tools be configured to leave existing EID's alone, and only change the ones that I've added, or manipuated?

DougSterling · Answer

I have thousands of networked items, each with a unique EID.  When I make a simple change to the network, the Object OID's stay the same, but the entire set of network ID's making up the connectivity of my network are blown away and replaced with a new set of numbers.

It looks like this is a geometric network question but it is unclear what your ultimate goal is with respect to examining EIDs. By design EIDs are not guaranteed to be unchanged.  If you want to "compare" networks then you would need to look at the UserClassID (Feature class ID) and UserID (OID) of the items in the network.

If you are dealing with network datasets then you will still have a problem of having EIDs change.  To examine a network dataset you need to look at the SourceID and OID of the items in the network (assuming end point connectivity).