Splitting of polygons in ArcGIS Pro 2.3 changes my features and symbology

[AdrianWelsh]

I just upgraded to Pro 2.3 and am doing the exact same process I did in 2.2 but with different results (same day).

I have a polygon feature in a file geodatabase that is symbolized based on a domain I have set up.

When I use the Split tool to divide up my polygon, the new resulted split polygons change all my domains to null.

This is more of a potential bug report than anything else. But, has anyone else seen this?

[MatthewDriscoll]

Thanks.  I guess my confusion is when I edit in ArcMap this behavior does not happen.  Well I guess more importantly can we get a Cut tool for Pro?  So if we have something like over 50 databases with hundreds of features now we have to go through them all and change every single one?  Or do I only need to worry about the ones which have domains? This was not an issue with the Map Cut Tool.   Split was only available in Map with an Advanced license and a majority of users used Polygon Cut as there main editing tool, which is not available in Pro I don't think. 

It even looks like the Divide tool is constrained by the domain split policy.   We need a tool which can Cut which does not have this constraint. 

https://community.esri.com/ideas/16837-cut-polygon-tool-for-pro

[AZendel]

Did you mean, I guess my confusion is when I edit in ArcMap this behavior does not happen. I concur. I've been splitting lines and polygons in ArcMap for over a decade. I'm pretty certain that the fields that had domains never got set to null (I just tested it - no changes to the attributes after a split). This new behavior in Pro is an unwelcomed hassle, especially on feature classes that have numerous coded value domains. Also, having to change most of our domains from 'default' to 'duplicate' is not a fun task to think about. Remi's script will definitely be a time saver for many people (thanks, Remi!), but I'm typically hesitant to unleash scripts of that nature on our SDE database - and I probably couldn't do it anyway because I don't 'own' the domains. Then we also have a hefty number of file geodatabases with domains at various locations on our file server. 

ESRI, I think the default setting for domains should be 'duplicate' and not 'default'. I think most people expect the behavior of the 'duplicate' setting, especially when splitting lines and polygons in feature classes that have multiple domains. And, out of curiosity, why have you only started enforcing this at Pro 2.3 (or 2.4, whichever new version implemented this change)? Also, I think changes of this nature need to be communicated to your users. Was this announced anywhere (blog, release notes, etc)? Below is a consequence of this change. I recently split features in our greenways and trails feature class since they are being reconfigured/moved. Fields that control the display of those features were set to null during the split (Status = 'Open', Typology = 'Shared Use'). So those trails weren't displayed in our various tile caches, like the missing segment shown in blue below. 

[KyleNixon3]

Apologies to everyone that knows the history of this in Pro, but coming from ArcMap, why would this complexity be added? It's a simple cut. Keep the values unless I changed it. I agree that duplicate should be "default".

[MatthewDriscoll]

They depreciated it for Split only, see this thread https://community.esri.com/thread/225070-ability-to-split-polygon-features-with-arcgis-pro-sdk .   How ever if you go to the sdk editing concepts it still shows examples of cut and nothing about split https://github.com/esri/arcgis-pro-sdk/wiki/ProConcepts-Editing.  So perhaps one can still write an add-in using cut as a work around?  They should recreate a cut tool in Pro tool as it did not seem to be causing any problems.  Go and vote https://community.esri.com/ideas/16837-cut-polygon-tool-for-pro.

[KyleNixon3]

Voted

[NaomiBegg2]

Hi Scott Harris‌

I'm viewing an AGOL map containing AGOL hosted feature layers in ArcGIS pro (easier to do bulkier data transformations than AGOL tools). 

I'm wanting to use the split tool on this however it had me confused (and embarrassed as I had someone watching me while I completed what I said was an 'easy task' but because my symbology is based on an attribute info the split would cause both polygons to dissapear).

I've gone to the Domain Split Policy as stated above and changed this to Duplicate.  However it will not allow me to save the domain changes.  The button is not greyed out (so it isn't the common problem of having unsaved edits to the features), it acts like it is applying the changes however in the background it just hasn't (button still coloured, I go to get out of the fields view and it mentions unsaved changes found, I click save all, the loop repeats).

Is there an easier way of going about this other than the usual two clicks for a split, the copying of a layer, changing its symbology and refilling the whole attribute table?

I reckon it would be great if this tool had buttons similar to the clip editor that asks if you want to preserve the attribute data.

[Scott_Harris]

Hi Naomi,

Domains for an ArcGIS Online hosted feature service are read-only in ArcGIS Pro - however, I believe they are not true domains once they are published to AGOL, meaning there is no split policy to modify.

Here is what I see when I attempt to modify the domain of an ArcGIS Online hosted feature service:

Also, when features are split the attributes should be copied to the newly split features. You should be able to verify this by using the attribute pane to check the attributes after splitting (you can have both panes open side-by-side).

Thanks,

Scott

[LukeGilner1]

Hi @Scott_Harris,

My attributes do not copy over to the newly split features anymore when using the split tool.  This used to work for me, but I think it stopped since upgrading to 2.9.  The domains are now read only for this workspace for hosted feature services.  I believe I had them set to Duplicate, but now they are Default and I cannot change it.  What can I do to fix this?

[Scott_Harris]

@LukeGilner1 If the split policy somehow changed on your hosted feature service without any intervention, that sounds like a bug. However, perhaps something changed on the client side (upgrading ArcGIS Pro)? My suggestion would be to work with Esri Technical Support to find a resolution. If you need the policy to be changed to duplicate, perhaps there is a way to do it using REST calls. The other option would be to download the data, change the split policy to what you need, and republish or overwrite the service.

-Scott

[LukeGilner1]

Scott - yes, this seems to have occurred after upgrading Pro to 2.9.  I'm not savy enough to edit the REST calls.  It wouldn't work well to republish because of all the replicas being used in Field Maps.  I'll see if tech support can help, or I'll uninstall and reinstall an earlier version.