Latest Contributions by GeorgeRiner

‎03-10-2023

Yes! Is there any tool (or arcpy python call) that can list all the current roles that exist currently in a geodatabase?

‎11-03-2020

My support call to ESRI about a year ago over (what sounds like) the same problem produced the solution of “don’t use TIFF”. So we switched to generating .PNG files for georeferencing and it’s been fine since. ESRI asked to have copies of TIFF files that didn’t cooperate with their georeferencing tool, but I would have had to come up with a non-confidential TIFF, generated in our normal process, that broke - but that was too much effort, so I never supplied a TIFF file that helped them figure what they did to the georeferencing tool in 10.7.1 that made so many TIFF files un-georeferencable. We generated most of our TIFF files from Adobe Acrobat and that may well be part of the problem. Adobe is constantly updating Acrobat and may well be fiddling with their TIFF-output code in ways that produce TIFF files that break ESRI’s georef tool. I realize that switching to the use of .PNG image formats works for us but may not work for many others. George R From: Julio Garrido <geonet@esri.com> Sent: Monday, November 2, 2020 7:06 AM To: George Riner <riner@sonoma.edu> Subject: Re: - Re: Georererencing strange in ArcMap 10.7.1 ? GeoNet, The Esri Community | GIS and Geospatial Professional Community <https://community.esri.com/?et=watches.email.thread> Re: Georererencing strange in ArcMap 10.7.1 ? reply from Julio Garrido <https://community.esri.com/people/jgarrido?et=watches.email.thread> in *Imagery and Remote Sensing* - View the full discussion <https://community.esri.com/message/962167-re-georererencing-strange-in-arcmap-1071?commentID=962167&et=watches.email.thread#comment-962167>

‎02-19-2020

Context: Windows 10, ArcGIS Desktop 10.7.1 Trying to figure out which ArcMap feature to use: HTML Popups (configured in the HTML Popup tab of Layer Properties) Hyperlinks (configured in the Display Properties tab of Layer Properties) Searching the internet for usage of each option, it seems there is rampant confusion between these 2 features. Both of them allow a way for users to 'link' to other information that may be relevant at a point on the map that the user clicks on. However, I note the following key differences: HTML Popups only provide information from the single 'topmost' feature at the point of click. If the layer's feature class has 2 features at the point of click, only the top-most feature's attributes are used to construct the HTML popup content. The user is *not* presented with a list of features at the point of click and allowed to choose which feature they want the popup to 'come from'. The content of the popup is essentially HTML rendered in an ArcMap window that 'pops up'. The HTML is constructed via 'XSLT' - the 'T' stands for 'Template' but in fact XSLT is interpreted code that constructs the HTML that describes the content of the popup. Thus, depending on how much effort you want to put in to learn how to code in XSLT-speak, you can can create a 'popup' that can use a wide breadth of HTML features to describe a 'page' of HTML, including hyperlinks, images, tables, CSS, - not sure what HTML capabilities are not allowed in these 'popup' windows. These HTML popups are persistent, requiring the user to dismiss them. This allows a sort of absurd feature that if the user repeatedly clicks on the same point, ArcMap will happily open up an additional 'popup' for each click - each 'popup' containing the same content. The user is left to close them all. Hyperlinks instantly 'link' from a feature to an other resource when the user clicks on a point. The 'other resource' can be a URL, a document accessible to the user in the filesystem (local or networked), anything that can be expressed as a single line. Unlike HTML popups, the Hyperlink tool scans through the layers at the point of click and if there is more than one feature belonging to a layer with hyperlinks configured, then ArcMap displays a 'popup' showing the user a list of choices of features with hyperlinked references. This 'popup' looks vaguely similar to what the HTML popup could generate - except that this popup is only presented if there is more than 1 features with hyperlinks configured. There is little in the way of control that a developer has to control the layout of this popup (with a few small exceptions). Once the user selects a link the 'popup' is closed and the linked resource is invoked. Hence my situation - - we have a 'library' of scanned images of large paper documents that are available on our local file server. About 2,500 of them. These images have a geography and are scattered over much of northwest California. I can easily construct a feature class / layer that essentially provides a feature per document that represents the geographic location of that document. In many cases there are multiple documents (all different) that have the same geographic location. I want the user to be able to load this feature class into their map, and then use a tool to allow them to click on a point on the map and then a 'popup' showing them a list of what documents are available at that location (I think this is the main source of confusion between Hyperlinks and HTML popups) In this 'Hyperlink popup' window the user either clicks on one of the list items and the 'hyperlink' proceeds to load the document in their Windows session - or the user looks through the list and determines that none of the choices interest them in which case they can close this popup with no hyperlink invoked. I want this popup to appear even if there is only 1 document available at that point - as it is a reasonable expectation to not have to open a document for the user that the could tell by its reference they have no interest in. Is there some other feature of ArcMap that I'm unaware of that would provide the functionality I'm looking for?

‎01-14-2020

Looked closer at our Acrobat. Yes, it can save JPG2000 files - although it wants to set the extension to 'jpf' and ArcMap won't show .jpf files in the 'Add Data' dialog box. Does ArcMap have some way to add file types (like Catalog does)? However, in the Save As ... dialog of Acrobat, I can change the extension to 'jp2' then the output file can be seen by ArcMap's 'Add Data' dialog and it brings in a raster that seems to georef just fine. (Are JPG2000 files a recommended format, or are they fast becoming a legacy format?) I should probably experiment with JPG files (pause.. while i do...) Ok. JPG files from Acrobat seem to work ok. it's nice that Acrobat lets me select a sort of image resolution quality as part of the saving. And I don't have to change the file extension to get ArcMap to list it in the 'Add Data' dialog. Maybe I'm old school - but I thought TIF (or TIFF) was a solid robust format for rasters. JPG files have that inherent noise in them (unless you crank up the image quality to 'lossless' or some such). PNG files were for websites where images had to have low overhead and the images were mostly line-art type (not continuous tone). Cody: are you and ESRI-ite? I could send you a TIFF that I extract from a PDF using Acrobat and you could see what the problem is. But for now, I'll switch to recommending our staff using JPG file and let them know they can set image quality to keep the jpg-jaggies at bay. Thanks all for your suggestions.

‎01-14-2020

Interesting.... A ot of our images that need to be georeferenced come from PDF files that come from: a) an outside party; b) in-house scanned documents where the scanner output is PDF; c) in-house scanned documents where the scanner output is a TIFF file. As I implied in my OP, this was not a problem in 10.4.1 (before we upgraded to 10.7.1). But, now I find that if I extract a page from a PDF and save it as a TIFF and then open that TIFF in Windows Paint 3D and simply re-save as a TIFF - that it works in 10.7.1. So, it could seem that Adobe Acrobat is another '3rd party software' that creates TIFF's that 10.7.1 has issues with. The version of Acrobat I'm using (and others in the department having the same issues) is 2015.006.30508. I don't have the opportunity to try a newer version of Acrobat. Presumably, the result of a support call to ESRI would be "don't use that version of Adobe Acrobat"....

‎01-09-2020

We upgraded from ArcMap 10.4.1 to 10.7.1. (not ArcGIS Pro, yet.) In 10.4.1 georeferencing worked by adding the raster (we generally use .tiff files for scanned images) to the map. Then navigating to the general area of where the image would be located. Then clicking on 'Fit to Display' in the Georeferencing toolbar. We then would add 2 or 3 (maybe 4) control points using 1st Order polynomial (affine). When things look good, we click on 'Update Georeferencing' in the toolbar and ArcMap would write out a .tfwx file for the image. If, at a later date, we needed to re-use the image, all we had to do was add the .tiff file to the map and it would snap back into georeferenced place. Now, in 10.7.1, the 'Fit to Display' works, the adding control points works, but when 'Update Georeferencing' is clicked, the image is suddenly moved away from where it was linked to (often to locations many hundreds of miles away! - we're usually georeferencing images that cover about a 15-20 square mile area - 4 x 5 sections on a quad map, e.g.). I notice a .tfwx file being written out. Restarting ArcMap and adding the .tiff file to the map it goes to the location that had nothing to do with the original control point links. !?!?! What's the scoop with georeferencing in 10.7.1? It used to work so nicely before..

‎12-10-2019

Mr. Lohr asks the question: should the compatibility level be set to something earlier than the installed version of SQL Server. He is pointed to the same set of links. The technical article at this ESRI technical article explains that the version of either Microsoft's ODBC driver or SQL Server Native Client has to match the version of the database being connected to. No mention of any effects caused by a different compatibility version. The link at: MS SQL Server - Alter Database is a discussion of the SQL statement to 'ALTER DATABASE' to change the compatibility level of a database. It is a Microsoft Document and is not intended to nor does it address the effects of compatibility level on any ESRI product. An interesting statement on this page under the heading "Compatibility Levels and Stored Procedures" states that stored procedures execute using the current compatibility level of the database in which it is defined; and that when the compatibility setting of a database is changed that all of its stored procedures are automatically recompiled. ESRI is silent on any risk/benefit of this recompiling of stored procedures. the link at: ESRI Upgrading Geodatabase for the 10.7. version, addresses such issues as: upgrading the database to various ESRI release versions, listing 10.2.x, 10,3.x, 10.4.x, 10.5.x, 10.6.x, 10.7 with no mention of SQL Server compatibility settings. In this context the article states that you cannot downgrade. There is a note that ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION and "READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT" options are required (and turned ON) for geodatabases at release 10.4.1.2 or later. No mention if upgrading an ESRI geodatabase makes any changes to Compatibility Level on a SQL Server. This article also describes the 'Upgrade Geodatabase' tool, explaining that it checks the database to see if all the prerequisites are met. A chunk of Python code is supplied as example of upgrading geodatabases through Python tools. Reading through the code tries to accommodate databases on SQLSERVER, ORACLE, POSTGRE, etc, but does not contain any SQL code to check/change the Compatibility level setting of a SQL SERVER database. The article ends with the "Tip:" if your database compatibility level is 80 then you must update your database compatibility level. Then a table from Microsoft's technical article about the ALTER DATABASE command is pasted in that shows that compatibility level 80 is for SQL Server 2000 and compatibility level 100 is for SQL Server 2008. The table shows that Microsoft SQL Server versions from 2008 onward support Compatibility levels from 100 and up. (SQL Server 2016 supporting compatibility levels 100, 110, 120, and 130) The above article contains a link to: ESRI Geodatabase system requirements which contains no information from ESRI about Compatibility Levels of SQL Servers. Merely that for the 10.7 release of ESRI, that the supported editions of SQL Server are: 2014 SP3 (64-bit); 2016 (64-bit); 2017 on Linux (64-bit); and 2017 (64-bit). Interestingly, SQL Server 2008 is not listed as a supported edition for the 10.7 ESRI release. This makes me wonder what's going on if we're using SQL Server 2016 but our databases are set to Compatibility Level for SQL Server 2008. The above ESRI article indicates that SQL 2008 is not supported at the 10.7 release. Hence my question is not the same as Mr. Lohr's. Instead I ask: is there any benefit to updating our compatibility level away from 100 (i.e. SQL Server 2008). Since ESRI lists SQL Server 2014 SP3 as the oldest supported version, should we set our compatibility level to at least 120 (for SQL Server 2014). Or should we just update our database compatibility to the edition we're using and update our compatibility level to 130 to match? From the MS article about the ALTER DATABASE command (see link above) it states: "Starting with compatibility mode 130, any new query plan affecting fixes and features have been intentionally added only to the new compatibility level. This has been done in order to minimize the risk during upgrades that arise from performance degradation due to query plan changes potentially introduced by new query optimization behaviors." The article is quite exhaustive about the various difference between each compatibility level from 100 and up. Essentially half the article describes these changes. So, specifically: as the Microsoft article states - if I update the compatibility level of my geodatabases from 100 to 130 this will cause MS SQL Server to recompile the ESRI stored procedures for enterprise geodatabase functionality. Will there be 'performance degradation' due to 'query optimization behaviors' that may exist in the stored procedures?

‎12-09-2019

We're running enterprise geodatabases on SQL Server 2016 standard edition. (i.e., not Express). We discovered recently that our databases are running in 'compatibility level' 100 - i.e. SQL Server 2008. I'm aware of the SQL commands to ALTER DATABASE to set the compatibility level from 100 to 130 (i.e. from 2008 to 2016). We have no reason that I can think of to be maintaining compatibility with SQL Server 2008. We don't share our databases with other organizations nor do we join them to tables from 3rd parties. It doesn't seem to be interfering with using our 10.7.1 enterprise geodatabases on SQL Server 2016. Is there any benefit in upgrading our 'compatibility level'? As long as we're sure we don't need to maintain compatibility with 2008?

‎10-22-2019

Doing a lot of georeferencing of pages from documents. These pages usually have a map on them using a color background/basemap. When I add these .TIF (or .TIFF) files to the TOC in an ArcMap, it pops in showing Red,Green,Blue bands. These bands serve no purpose to me - I'm not doing any raster analysis - and I don't need to see these color bands. I end up having to click on the tiny '-' sign next to the layer to stop showing these bands. Less sophisticated users see these bands when georeferencing a color page and are just confused by them. Is there a setting in ArcMap so that when I add a raster image of a document page it won't break out these color bands?

‎09-26-2019

We have a python tool/script (not an add-in) that usually runs fine, but at unpredictable times, it causes ArcMap to crash with the box that asks if you want to send the crash report to ESRI. I've been instructing people to say 'yes' to this box. And then they restart ArcMap, re-run the tool with the same inputs and it runs fine. So, how do I find out what is in those crash reports sent to ESRI? We've probably sent in almost 100 of them in the last several months - seems like a useless exercise to me as it provides no information about what went wrong. Secondly, assuming something is going sideways in the python script - I can't debug this if I can't trap the crash. The tool crashes the entire ArcMap process and any python process running with it. Anybody got any ideas on how to debug this?

‎06-18-2019

In particular case (confirmed by ESRI tech support) a user was using copy/paste from a cell in an Excel worksheet to the version name field in the version properties dialog box when creating a new transactional version in our enterprise geodatabase. When user copies the cell from Excel, a carriage return is at the end of the text string value that Excel places on the Windows clipboard. When this is pasted into the version name field of the version properties dialog box, the carriage return goes in with it - as a nonprinting character - which is extremely easy to not notice. Turns out, later on, that version names with non-printing characters in them cause problems when switching to that version at a later time. This idea certainly suggests that - in general practice - for user input into text fields in dialog boxes the software should either filter out non-printing characters, or at least warn the user that they've entered non-printing characters. Since pasting values from the clipboard that came from other applications is a common practice in Windows - the software needs to perform some sort of validation on these pasted values so that problematic characters don't get entered and accepted as input.

‎05-15-2019

Well... but reconciling and posting a version to its parent without the reviewer being able to review the version would be contrary to our process. And since the workspace breaks apart into each of the individual feature classes (the feature datasets disappear) it doesn't seem possible to reconcile and post the version as it no longer appears in the Data Sources tab of the TOC. As I mentioned, I've found that merely making a single character change to the string value of the version's name causes the problem to go away for that version. I've attached a video showing what the reviewer sees when they switch to the user's version. I've stripped away all the other layers and data sources in the map. You can see that the user's name is TERRYP and the version name is "RT_Andersonia_4879". I expand the "change version" dialog box to show that user TerryP has 12 versions currently in the database. I select the version named "RT_Andersonia_4879" and watch the workspace structure in the TOC completely break apart to individual feature classes with no reference to any feature datasets or any versioned database/workspace. That's it. No keyboard action happening, no other mouse buttons. The only way to recover from this is to exit ArcMap. Currently, this is the only version by user TerryP that shows this behavior. All other 11 versions by that user will correctly switch over with no problem. :George

‎05-15-2019

Biraja: Have not tried accessing the version from a new/blank MXD. Our production map document is rather elaborate and rebuilding it from scratch is a tedious process. But I can try this on a blank/new MXD and see what happens. It has been the case that using either the right-click 'change version' or the version manager toolbar's change version causes the same result. There is trend as you suggest, but it's not an exclusive trend. The owner of the version has been able to create many versions without this problem. This user currently has 12 versions working in the same database and only 1 of the versions currently exhibits this behavior. This person also tends to work at the same workstation, which is shared by a couple of other people (all 3 are part-time staff). I am unable to produce this behavior on demand. I'll try your suggestions and let you know the results. Thanks, :George

‎05-13-2019

we run a transactional versioning geodatabase off a Microsoft SQL Server (standard edition 2016) with our enterprise geodatabase at version 10.6.1 We use the versioning as a workflow management tool for a staff of about 20 people editing their individual versions; another staff of about 5 review the versions and then reconcile and post them to the 'DEFAULT' version (aka the production version). Our versioned geodatabase is built of 3 feature datasets with 3-8 feature classes in each feature dataset. I.e. switching a version switches all 3 feature datasets and their feature classes. Normally this is not a problem. In our TOC / 'List by Source' (aka workspaces) the structure of the 3 feature datasets and their feature classes is correctly represented in the nested levels with little '+' and '-' boxes to expand and collapse. Once in a while, a reviewer will switch to someone's version and the workspace structure breaks apart and is flattened out. No longer showing the feature datasets, nor even the name of the versioned workspace ! We've watched the staff in their process and they don't appear to be doing anything wrong when creating their versions and there is no one person for which this problem occurs all the time. This happens maybe 1 out of 50 versions we go through. Finally, we have found that if the staff person simply renames their version. No editing of the version's content - just changes 1 letter of the version's name - the problem goes away and the reviewer can switch to that version and it correctly maintains the workspace structure in the TOC. In case you wonder, we keep the geodatabase compressed (i.e. the "Compress Geodatabase" action under "Administration" when right clicking on a .SDE file for that geodatabase. Anybody have any idea what's going on?

‎04-23-2019

Thanks for the help, Joe. I've used the link you sent, plus some more searching. I've got a working python-addin that lets me capture a user clicking a point on the map. As someone in another forum remarked, it's relatively easy - within the scope of the OnMouseDownMap to write the x,y coordinates out to a file in place that within the user's profile. I've got that working. I gather that this general concept of an addin that allows the user to indicate a location on a map and then the addin finds additional resources to show to the user and then let the user select one or more of those additional resources to add to the map - is a rather common use-case for this python-addin tool/method. However, other postings (over on stackexchange) are pretty clear that you cannot - within the execution scope of OnMouseDownMap - initiate a, say, Tkinter dialog with the user to present and select additional resources at that map location. There is some reference to it being possible - somehow - to have the OnMouseDownMap then initiate some other kind of thread/process/tool that will allow a dialog box to be constructed so that the user can peruse and select. But this is not yet clear to me how to accomplish. Something to do with GPToolDialog(), it seems. Probably in a "NONMODAL" form. But what I see, so far, is in the context of ArcGIS Desktop versions 10.2.2 and earlier. Perhaps there have been more improvements to this interface in the 10.4.1 - 10.6.1 release levels?

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Date Last Visited	‎11-23-2023 12:19 AM

My Ideas

Latest Contributions by GeorgeRiner

Re: Dropdown list of roles and users in Geodatabase Administration tools

Re: Georererencing strange in ArcMap 10.7.1 ?

HTML Popups vs. Hyperlinks

Re: Georererencing strange in ArcMap 10.7.1 ?

Re: Georererencing strange in ArcMap 10.7.1 ?

Georererencing strange in ArcMap 10.7.1 ?

Re: MS SQL Server - Any benefit to raising compatibility level?

MS SQL Server - Any benefit to raising compatibility level?

don't show bands when adding raster page scan

Python script crashes ArcMap 10.4.1 unpredictably

Filter out non-printing characters entered into dialog box text fields

Re: Switching version breaks workspace structre

Re: Switching version breaks workspace structre

Switching version breaks workspace structre

Re: good reference for Python Add-in

field calculator allows non-domain values

HTML Popups vs. Hyperlinks

Re: Tabulate Intersection inconsistent

Set default geodatabase per user environment

getting "bad connection handle" after arcpy.Select...