topic Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers? in ArcGIS Online Questions

No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 03:17:04 GMT

I have an application developed using on on-premise portal which we planned to also deploy using agol (making the bold assumption that feature layers would be defined the same).

Now that we have moved to agol I find that agol feature services do not have subtype definition. I have published the same service to portal and to agol. In portal if I look at the json I see the subtype definition, but this does not exist in the agol layer definition. How can this be? How could there possibly be a core new feature of the 100.3 API and not have it supported when using an agol layer. So all this nice clean logic based on subtypes developed for a featurelayers created in ArcGIS Enterprise cannot be used in the application when it uses agol layers and instead have to go backwards and use logic based on FeatureTypes (which was removed from the application in favor of the subtype logic). All I can do is shake my head as I work late into the night trying to fix the application to work with agol.

-Joe

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

dotMorten_esri — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 23:48:10 GMT

It's there:

FeatureSubtype Class

ArcGISFeatureLayerInfo.FeatureSubtypes Property

ArcGISFeatureTable.FeatureSubtypes Property

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

dotMorten_esri — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 23:49:14 GMT

Sorry just realized this is more of an ArcGIS Online question, and not a question of the Runtime API

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 23:57:17 GMT

My issue is more along the, it sure would be nice for developers if the ArcGIS Server, the agol, and the Runtime teams were on the same page. Runtime adds features to the API and these are supported by ArcGIS Server but not by agol? That is something that negatively impacts Runtime developers.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

dotMorten_esri — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 00:01:42 GMT

I'm not sure I get the point? Runtime adds support for as much as it can, and if one server doesn't have a particular feature supported, it won't affect Runtime. The alternative would be to only support the common set of features, but then you wouldn't get subtype support when using servers that does support subtypes*.

*disclaimer: I don't know if AGOL supports subtypes, and if it does, how to enable it. I moved the post to the AGO forum, so hopefully someone can answer if/how it's supported.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KellyGerrow — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 00:15:44 GMT

Hi,

ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Layers do support subtypes. There is a very limited authoring experience (configuring category rendering using unique symbols) from the ArcGIS Online UI. You can however construct subtypes through the Update definition REST API call:

Update Definition (Feature Service)—ArcGIS REST API: Services Directory | ArcGIS for Developers

or constructing subtypes and domains in ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro and publishing to ArcGIS Online. This thread contains an example:Restricting Field Visibility Based on SubType‌

How are you publishing the data? Are you able to share the layer?

-Kelly

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 00:16:09 GMT

Online feature service supports types/template from service definition file (SD). This when you configure renderer based on subtypes. We do not currently preserve subtype when publishing filegdb though (we have this as enhancment-Maybe UC2019).

Pl. try to go to ArcMap or Pro and try to publish your data (from filegdb). You can use your filegdb as the source of the data. You would have to configure renderer based on subtypes in order to get them to online as types metadata.

We do have a project to expose and preserve subtypes if you do not specify renderer based on subyptes. This is also an enhacment enterprise has and did not make it in online. This is also planned for UC2019.

Thanks

Khaled

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:14:36 GMT

I understand what you are saying. And I am not criticizing that the API supports Subtypes. I find that great and have used it to much benefit and was very glad to see this support was added (I believe I had once listed that as a desired improvement). And this is not meant as pointed towards you, and perhaps I should have posted elsewhere.

What I am saying that as someone who makes their livelihood using the APIs it is not unreasonable to expect that both agol and the current ArcGIS Server would follow the same standard of service definition. Esri likes to tell as at conferences how wonderful all this works together, but this is a glaring example of a huge shortcoming. Runtime API does a great job abstracting Portal away from the developer (despite some nuances with authentication). I was very happy at how simple it was for me to move an application developed for Portal to agol. That was until our editing tools exploded because they took advantage of Subtypes.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:42:42 GMT

>What I am saying that as someone who makes their livelihood using the APIs it is not unreasonable to expect that both >agol and the current ArcGIS Server would follow the same standard of service definition.

Yes this is our goal and we are trying hard to make this happens. But as you might have seen, there are always new WebGIS development in online FS that is not yet in server/enterprise and vise versa. This is mainly related to the the different requirements we have for enterprise versus online and their release plan.

As far as the sub types, we do support it online it as described and used. We are working on adding the support of adding subtypes during publishing and expose them even if they are no referenced by any renderer. This is the only missing spec in online FS but our understanding this functionality is used only by Pro. So this is why it was not a high priority in development for online FS.

To get around this limitation you can use the feature service layer update admin API to update the layer types or templates. If this is not the issue, pl. let us know and we can help you providing a workaround for any missing specs if possible and add the missing functionality to online in future releases

Thanks

Khaled

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 15:44:47 GMT

I know how to get the information using the current agol definition, and it is very convoluted and far more complex from a coding standpoint. Plus I am now required to have two completely different approaches in a Runtime application depending on if it uses ArcGIS Server 10.6 or agol. This is a very poor way to support people developing for the Esri platform.

We do have a project to expose and preserve subtypes if you do not specify renderer based on subyptes. This is also an enhacment enterprise has and did not make it in online. This is also planned for UC2019.

First you are not really preserving subtype in the current approach, there is just a way to get to the information throuugh the featureTypes. These are inherently different things.

As users of esri technology I should be able to expect that both ArcGIS Enterprise and agol grow together. If Enterprise adds some so significant I should be able to expect it be available in agol.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:02:39 GMT

You don't support subtypes. What you describe is not support of subtypes. Telling me that I can make a rest call and pass in all subtpe information as a huge json object is not a valid workaround. Maybe with a couple services that are going to remain static it could be done, but not at a large scale.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:22:03 GMT

Pl. describe what is not working for you for the enterprise and we will be sure it will make it in the next release or so in online.

We are am not really aware of functionality missing in the API regarding subtypes except supporting it outside the renderer (only Pro uses it). As far as the subtypes and how to scale it, it is also an issue with enterprise also since the subtypes are returned in the layer metadata which as you described might not scale if we have many subtypes. Supporting subtypes is work in progress currently in online and we will offer a salable solution shortly.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 17:55:12 GMT

The feature layer definition for an ArcGIS Enterprise based service contains the following information included in the following sample information which defines subtypes.

{
 "subtypeField": "ASSETGROUP",
 "defaultSubtypeCode": 0,
 "subtypes":[  {
   "code": 0,
   "name": "Unknown",
   {"defaultValues": {...},
     "code": 1,
   "name": "Value1",
   {"defaultValues": {...}
 ]
}‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

This is in addition to the types array which you describe and is defined in both the Enterprise definition and the agol definition (e.g.)

"types": [
   ]‍‍

The ArcGIS Runtime API parses the json elements and the API has an object model around Subtypes (see the original response to this post). Because agol does not include these elements in the json, the API can obviously not parse them. So code written to work with Enterprise 10.6 does not work with agol because the agol feature layer definition does not include the subtype elements

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 17:13:03 GMT

Great thanks. We will add the subtypes in future release of online as I described earlier. We will handle it when publishing new data, but we will offer you a way to edit existing service layer to add subtypes. I am assuming the APP continue to work without subtypes when migrating from enterprise to online. FYI: we do have many supports properties in the layer and service metadata to indicate what is supported or not (we do not really have on for subtypes - will add it). There will always be differences between feature services in general and will be good to check these supports properties.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 17:27:13 GMT

subType != subtype

While it looks like the attempt to add subtype support was included it seems to me that no one took the time to look at the definition in ArcGIS Enterprise and see that the json tag is subtype. In AGOL it is subType and this doe not appear to parse correctly.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 17:49:16 GMT

Will fix it in online sept. release.

What app has this issue? most of our apps (mainly mobile) work fine maybe because the check is case-insensitive.

Until I get the fix in, pl. use case insensitive check if possible.

Thanks

Khaled

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 18:05:28 GMT

I am using the Runtime WPF API. Have just checked in the latest version 100.5 and despite the service definition showing a 'subType' array I see no Subtypes in the object exposed by the API. What type of mobile apps are you developing that you say this is not an issue? I see in the Runtime API for WPF. I have not confirmed this issue in the Xamarin API application at this point.

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 18:17:44 GMT

I am the online feature service lead but working closely with the collector app team which seems do not have this issue.

At any case, I will fix this in the online feature service by Sept. Will touch base with the collector app to see if they have this issue.

Khaled

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

JoeHershman — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:08:37 GMT

What about in addition to the Collector team you talk to the Runtime API team. It would seem there is a vested interest in things working across the board in a consistent manner with both ArcGIS Server and AGOL. I don't know how Collector develops their application. As the Feature Service Lead I would have thought you would consider it critical to discuss the definition with the Runtime team and to have it tested by everyone

If one assumes that the typeId field and the subtypeId field are going to be the same you could gather this information, however, this is not always a valid assumption. Plus the Runtime API has done the work to have this supported it would be nice not to have to write a bunch of code that is only needed in the case of AGOL cases.

Rex Hansen‌

Re: No Subtypes in AGOL Layers?

KhaledHassen — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 20:29:22 GMT

Sorry for the confusion. We will get handled. The definition is mainly owned by the feature service and the runtime originally developed based on server. This is new in online and it looks like we have some differences in the case of the types. Runtime team does not define what the subtype json is and they have been involved in testing but it looks like this issue is not detected.

The main reason I have mentioned about the collector is that we have recently fixed an issue that affected collector and was related to subtype default.

I wanted to know the severity of the issue and if we need to handle it before Sept. release.

If this issue is critical to you, pl. submit a request for us to the tech support (online feature service) and I will see if we can speed up the deployment.