topic Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers? in ArcGIS Online Questions

Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

BillSchlatter — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 21:47:57 GMT

I'm attempting to upload a few small, pretty straightforward layers to ArcGIS Online, with the intent of creating a Feature Layer View of each one. These views will have some of their attributes hidden, then be added to my organization's Open Data Portal. The problem is, the Create View Layer process keeps failing with the extremely unhelpful message, "Error: Unable to add feature service definition", as seen in the attachment.

This is a workflow I've used many times before without issue, and indeed, it's only happening for two of the three layers in the current batch. The third one worked exactly as expected, and is currently in the Open Data Portal.

Further complicating things, my attempts to do an end-run around the issue are also meeting with failure. I made a copy of the data with the attributes we want to hide removed, uploaded the layers, and the copied layers just simply don't appear in the Open Data Portal regardless of sharing settings. These aren't complicated datasets - they have several hundred features at most, with 6-12 attributes, mainly short text fields.

Has anyone run into problems like these before? Did you find any solutions?

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

MaryMillus — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 22:17:36 GMT

I'm also getting this error when I try to create a view layer. I've re-published the data several times from both Pro and ArcMap. What I have noticed:

I have three layers that have been grouped in my desktop project. When I publish them all together to AGOL, I get the error about the service definition when I go to create a public view layer. If I ungroup the data in my desktop, and remove the two additional layers, then re-publish... I can now create a public view layer in AGOL without any issue. So, I'm guessing that must be it--view layers can only be created from one hosted feature layer? If you publish multiple layers at a time, then the pubic view option does not work...? I wish I could find documentation to confirm this is the case, and a work around.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

WillArellano — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 21:52:45 GMT

I am also getting the following error:

I have 6 stormwater layers that are not grouped in any way. Two of the layers have attachments, and the rest are just plain feature layers of point, line, or polygon features. They were all published to ArcGIS Online via ArcPro, and then I attempted to create feature layer views for editing permission control, and all but 1 worked as expected. One of the layers with attachments is the one that is causing me the problem, and I have no idea how to fix it. This is really killing my workflow.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

WillArellano — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 13:56:39 GMT

I was able to fix my issue by exporting the layer that was giving me the issue to a FGDB, then republishing it from the FGDB (all directly on AGOL). I was then able to create my view from the newly published layer. The downside was that I then had to go fix all the web maps that contained the problem layer.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

andreoudi — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 08:07:22 GMT

Hi!

I have the same problem. I have published a feature layer to ArGIS Online via ArcGIS Pro. When I attempt to create a view layer I get the message "Unable to add feature service definition". I have tried republishing the layer (both grouped and ungrouped), exporting the layer to en FGDB and republishing but nothing works. Is there any other suggestion?

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

SaraHopkins — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 23:17:43 GMT

I am trying the same workflow using ArcPro but keep getting the same error. Were you able to find a solution?

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

JaredPilbeam2 — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 20:14:54 GMT

I published a Feature Class from Pro into a folder in AGOL. I shared with a group. In AGOL I tried creating a view, but I get this same error message.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

SaraHopkins — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 20:22:25 GMT

I finally got a workaround with Esri support on this one. My issue was related to a bug where there was html in the description field of a few of my layers. Workaround: in ArcGIS Pro, right click on the problematic layer in the Table of Contents. Select Properties. Navigate to the Metadata tab and choose 'Layer has its own Metadata' from the dropdown options. Make sure there is no text in the description. Click 'OK'. Then, republish the project as a web layer to ArcGIS Online. Once the layer is published, you should then be able to create a view layer.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

AlexRudowski — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 18:46:09 GMT

Hi @SaraHopkins,

I was getting a different error (screenshot) when trying to publish a hosted layer view, "The view layer could not be created. Try again." I followed the instructions in your post and I was able to successfully publish the view layer. Thank you!

After setting up the parameters for the view layer, I kept receiving this error. After removing the metadata and changing the metadata properties before publishing the layer, I was able to successfully create new layer views.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

Ade_Bruijn — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 19:47:58 GMT

Hi, here also the error "The view layer could not be created. Try again."

Is there a way to delete the metadata without overwriting the hosted feature service?

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

cartezj1 — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 19:35:08 GMT

I've run into "The view layer could not be created. Try again." as well when trying to copy items from one organization to another. There are two solutions. I've been able to do both.

1. I've been able to open the hosted feature layer in ArcPro export to file geodatabase, and republish as a brand new hosted feature layer. This is not feasible for any one with existing hosted feature layers across multiple maps.

2. I used overwriting an existing web layer with the data that was exported from the current hosted feature layer. This was to make sure it had the latest data. I even made sure even to have symbology setup as the same and "use the item description from the web layer". This worked for me when attempting to create the view after overwriting. When I selected "use item description from the map or layer" it did not work after publishing and attempting to create the view.

Additional note for those coming from a web search

My agency is currently moving from having multiple ESRI AGOL organizations to a single one. I used AGO Assistant to copy items. However, I found that in some layers features were omitted during the copy. After appending the data from backups I made, I discovered the issue of the not being able to create views from the copied data. I'm currently going through step two above to fix data.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

NealBanerjee — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 12:59:35 GMT

@SaraHopkinsand @AlexRudowski

Thank you both for pointing the solution out - it is certainly not intuitive.

One thing...Even easier is just to go to feature layer directly in AGOL and remove description there. That way you dont have to republish the service if you have added data or something.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

Ade_Bruijn — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 09:47:25 GMT

Neal, just tested your solution but didn't work for me. I deleted the summary, description and Terms of Use. The solution described by Sara did however. Would be great if there was a easier way of deleting the Metadata.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

NealBanerjee — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 11:05:07 GMT

Hmm... That is interesting. When I cleared the descriptions directly in AGOL it worked for me. Only thing I can suggest is maybe make sure you dont have empty spaces or returns or something. Seems rather quirky bug/nuance that hope esri fixes.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

Anonymous User — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 14:49:06 GMT

I receive the view layer could not be created. Try again. error when trying to create a view layer of a feature service that I have connected to QuickCapture and Workforce. Any idea why this might be happening? The ownership of the Workforce project was transferred over to me from one of the administrators in my organization so that I could integrate it with the other apps - wondering if this has something to do with the error and if there is a fix for it.

My feature service and the maps that contain it have empty descriptions in AGOL.

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

kmsmikrud — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:06:40 GMT

Hi,

I am also receiving the same error in trying to create a view for hosted AGOL service with 10 layers. I have never had an issue prior to now on a view not working. The kicker on this is the past few days I have put a lot of time into updating metadata on these layers only to find out that the workaround is to remove metadata, this seems completely wrong.

Has anyone figured out any additional info? I really would rather not remove the metadata or have to remove then add in to the view, just seems like a bad workflow.

Thanks!

Kathy

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

JoabelBarbieri — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:05:41 GMT

Same error here trying to create a joined view. No explanation of what's wrong or anything, just this useless message below!

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

NataliyaLys — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 16:33:55 GMT

Same issue here

Re: Why isn't Create View Layer working for some layers?

NataliyaLys — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 16:58:42 GMT

If the hosted view you are having issue updating is a part of the Survey123, this solution worked for me.

https://support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/problem-survey-results-are-not-updated-in-arcgis-survey-000016667