idea APRX Doctor in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

APRX Doctor

MichaelKelly — Mon, 08 May 2017 08:46:23 GMT

**This idea is being submitted on behalf of an Esri Ireland customer**

It would be great if there were an equivalent to MXD Doctor for ArcGIS Pro projects. As ArcGIS Pro projects can contain multiple maps and layouts, they can become quite complex in comparison to MXD Documents. Therefore, if an APRX becomes corrupted, you are likely to lose more work. An option to repair these would be very useful.

A 'Recovery Mode' like in Microsoft Office could also provide an alternative.

Re: APRX Doctor

KoryKramer — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 13:20:44 GMT

Michael Kelly‌ and others who are following this thread. We were discussing this idea again yesterday and wondering if it is being requested because you actually have experienced .aprx files becoming corrupt, or if it is being requested simply because there used to be an MXD doctor and you're looking for some sort of equivalent tool for Pro project files.

If you have examples of corrupt .aprx files, please send them to me (kkramer@esri.com) along with a backstory.

Thanks

Re: APRX Doctor

AlexRocco — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 21:20:15 GMT

An APRX Doctor/manager would be great allowing you to change/fix paths and such without opening a project.

Re: APRX Doctor

ThomasColson — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 17:49:15 GMT

I wouldn't limit this to just "corruption". One of the more common uses of the ArcMap MXD doctor is to reduce the size of the MXD (in conjuction with the defrag tool). APRX files, just like MXD files, grow bloated with use and volume of objects.

Re: APRX Doctor

KennethRichards — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 23:35:35 GMT

I have had one corrupt recently and I also would be interested in reducing bloated files.

Re: APRX Doctor

KoryKramer — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 15:03:24 GMT

Thanks, Ken. I got the aprx and took a quick look. When I extract it I get an error that the lot_iron\landsurfaceforms2.xml has a Headers Error

That doesn't necessarily mean anything to me, but given that info, are you able to determine anything odd that may have happened with processing land surface data/layers in the project?

I've asked for some help from our development team to take a look to see if they can determine what's going on with the project you sent us. Thank you for doing that as studying these cases may help prevent future issues. I will follow up by email when I hear back from development.

Thanks again.

Re: APRX Doctor

ColeAndrews — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 19:14:04 GMT

Kory Kramer‌ I came across this because Pro keeps crashing 10-15 times the last 2 days. So, seems like we are SOL unless there is some sort of "project doctor" or inspector to review the project and see why it keeps crashing. Each time, it prompts me to send an error report to esri, which I do, and it "sends a large file"...but those just go in to a black hole?

Re: APRX Doctor

KoryKramer — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 19:25:54 GMT

Hi Cole,

I'm sorry that you're experiencing crashes. Error reports do not go into a black hole - here is more information about what happens when you submit an error report: Report software errors—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop

And a blog that we just posted this morning: ArcGIS Desktop Error Reporter Learns Its Manners

Now, for your .dmp files from Pro. Can you go to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ESRI\ErrorReports and send me the most recent .dmp files? You can ensure that they're from Pro and confirm the date and time from the filename.

Send to kkramer@esri.com

Thanks

Re: APRX Doctor

DavidAllen — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 16:18:39 GMT

There are things within the Project file that apparently can become unsettled and cause issues, and these aren't always things the user controls. I'm experiencing this issue right now:

I have a project for editing utility data, and I've been working on water lines since Jan 2020. Everything has been working fine, and I have used the Map Topology extensively for things like moving water valves and fire hydrants and having the line features automatically alter to stay connected - or moving a water line segment and having the valves move with it. HOWEVER, the project has started acting strangely. Starting last week, if I do any operation (such as move or rotate) that would require the Map Topology to change connected features, I get an error " Move Failed. This data is currently locked by another user can cannot be saved". If I turn off the Map Topology, then I can edit anything I want with no errors. Of course then I have to manually repair any connectivity.

There are no user defined parameters for Map Topology - this is just automatically set up by the project. So perhaps an APRX Doctor type program could check these things that are automatically set up and repair if needed.

Also, I'm the only one here so there can't be another user locking the data.

Re: APRX Doctor

DavidAllen — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 18:09:33 GMT

So my next thing to try was to create a new, empty map in the same project and copy / paste all of the layers over to it and see what happens. It edits fine in the new map - Map Topology works and everything. I switched immediately back to the original map in this project - NO GO - SAME 'LOCKED' ERROR. Back to the new map, edits just fine.

This tells me that the original map I had set up for editing has become corrupted with respect to the map topology and there's no way I can fix it. I now get to re-write all the Tasks for that map using the new map and I'll delete the corrupted map. I've wasted a day on this ... so far ... with more time to come.

If there were such a program as an APRX Doctor, put "rebuild / reset the map topology" on the list of things it should do.

This is one of those quirky things that you can never replicate and the cause may never be known. But I guarantee it has happened and is a PITA.

Re: APRX Doctor

AroldoRocha — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 20:34:02 GMT

Hi everyone.

I'm following this topic because I had Pro 2.9.0 crash now, when was sharing a layout to PDF.

Every time I proced this, the crash happening.

When I try to send report, its doesn't work too, as picture.

Any hint about this?

A great 2022 for you all!!

Re: APRX Doctor

AroldoRocha — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:18:28 GMT

Hi everyone!
I solved the problem as follows.
I created a new map and copied my layers to it; So I created a new layout, just like the previous one.
So I managed to share the layout to PDF without error.
There was the displeasure of not being able to understand what happened. Therefore, I reiterate the need for an alternative such as "MXD Doctor" for the Pro, which allows for a diagnosis and possible correction.

Thanks.

Re: APRX Doctor

GregWyatt — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 17:55:03 GMT

I agree we need an APRX doctor, and not just for corruption. If ARC things are misbehaving, part of my debug process sometimes includes running the MDX Doctor on the file experiencing issues. If that solves the problem, I'm good. If that doesn't solve the problem I know I have more work to do. Without some way to eliminate file corruption as the problem, I have a harder time focusing on the true problem.

Re: APRX Doctor

JTessier — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 20:32:55 GMT

@KoryKramerany chance this will be on a roadmap soon, this has been open with perhaps a substantial number of kudos for a few years now. Thanks!

Re: APRX Doctor

StephanieLong1 — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:55:41 GMT

@MichaelKelly @KoryKramer

Any news on this being implemented?

Re: APRX Doctor

JoshVan_Kylen — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:31:10 GMT

We recently experienced a power outage and now we can't open my coworker's project. It gives the "Failed to open Project ...This project was saved using a newer version of ArcGIS Pro : ." but I am running the latest version 3.0.3. We've opened a ticket, but an ARPX Doctor would be nice for this situation.

Re: APRX Doctor

MatthewRyan2 — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 05:57:46 GMT

We had an issue converting to ArcGIS Pro from ArcMap where the query layers would not work.

By "Not Work" I mean - The layers would fail analyse for a web service and the "where clause" could not be changed without an error.

Adding that^ layer in a new map, fixed the problem. Adding the layers again also fixes the problem. They just need to be reconfigured and all that again. Though that maybe some project file diagnostics could help out? Anyway, that's why I came looking.

Re: APRX Doctor

JoabelBarbieri — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:07:09 GMT

We definitely need an APRX doctor. Aprx get corrupted more often than MXDs due to ArcGIS PRO crashes and forced kills as it becomes unresponsible all the time !

Re: APRX Doctor

TedGriffin — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 06:58:23 GMT

Yes it is really obvious that a Doctor is needed to Aprx files. I'm new to Arc Pro. When using ArcMap I often got crashes, and "putting" it through the doctor generally fixed it. I noticed that the file size was significantly reduced. (Directly comparable to how bloated an MS Access file can get and how much slower they got.)
I've just started to get crashes in Arc Pro. The prospect of manually reconstructing is not something I'm looking forward to.
BTW, I presume that the doctor does what I'd do manually but in script.
TedG

Re: APRX Doctor

DavidCoombe — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 07:10:54 GMT

Hi Esri

Can you please provide a link so that I can share an example of a corrupted project file? Both a zip and an APRX file are not supported for upload here. Another alternative to an APRX Doctor would be the ability to revert to a previous save point. In the example I have, we were able to use a backup of the file from the previous week provided by our Information Technology team to return to a point before the APRX became corrupt.