topic Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanaThompson1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 14:25:21 GMT

I am using Alter Field in a Task to change a field name so I can prepare a layer to append properly.

The Alter Field fails because Error001625: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/tool-errors-and-warnings/001001-010000/tool-errors-and-warnings-01626-01650-001625.htm - can't alter field nullability.

I'm not trying to alter field nullability, but I don't have the option to change that. I closed and reopened Alter Field several times and saw that below, for the first 1-2 seconds the window appears as on the left. Then the New Field is Nullable and New Field Type parameters disappear. Does anyone else have this issue?

After

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DavidPike — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 14:36:13 GMT

Hi, the documentation suggests that if there are any values in the table, field nullability can't be altered:

Below from the documentation Alter Field (Data Management)—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Specifies whether the field can contain null values. Null values are only supported for fields in a geodatabase. This option is only applicable if the input table is empty (does not contain records).

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanPatterson — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 14:41:24 GMT

Does your table contain records already? From the help

Specifies the new field type for the field. This property is only applicable if the input table is empty (does not contain records).

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanaThompson1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:12:33 GMT

Right. But I'm not trying to alter the Field Nullability. ArcGIS thinks I am because by default the New Field is Nullable box is unchecked -- and my feature class does allow null values. But like illustrated in my post, that parameter disappears when loading the tool so I can't change it.

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanaThompson1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:16:05 GMT

Yes it does. Though I'm not trying to change field type.

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

Robert_LeClair — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:20:51 GMT

Are you using a File Geodatabase or Enterprise Geodatabase?

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanPatterson — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:29:46 GMT

what I was suggesting is that perhaps it is slow on the uptake and doesn't remove the parameter when the tool first opens but it lags after it does its check

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanaThompson1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:31:16 GMT

It's a File Geodatabase.

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

JoeBorgione — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:32:13 GMT

The late great George Carlin would add Alter Fields to his list of oxymorons...

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

Robert_LeClair — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:42:27 GMT

Okay - sometimes when I see strange GP occurrences like this I close ArcGIS Pro and rename the ESRI folder in the C:\Users\<user profile>\appdata\local and C:\Users\<user profile>\appdata\roaming to ESRI_OLD. Restart ArcGIS Pro, load the project and try again. What is the result?

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DavidPike — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:48:48 GMT

Software documentation

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

JoeBorgione — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:55:10 GMT

this guy writes a lot....

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanaThompson1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 16:09:52 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately it didn't work.

Re: Alter Field Not Working/Glitch

DanaThompson1 — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 21:13:25 GMT

All, I found a workaround.

I used the Feature Class to Feature Class tool to export an intermediate file of the data. The tool has a built in Field Map, just like what you see in Append. From there I was able to alter the field name (right click & rename) and export the file, before I proceeded to Append in my Task using matching field names.