topic Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 23:10:06 GMT

I am running ArcMap for Desktop and ArcGIS Pro both at the same time. As I update or change data in a geodatabase while using ArcMap, these data do not properly update in Pro (even if they aren't currently part of a map in Pro). Its as if Pro sees the files and folders as frozen in time (when Pro was launched), and doesn't update them in real time.

Example:

I modify the attributes/fields of a feature class in ArcMap (even if it is not loaded in the Pro map, which if it was I would probably get a schema lock). If I then add that data to Pro it adds the old dataset as it was when Pro was originally launched - without the updated attributes I edited in ArcMap! There is no apparent way to refresh the folder or data in Pro, so it will update correctly. Its as if Pro isnt getting live updates to folders and files and doesn't recognize when those files are moved and modified outside of Pro.

Another example:

Iif I add or delete feature classes within a GDB outside of ArcGIS Pro, and try to add them - Pro still sees the old FC's even if they are gone. Trying to add them gives error "Failed to add data, unsupported type" obviously, the file isn't there anymore.

The only work around is to close out of Pro and reopen (pretty big inconvenience if you are working with both software simultaneously - ie: Business Analyst in ArcMap and symbology/cartographic work in Pro)

Bug or working as intended?

PS: I should mention that you can, however, see new feature classes that were created. it's the deleted FC's that are still showing within the GDB, and current ones that were modified are not having those modifications update correctly.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

JoshuaBixby — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 02:12:59 GMT

I ran into an issue the other week while helping a fellow GeoNet user where Pro would not see changes to the schema of a CSV file, even after closing Pro and re-launching it. I had to make a copy of the file and change the name for the schema change to show up correctly.

Are you working with file geodatabases? I am starting to wonder whether Pro does some aggressive caching of file system files, FGDB included, and whatever triggers that should cause re-caching don't work well.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 14:12:47 GMT

I am also seeing issues with the folder structure being wrong when adding data in Pro. One of my project folders (which is located on a network drive) is actually showing up on my C:/ directory. I am attaching screenshots to show. Also to note, is that that project folder which is mysteriously showing up on C:/ doesn't point correctly to the network location either.

You can see in the screenshots that the folder "GIS" is a project folder that is supposed to point to a location on our network (L:), but apparently Pro thinks GIS = "C:/My Output Data"

Screenshot 1 (Capture.jpg) = C drive according to Pro (notice the folder "GIS" is taking the place of "My Output Data")

Screenshot 2 (Capture2.jpg) = Actual C drive (notice no "GIS" folder, presence of "My Output Data")

Screenshot 3 (Capture3.jpg) = Project folders, note GIS folder in particular is showing the contents of "My Output Data" but its actually supposed to have completely different contents

Screenshot 4 (Capture4.jpg) = Actual contents of "GIS" folder located on the network drive

I think this particular issue (maybe unrelated to the original post?) is related to the bugs with Project Templates. I originally set the "GIS" Project folder up in my Project Template to point to a network location. When I open a new project with this template, it points to "My Output Data", and takes its place in my C: drive (in the Pro interface)...

Not sure if this issue is related to the original post - might be two separate issues...

Can anyone at ESRI reading this pass this along to support and get these two (related or unrelated) issues addressed? I honestly do not have 2-3 hours to submit a bug (submit, go back over it with support, have them replicate it, and finally get it reported). Ive gone through that process too many times already just with Pro, I dont have time for it anymore.

We should be getting paid for all this QA/QC work we are doing for ESRI

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

JoshuaBixby — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 15:19:21 GMT

Regarding submitting bugs, I get your pain, and I consider myself fairly adept and experienced at doing it. The real frustration happens after the bug is formally logged, then comes advocating for a fix and waiting, sometimes multiple releases.

As frustrating and time consuming as logging bugs can be, I encourage you to keep at it, not for Esri's benefit but for the sake of all the other software users out there. And since Esri doesn't openly share all the bugs that are formally logged, even those sometimes that are fixed, I also encourage you to share the bug numbers back to the GeoNet community.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

curtvprice — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 23:26:52 GMT

Tyler, this is by design. You run into this issue when using two separate Desktop apps too (ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene etc).

For the software to see all changes, you'd have to be constantly polling the directory tree, and Esri has decided (I think rightly) to not tie up the app checking the tree for changes. Windows Explorer does this but even it doesn't do it constantly, and it has a lot less work to do that a catalog view does in ArcGIS. In Windows Explorer I enter F5 to refresh the view. The fix in ArcGIS is to refresh the catalog to force the gdbs/folders to be re-run. You have do to this if any application outside of ArcGIS messes with what is there, for example if Python runs an os command you need to have your script run arcpy.RefreshCatalog() to get things back in synch.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 14:10:48 GMT

Thanks Curtis, thats some great insight into how Pro works and why I am seeing this behavior. Sounds like this is a separate issue from the Project Folder bug outlined in my second post.

A workaround to the file tree refresh issue is to use the Project Element Pane, adding the folder where your GDB resides, right clicking your GDB, refresh, and then dragging and dropping your feature class into your map. I'll have to avoid the "Add Data" button from now on. Thats assuming of course, that the Project Folder isn't bugged - but I believe that issue resides with Project Folders added as part of a Project Template. I guess you can always delete the project folder and re-add it.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

RogerHelms — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 17:10:50 GMT

I had been scratching grooves in my head trying to figure out why I couldn't get the Feature Class to Geodatabase geoprocessing tool to copy a boundary set from one geodatabase to another geodatabase in ArcGIS Pro 2.1.2. The tool reports success, and Windows Explorer updates its timestamps for the .gdb file, but the newly copied layer is nowhere to be found - the target database .gdf would come up as "This container is empty" when I tried to Add Data from it to the map.

But it turns out that the target geodatabase was receiving the new layer all along. As soon as I exited ArcGIS Pro, relaunched it and reopened my project, the new layer appeared and I was able to open it into my map.

I have to believe that I'm doing something wrong, or screwed up something in installing Pro to have to resort to that goofy workaround. Can anyone think what? Thanks.

ETA: Tyler, the original poster, later posted a follow up on his original post:

"You need to manually refresh by right clicking on the folder/geodatabase and hit refresh. And yes, you need to do this every time something changes in your .gdb (or any file/folder) outside of Pro or you wont see it. This is a known issue in Pro as it does not automatically update the catalog/folder tree as it does in most other Windows applications... . you hit "F5" to refresh the view... ." Here's the rest of that post of his:

https://community.esri.com/message/750433-re-feature-classes-do-not-show-in-pro-catalog-tree?commentID=750433#comment-75…

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

curtvprice — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 17:08:37 GMT

I have run into this as well (2.1.2). Refresh did not help me, I had to close and open Pro to get content to update.

The Refresh really should work.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

AdamRepsher — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 13:49:45 GMT

I did not have this problem before upgrading to 2.2.0 yesterday.

Now when I run a model where I am placing the resultant Feature Class into a File Geodatabase and then calculating fields in that same Feature Class - I cannot find the Feature Class - cannot find it after Refreshing the FGDB - cannot find it after closing ArcGIS Pro‌ and opening it again.

All of the sudden, ArcGIS Pro is useless!

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

ThomasColson — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 13:53:25 GMT

I have a suspicion: after running "placing the resultant Feature Class into a File Geodatabase and then calculating fields in that same Feature Class", do not close Pro, open Arc Catalog, connect to the FGDB, do you see the feature class and the result of the calculation?

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

KShak — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 17:54:45 GMT

We discovered something similar in ArcGIS Pro yesterday.

We have a Python script that tags feature classes with the word "Archive". I ran the script using Pro and next thing I knew there was a red exclamation next to the updated file geodatabase in Catalog View that said the database needed to be fixed. I couldn't even click into the geodatabase to see the feature classes. I then opened ArcCatalog and could see the changes in the geodatabase feature classes no problem to confirm the script worked. We shouldn't have to do these work-arounds to confirm success.

At this point I'm confused on why Pro would throw an error after the script successfully ran. I now understand that Pro gets confused when using scripts etc. outside of Pro. Our python guru then looked into using arcpy.RefreshCatalog and discovered that Pro doesn't have this capability and it needs to be added to functions in Pro.

My concern with Pro throwing that *false* red exclamation error is that others will take this serious and go down a rabbit hole, similar to my reaction and the discussion in this thread, and never recover. I don't feel that a user of the software should "know" that "oh, if you just refresh it should work". To me, this is not good enough when this capability exists in ArcMap.

I think Pro should catch up and add arcpy.RefreshCatalog to functions in order to avoid confusion later with this refresh issue.

We would be adding it to our script if we could to avoid the red exclamation scenario.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:40:31 GMT

To add to the description of this behavior so we can get some resolution, I have another issue when adding domains to a geodatabase.

When I run "Table to Domain" and add a domain to a geodatabase, these domains are not visible or able to be added to my subtypes unless I close out of pro and reopen. This has to be done each and every time I add a domain using this GP tool. A manual refresh on the geodatabase does not reveal these domains. You must close out of Pro for them to be visible under the "Data>Domains" ribbon.

Now surely, you cannot say this is expected behavior and surely this points to the larger issue that Pro seems to have on refreshing files, no? Kory Kramer‌

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:50:15 GMT

Just to clarify with a supporting screenshot. You can see the tool ran correctly, but the domain does not show up unless you completely close out of Pro. If I re-run the tool, I get an error saying the domain already exists. To me, this clear proof that Pro is not updating and is not seeing the new domain, which to me, is connected to this larger issue outlined in the thread. The only way to get the domain to appear is to close out of Pro, and reopen the project.

It doesnt seem efficient or logical to have to close out of your Pro project every time you need it to update. Clearly something is wrong here.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

KoryKramer — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:58:07 GMT

Tyler, what happens if you close the Domain view and re-open it (without entirely closing the project...)?

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

KoryKramer — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:59:15 GMT

BUG-000085913: The Table To Domain tool does not show the new domai.. shows as fixed in Pro 2.4, but it may still be necessary to close the view and re-open. I'm trying to get confirmation from the team on this, but a response from you about the behavior of close/open the Domain view would be good.

Cheers

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

KoryKramer — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 08:19:04 GMT

Hi again, Tyler. Interestingly this conversation was happening over here: https://community.esri.com/ideas/17610 I've now tested and it looks to me that seeing the update in the Domains view still requires either closing the project or opening a new Pro instance... It appears that the status on that bug was incorrect so I'm looking into that on our side.

Thank you.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 22:03:29 GMT

Thanks Kory for the quick and detailed response. The first thing I tried was closing and reopening the domain dialog, the second thing was to remove and re-add the feature class to Pro. As you noted, the only way to update was to close and re-open Pro.

I appreciate you looking into this and look forward to a fix. Thanks again

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

KoryKramer — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 22:22:03 GMT

Tyler Schwartz‌ maybe I was moving a bit too fast juggling other things and trying to re-test this. I'd still recommend closing and re-opening the Domains view, as I'm seeing that working for me now. Try that if it isn't too much trouble and let us know if that is working for you.

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

KoryKramer — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 23:20:59 GMT

Tyler Schwartz‌ let's continue this conversation over on Refresh Domains‌ so I'm not repeating findings...

Re: Pro doesn't update folders or files "in real time" within GDB when modified outside of Pro

TylerSchwartz2 — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 20:32:04 GMT

Hi Kory, this worked on the first table to domain I ran, but subsequent ones do not appear - even after closing and re-opening the domain window. Very strange.

Hopefully this helps - Ill take further feedback to the other thread, thank you.