idea Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences in Data Management Ideas

Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

JoeBorgione — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 21:46:50 GMT

There are two geoprocessing tools in the Geodatabase Admin tool box: Create and Delete Database Sequence. You can get access to a sequence's properties using arcpy.ListDatabaseSquences.

The database sequence help page states: DatabaseSequence objects cannot be initialized directly and the properties table shows all the properties as read only.

I guess the only way to alter an existing database sequence is to delete it and recreate it. It would be cool if an existing one could be altered or modified.

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

MarceloMarques — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:52:22 GMT

You can make changes to the sequence and increase for example the cache sequence values in the RDMBS using SQL.

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

JoeBorgione — Wed, 06 May 2020 20:59:26 GMT

Not in a file gdb...

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

MarceloMarques — Wed, 06 May 2020 21:05:30 GMT

Yes, in a file gdb you have no option, you have to use the ArcCatalog tools.

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

JordanFollett1 — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:21:06 GMT

Where do the sequences exist in the SQL DB?

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences - Status changed to: Needs Clarification

SSWoodward — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 21:30:42 GMT

Thanks for the idea @JoeBorgione

We're interested in knowing more about this. Could you share some example workflows you use that would benefit from being able to alter the database sequence?

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

JoeBorgione — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 21:51:18 GMT

@SSWoodward I retired back in December 2022 and haven’t even thought about database sequences since then. I have landed a lot of fish however in that time…

All seriousness aside, let’s say you get a large influx of data you need to append into your database and with it comes a need to alter the sequence in some fashion. In my (former) case, that could come as an annexation into a city

In a SQL Server database you can back door that but not in the case of the FGDB.

If you need me, I’ll be on the river…

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

TitusGian — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 08:37:16 GMT

I wonder if there are any updates on this front.

Also, would it be possible to utilize a sequence from another EGDB?

@SSWoodward @MarceloMarques @JoeBorgione

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

MarceloMarques — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 16:11:40 GMT

@TitusGian - Geodatabase sequences are unique per featureclass and table, so it cannot be used for anything else, and avoid editing or modifing the sequence manually directly in the rdbms, this can cause issues if you do not know what you are doing is correct, you might end up with issues with objectid's.

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

MatthewStull1 — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:08:10 GMT

Does anyone know of a way to delete all the sequences in an enterprise geodatabase at once? I am having to refresh all of the data in a geodatabase without recreating it but I can't do that without deleting all the sequences (and attribute rules). Is there a python script that could iterate through them and delete them?

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

SSWoodward — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:14:36 GMT

Afternoon @MatthewStull1 ,

Have you tried something like:

workspace = <workspace path> for seq in arcpy.da.ListDatabaseSequences(workspace): arcpy.management.DeleteDatabaseSequence(workspace, seq.name)

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences - Status changed to: Open

SSWoodward — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:16:16 GMT

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

MatthewStull1 — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:58:16 GMT

I keep getting the error message "Could not open SDE workspace." when I run this code:

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = r"R:\GIS_Ongoing\Cityworks\Cityworks GIS Editing Environment\Cityworks Catalog ONLY\Cityworks Development matts.sde"
seqwork = r"R:\GIS_Ongoing\Cityworks\Cityworks GIS Editing Environment\Cityworks Catalog ONLY\Cityworks Development matts.sde"
sq_list = arcpy.da.ListDatabaseSequences(seqwork)
#attribue rule sequences
for seq in sq_list:
arcpy.management.DeleteDatabaseSequence(seq)

I haven't done python scripting for a while so I'm just trying to make this work. I'm using Pro 3.1

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

SSWoodward — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:07:26 GMT

Hard to say.

Check to make sure you have the correct access: Delete Database Sequence Doc

Does ListDatabaseSequences() work on its own for you?

Re: Modify existing Geodatabase Sequences

KevinVaughn — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:43:03 GMT

@SSWoodward - If you're still looking for workflow examples, here is one I am in the middle of:

As a Solution Architect I need to be able to reset a sequence when my users are ready to switch from training and testing to 'live' work.

In our situation we do not have a dev instance of enterprise where users can test out new solutions. So quite often they are 'testing' in our live environment and then when they decide they are ready to start actually using the solution they want things reset. Admittedly, this is us catering to their need to have things like file numbers start at an 'clean' value like 10,000. From a data perspective it doesn't matter but users often care about things like that.

It would be very handy to have a tool that let us specify a new "last number used" value for the sequence. I can also see instances where this would be helpful for making landmarks in a sequence. For example, all numbers above 20,000 are after we [started doing something new].