topic Re: How to change the precision of a field? in Data Management Questions

How to change the precision of a field?

TheodoreRakel — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 17:02:07 GMT

I'm using arc gis desktop 10.2.1. I have a versioned table with a field that is a short with a precision of 4 and tied to a domain. It's also non nullable. I'd like to change this field to have a precision of 6. What's the best way to do this? The fact that this attribute is non nullable seems to complicate things. If I try to add a new attribute to the table with precision of 6 and non nullable, I find that the table must be empty in order to do this. The table will never be empty. I can get to state zero and unversion it, but it won't ever be empty.

Re: How to change the precision of a field?

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 17:04:09 GMT

why are you reluctant to delete it and do it again? or am I missing something

Re: How to change the precision of a field?

TheodoreRakel — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 17:08:52 GMT

There are over 200,000 records in the table. I don't want to delete the attribute. The reason to change the precision is because the domain the attribute is tied to is getting new codes that are 6 characters long.

Re: How to change the precision of a field?

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 17:32:00 GMT

so creating a new field and just copying the results over in the field calculator or from the original source is out of the question I guess as well, but in any event, here is what you can modify in a geodatabase

Alter Field—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

Modifying field properties—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS for Desktop