Alter Field - Inconsistent Errors and Results

JasonBalmut — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 16:15:53 GMT

Problem: There are issues with the Alter Field tool not immediately showing the results or throwing inconsistent errors depending on whether the user is the owner of the SDE feature class.

As the owner of the feature class, when using the Alter Field tool on a GUID field to change its name and alias, the tool will run with no warnings or errors in the process. Right-clicking the feature class afterwards and going to Properties gives an error (first time) or does nothing at all (each time after, before refreshing).

Running tool when not the owner of the feature class results in the 001600 error message during the process. Looking up the details of the error shows the same problem as the result coming from the owner.

When using the Alter Field tool on a Text field to change its name and alias, the tool will run with no warnings or errors in the process. Right-clicking the feature class afterwards and going to Properties will not immediately show a change to the field. Refreshing will not show the change. This applies to the owner or non-owner.

Conclusion: Using the Alter Field tool in SDE can have different results depending on ownership. The same operations performed on an identical schema in a file geodatabase did not produce any errors.

Solution: Depending on ownership, when the tool doesn't block you from running it, exit ArcCatalog and come back in. The results of the Alter Field changes will be shown in the Fields tab and the error on checking the Properties will not occur.

Database: SQL Server Enterprise Database (SDE un-versioned)

Application: ArcCatalog 10.3.1 (version 10.3.1.4959)

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Alter Field - Inconsistent Errors and Results