topic Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class in Developers Questions

Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:34:15 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I have a point feature with a single field used as the the attribute key for relationship classes to other tables. I am looking to automatically create a row into the related tables with the key field populated from the point creation. Any ideas how to auto populate the tables with that key?

Below is a screenshot of the inside of database.

Thank you!

Paul McBride

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

JoshuaChisholm — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 15:04:13 GMT

Hello Paul,

I'm a little confused, do you want to copy the first row in your points file to a new row in each of the related tables?

Regards,

Josh

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 15:19:03 GMT

Thank for the reply.

Yes that is what I would like to do.

When a user places a new point I would like them to be able to edit the related tables immediately without having to create a new record for that point. The related tables would automatically receive the point ID field that relates them together.

Thanks again.

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

JoshuaChisholm — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 19:04:05 GMT

Ok, so I wrote a small python script that should work. The script should be able to handle a few points really quickly, but will be slower than needed if your very large numbers of input points. Since your said it will only be one at a time, this should be fine.

I included two ways of selected your related tables (manually and automatically). Remove the method you choose not to use. You will also need to make sure your key field already exists in all your related tables.

import arcview
import arcpy

workDir="C:\\path\\to\\data\\TESTGeodatabase.gdb"

pointsFC="MCCOG_Complaint.DBO.complaint"

keyField="complaintKey"

#Manually select related tables:
relatedTables=["MCCOG_Complaint.DBO.complaintProblem","MCCOG_Complaint.DBO.complaintWorkOrder","MCCOG_Complaint.DBO.complaintContractor"]

#Automatically select related tables:
arcpy.env.workspace=workDir
relatedTables=arcpy.ListTables("MCCOG_Complaint.DBO.complaint*") #all table that begin with 'MCCOG_Complaint.DBO.complaint'

#Copy rows to related tables:
with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(workDir+"\\"+pointsFC,[keyField]) as inRows:
    for inRow in inRows:
        for relatedTable in relatedTables:
            with arcpy.da.InsertCursor(workDir+"\\"+relatedTable,[keyField]) as outRows:
                outRows.insertRow(inRow)

print("Complete!")

Let me know how it goes!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

BlakeTerhune — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 17:24:43 GMT

Seems like you would want to create the search cursor on just the selected features instead of everything in the point feature class. I think the way you have it now would copy all rows in the point feature class to the related tables each time a new point was added (creating duplicate records in the related tables).

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 13:46:19 GMT

Josh,

Thank you for the script. Did you run this within arcmap or did you create an addin and then put code into python script?

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

JoshuaChisholm — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:32:30 GMT

Hello Paul,

I actually ran my python script outside of ArcMap using IDLE, but it can also be run within ArcMap. I did not set it up as a python add-in. Also, as Blake pointed out, the script will copy over ALL keys in the complaint file to the related tables each time it runs (thanks for that catch Blake!).

I have a few ideas on how to proceed;

We can change the script so that it only copies over keys that don't yet exist in the related tables. This would mean the script could be run in ArcMap or outside ArcMap (with IDLE), and just requires pointers to the data.
We can use Blake's idea and only run the script on selected records. This would mean we have to be in ArcMap and have to be able to programmatically pick out the complaint layer with the user selected points. If we set this up as an add-in, there is a way to pick out the layer the user has selected in the TOC.
We can combine the 2 above approached so that if users run the tool twice on the same Key, it won't create duplicate records in the related tables.

Let me know what you think!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

ThomasTri — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:37:51 GMT

Seems like this is the classic example for creating a Relationship Class Extension. By developing ArcObjects code, and hooking into the relatedObjectCreated method, you should be able to add a record to the related table.

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:41:49 GMT

Hey Josh,

Option 3 sounds great. What I would like to do is get this script into a button that after the point is placed and assigned the key number then they could hit the button and apply to the related tables.

Thanks again!!!!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:42:27 GMT

Thomas,

I have no experience with ArcObjects. Is this something I could do farely easily or with guidance?

Thanks,

Paul

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

ThomasTri — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:45:45 GMT

I don't think the code would be all that difficult, but learning ArcObjects is not an afternoon project :-).

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 16:46:39 GMT

Okay sounds good. I will look into that if i can't get my Python to work.

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

JoshuaChisholm — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 14:13:53 GMT

Hello Paul,

I'm working on a python solution (I don't know ArcObjects either). Can you let me know the exact name of the key field for the complaint point file?

Thank you!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 18:29:29 GMT

Hey Josh,

The name of the field is "ComplaintNo".

Thank you again!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

JoshuaChisholm — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 19:17:22 GMT

Hello Paul,

I have prepared a Python Add-In that should do what you need. I attached a .zip of it. Note that:

To install the Add-In, run "PythonAddIn.esriaddin"
You can see the raw code under the "Install" folder
If you make any changes, run the "makeaddin.py" and then re-install with "PythonAddIn.esriaddin"

If you haven't already, you can download the python add-in wizard here. You can use "addin_assistant.exe" to change the Add-In documentation.

Let me know if it works out for you!

Also, I ran into one limitation. If the user has an attribute table open (from one of the related tables), they will have to close and re-open the table to see the changes. More info here.

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 14:22:56 GMT

Hey Josh,

I'm sorry but I do not see the attached ZIP. Thank you again for your hard work!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

JoshuaChisholm — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 14:38:26 GMT

That's odd. It's working for me. Try this link.

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

PaulMcBride — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 11:48:43 GMT

That worked! Thanks again for all the work to help me. I am getting ready to back surgery in the next few weeks so my schedule is getting crazy. I will keep you posted as to my progress with the tool and how it works for the end user in the office.

Thanks again!

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

KevinMacLeodCAI — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 17:28:01 GMT

This would be a very good thing to build into ArcGIS (AGOL, Pro, Desktop). It would make sense in fact to be a default behavior. @KellyGerrow

Feature Enhancements:

1. Allow automatic creation of a related record when a new origin feature is created. Allow this in AGOL.

2. Allow creation of relationships in AGOL.

3. Allow for modification of Relationship properties after creation (Desktop/AGOL) (It appears possible via JSON but allowing via GUI would be good)

4. Allow adding related records in AGOL (current workaround is using Collector or WAB Editor Widget; add full support)

Re: Automatically Create Records in related Tables from Point Feature Class

Allison_Hockey — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 13:09:39 GMT

Hello Thomas,

I am also trying to achieve this same workflow, some years later! Is there some literature or a webpage out there that describes how to accomplish this workflow?