Enhance WMS Capabilities of ArcGIS for Server to reflect unique layer IDs defined by a user in their MXD, as is currently possible with map services

[MarkChilcott]

Enhance WMS Capabilities of ArcGIS for Server to reflect unique layer IDs defined by a user in their MXD, as is currently possible with map services.

WMS layer IDs are not preserved in ArcGIS Server.

What this means is that as we add and remove layers from an ArcGIS Service, the WMS layer IDs may change. Anyone that has a WMS layer added to ArcMap, or are referencing the layers through business applications will potentially have the layers break every time we add or remove layers.

ENH-000096784: Enhance WMS Capabilities of ArcGIS for Server to reflect unique layer IDs defined by a user in their MXD, as is currently possible with map services.]

When we publish feature layers to ArcGIS Server, the map documents are set to preserve layer and table IDs.

Set up the map document to preserve layer and table IDs

Map publishing considerations

WMS should use these.

[ThomasEdghill]

Hi @MarkChilcott, the ENH which you mentioned in your post was recently closed, and a member of the product team shared that there is a WMS service property that can achieve similar results. The property is called "Use layer names from the map" and our documentation says the following about it: 

By default, this option is unchecked, meaning that layers in the WMS service will be represented with zero-based integers, indicating their position in the table of contents from the top down.

Checking this check box will allow the layer names to be represented with the same strings that are used in the map document's table of contents.

By enabling this property and using the layer names from the map, you should be able to achieve similar behavior whereby existing apps won't break when a service layer is added/removed, and the layers can be referenced by their layer name instead of the layer ID. Thank you for submitting this idea, and I hope this information is helpful!