Cannot see data changes unless I republish service

[JanetMerkt]

Please forgive my ignorance, as I an still learning about services.  Nonetheless, I have been asked to figure out why we do not see current data displayed on our viewers (ARCGIS Viewer for Flex 2.2) from our SDE database.  If we republish the service from the MXD, we can see it, but since we have a good number of services, it will be a problem if we need to republish every time a change to the data is made.  I cannot believe that we would have to do this - we need our users to be able to see the data live.

Please help!!  Thanks.

Janet Merkt
St Lucie County, FL

[MichaelVolz]

If it is just a data change, then you might need the endusers to clear their browser cache.

If you are making schema changes to your data, then you would need to republish the mapservice to see the changes (and you would probably need the endusers to clear their browser cache as well).

You might also want to consider upgrading your Flex app to a higher version, as v3.5 is already in production, but I would recommend going with 3.3 or 3.4 as the widgets in those environments have been upgraded at this point as well.

[CarrieDavis]

Hi Janet,

Also if you are using ArcGIS Server prior to 10.1 you will need to clear out your REST cache to view your updates in your Flex Viewers.  As of version 10.1 the REST API cache is cleared automatically when changes are made to a service.  In version 10.0 or prior you will need to do this manually.   Clear your REST cache by going to your http://servername/arcgis/rest/admin and signing in with your ArcGIS Server site admin account.  Select then to clear cache.  Then you should be able to see your updates at REST. 

Best wishes.

[JanetMerkt]

I have cleared my cache, but that does not solve the problem.  My co-worker further explained that the data is being stored on the server instead of the web application reading directly from the SDE database.

[MichaelVolz]

You need to register the SDE connection(s) you are using in your mxd with ArcGIS Server so it does not copy the SDE data to the ArcGIS Server server.  When you analyze your mapservice, you will get a high warning that the SDE data is being copied.  This is done in the Site tab in ArcGIS Server manager.

[JanetMerkt]

When I go to the Site Tab, I can see my SDE connection under registered databases and it has an orange question mark in front of it.  When I go to Validate, it then throws a green checkmark in it.  However, if I go out and log back in to the server, it shows the orange questin mark again.  Under settings, my Data Store settings box "Allow data to be copied to the site..." is checked.  I have tried unchecking this box and redoing the service, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

[MichaelVolz]

Please make sure the SDE connection that is registered with ArcGIS Server is the same one that is being used in the mxd that is the source of your mapservice.  I have my SDE connection registered, so the SDE data is not being copied to my ArcGIS Server server.