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How to delete Offline Sync Version created by Field Maps

JonathanDandois

Probably just missing a step, but I keep missing it consistently. I have a Traditional versioned dataset in our Portal. The Web Map and layers is configured for sync with a version per user. Creating offline area, editing and syncing all works fine. But when I go to delete the version created for this user I get the error "Operation not allowed on a version with dependent children." I know how to fix this in the SQL Server backend, by manually deleting all the dependent children first. But am I missing a step in a typical offline editing process? thanks!

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JonathanDandois

Posting a final follow-up. I submitted a support ticket with Esri and went all the way through a number of very helpful support departments from Field Maps to Enterprise, finally landing on the SDE / DB team. This is a synopsis of how far we got.

It seems like my process is generally correct, but somewhere along the way when I remove an Offline Area from Field Maps the action to remove the child SYNC versions of the offline editing version is not making it to the back-end and so those child versions are not being deleted.

ArcGIS Pro only displays the main offline edit version, a child of DEFAULT, but does not display the other children of that version. Trying to delete the main offline edit version results in the `160361: Operation not allowed on a version with dependent children.` error, which is recognized but has no solutions, here.

WARNING: READ BELOW AT YOUR OWN RISK.

So the only solution we could identify was to access the SDE_VERSIONS table in the back-end DB and manually delete the dependent children of the main offline edit version. So in the screens below version_id = 173 is the main offline edit version that is visible in ArcGIS Pro and which cannot be deleted in Pro. The additional SYNC versions below that are all children of that version and these are not visible in ArcGIS Pro. These versions should be deleted when the Offline Area is removed, but for some reason in my workflow that is not always happening.

So. I manually, and carefully, write out the DELETE statement for each of the child versions, double checking that it is part of the version tree of version_id = 173. Extreme caution here since this example on our dev environment is relatively easy and there are no other versions happening at the same time. In production, it is more likely that there are other versions mixed in among these, so it is an arduous task. Obviously be careful here because DEFAULT is right there! 😬 So we felt there was no "smart" SQL statement way to perform this, no range or JOIN, and that each WHERE should be typed out manually and deliberately.

With the versions deleted the, there are no more dependent children of the main offline edit version and that version can and should be removed in ArcGIS Pro only, don't delete it from the DB back-end!

I'd say this situation comes up for me about 80% of the time. So I will continue to test this out. 20% of the time when I remove an Offline Area after offline work is complete and the rec/post have been performed, I am able to delete the main offline edit version in ArcGIS Pro as expected without this back-end work.

At this point I am wondering if there is an issue where Field Maps isn't connected to our Enterprise Portal prior to removing the offline areas. If the credentials are somehow "stale" or if the iPad isn't fully connected to the network and signed in to Portal.

For now I think this is closed. But I will update if any new information comes up! Thanks to the Esri Support team for all their help with this!

All comments

ODWC_GIS

Thank you!

Scary but worked.

ODWC_GIS

This comment knocked a couple of the rocks loose in my memory. We found the same thing before we'd upgraded to Enterprise 11.1! My ex-colleague kept using his ArcMap b/c it had more control over situations that would cause table locks!

ODWC_GIS

This is where I am right now. THANK YOU for posting this and as detailed as it is.

EdwardMcFarlin

Yes! For these cases if I try to delete the offline editing version in Pro it throws the error about having dependent children. If I then try to delete the same offline editing version in ArcMap it works and I can confirm that it deleted all of its dependent child versions as well through looking at the sde versions table.

JonathanDandois

@EdwardMcFarlin that is super interesting that you can delete the main offline sync parent version with Desktop and not Pro! I assume it deletes all the dependent children as well?

I totally agree that working directly in SDE next to the DEFAULT version record is horrible.

It cropped up randomly with another field worker a few months back with one map / area, but not others with the same worker on the same iPad. So i really don't know what causes it.

EdwardMcFarlin

I had been consistently experiencing this issue as well. One of my problems was I could not get staff to consistently delete their offline areas. I also wanted to implement a weekly process to automate the unregistering the feature service replicas so I could then delete the corresponding versions from the database. My solution was to unregister the replica in ArcGIS Pro. The problem with that is it would not actually delete the child SYNC versions like it should when you remove the offline area on the device (plus removing the area doesn't always work as has been noted by others). After some more testing, I found out that if you unregister the replica through the REST service instead of ArcGIS Pro, it will actually delete the child SYNC versions. This can be automated and done in batch through the API for python.

As a side note, if the child SYNC versions don't get deleted for whatever reason, deleting the main offline editing version through ArcMap/ArcCatalog works: it deletes the version and any dependent children. ArcGIS Pro does not seem to have this capability and I have no desire to try to delete those rows out of the sde versions table. It would be nice if this could be implemented in ArcGIS Pro before ArcMap is retired.

JonathanDandois

So its been a few months.. I've been having my field users regularly log out and log back into Field Maps while on the Network and otherwise just conduct their field work as normal, business as usual. I always have them manually log out / log in in Field Maps prior to removing any Offline Areas.

This seems to have reduced the times where I see the orphaned versions error and I have been able to smoothly pare down the version list and delete Field Maps versions after projects are completed as expected without resorting to the SQL Server route.

So maybe it just needs more frequent log out / log in to Field Maps while connected to the network? I don't know. If we don't perform the log out / log in Data Collection and Sync seems to work just fine.

JonathanDandois

Thanks @DougBrowning . this is my suspicion as well. Even though I am pretty sure our users are on wifi on the iPad device when they remove offline areas, I wonder if the Field Maps connection to our enterprise Portal is stale, even though it technically thinks it still logged in, or something buggy there.

I am going to test by having the users log out and log back in to the Enterprise Portal in Field Maps prior to removing offline areas to see if that avoids the issue. Unfortunately though, once it happens one time, the orphans are stuck in the SDE versions table and need to be removed manually.

dougbrowning

I am seeing this in AGOL also. It seems to be if the user removes the offline area while they are not connected it gets lost.

See my post here @JonathanDandois . I reported it about a year ago. https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-field-maps-questions/replica-not-removed-if-offline-area-removed-while/m-p/1090802#M1580

Hope that helps

JonathanDandois

WARNING: READ BELOW AT YOUR OWN RISK.

For now I think this is closed. But I will update if any new information comes up! Thanks to the Esri Support team for all their help with this!

JonathanDandois

@Sean_Haile I re-read your comment, I do not believe that the sync version would be deleted when the offline area is removed. Deleting the version is done by the manager or user after confirming that any edits are sync'd rec/posted, and the offline area is removed.

Alright, I've tested this a bit more. I did the following:

Test 1:

Create a new offline capable web map
In Field Maps, create offline area and test adding / removing features
Confirm rec / and post in back-end.
Delete offline area from Field Maps
Delete Version - SUCCESS.

Test 2:

Using map from above
Create new offline version, confirm editing, sync, etc.
Attempt to delete version in Pro - FAIL "Operation not allowed on version with dependent children"
Oh shoot! I forgot to remove offline areas.
Remove offline area
Delete Version - FAIL
Close app, sign out/sign into Field Maps new offline area, remove offline area.
Delete Version - FAIL

It seems that the issue comes up if I try to delete the version and there is still an offline area. This throws the error as noted, but can no longer be fixed in ArcGIS Pro regardless of what is done in Field Maps (e.g., removing the offline area, adding a new one, removing, etc.,). Trying to delete the version when there is still an offline area out there (for example, forgetting about that offline area, forgetting about a device) seems to orphan a replica that can no longer be removed unless I go into the SDE_Version table in the DB backend and remove the versions.

Still feels like I am missing something.

JonathanDandois

@Sean_Haile I have tried this again with another account and another iPad and I get the same result. I agree that what you said is what is supposed to happen. Remove the offline area, rec & post in the office to DEFAULT, and then be able to remove the version, but I keep getting the error. I updated Field Maps to the latest version on my iPad and get the same results. I think i was followed the guidance on this post. Guess I will try recreating the service and see if that does it.

JonathanDandois

That is what I thought too, but that does not seem to be happening. I will try it again with some more test cases.

Sean_Haile

The sync version should be automatically deleted when the mobile user uses Field Maps to remove the offline area from their device, assuming the mobile device is connected to a network when the remove area option is invoked.

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