AGOL and Editing Data Locally with Domains

[Danielle_Journey]

This is my first experience dealing with AGOL being in the mix, and I'm still trying to find the best workflow for editing our data locally in ArcMap (10.3.1 standard license).  Side note: there is no ArcSDE involved locally either, data is stored in a file geodatabase (with domains).  If I bring data into ArcMap straight from AGOL to edit locally, I lose the power of my domains.  Does this mean I should edit from my file geodatabase and republish the hosted feature layer after each edit session?  Seems like a big hassle if I am doing major editing... 

[JakeSkinner · Accepted solution]

Hi Danielle,

If you are adding the feature service from the Catalog window under 'My Hosted Services', you can create a local copy for editing.  This should retain the domains.

[Danielle_Journey]

Thank you Jake, I will give that a try!

[CarlBeyerhelm]

I'm experiencing a similar problem.  I have a hosted AGOL feature service consisting of point, line, and polygon layers.  The domains work fine when I'm creating or editing features in both the AGOL webmap and in Collector.

However, when I bring the feature service into ArcMap and save a copy for editing, the domains for the point feature class disappear after the first edit session.  In other words, when I initially bring the hosted feature service into ArcMap and save a copy for editing, I am able to edit with the benefit of domains in all of the feature classes.  However, if I save my edits (not syncing with the feature service), close out of ArcMap, restart ArcMap and start a new edit session on the same MXD, the domains have disappeared from the point feature class.  The domains for the line and polygon feature class are still in place.  The feature classes are identical to each other in all respects except for their geometry type.

Please help me understand what's going on with that.  Thank you.

[Danielle_Journey]

Hi Carl

So when you save a copy for editing in ArcMap for your hosted feature service, it creates a file geodatabase locally.  For me it's in this location: 
C:\Users\<user>\Documents\ArcGIS\FeatureServiceLocalEdits

When you initially save a copy for editing there must be a "link" that is established between AGOL and the first edit session in ArcMap to retain the domains, and once you exit ArcMap this "link" is gone.  That's my guess anyways!

So essentially each time you open ArcMap to edit your hosted feature services you will need to save a copy for editing.

It's good to know the location of were AGOL is saving these "temporary" file geodatabases, because you'll want to clean this folder out periodically.  And I don't think you can resuse them to sync back to AGOL!

It is a clunky synchronization process, that is good for only small editing sessions.  If you are doing a lot of editing on a hosted feature service be aware that the default max record return is only 1,000 records, meaning when you save a copy for editing in ArcMap it only pushes down that many records.  You can go into AGOL and increase this max record count number, but then you will be sacrificing speed in your web maps.  All this to say, I highly recommend doing your edits in ArcGIS Pro, because you do not have to save a copy for editing and you can see ALL of your data.  I'm not a fan of ArcGIS Pro, but that's how they have designed it!

Hope this information helps!

[CarlBeyerhelm]

Hi Danielle.

Yes, but...

Two of the three feature classes in my "Local fGDB Copy For Editing" do retain the association between their fields and their corresponding domains.  Only one of the feature classes in the local replica loses the association between the fields and their domains.

In any case, I worked around the issue by cloning the schema of the feature service parent geodatabase into another local geodatabase, appending feature service records into the local geodatabase, making my edits, appending the edited records back to the "Local fGDB Copy For Editing", and syncing back to AGOL using the right-click Edit Features - Synchronize Local Edits With Server functionality.

Clunky, but it worked, and I don't have access to ArcGIS Pro, so it will have to do.

Thanks...