Currently, there is excellent support for editing the "G" in GIS in ArcMap. Unfortunately, editing the "I" in GIS (information (attributes)) has very limited options
To the best of my knowledge, there are only two ways to enter or edit data in ArcMap:
1) in the attribute table
2) the attributes window launched from the editor toolbar
I would love to see the ability to easily design data entry forms similar to form design tools in Microsoft Access. This should include the ability to drag and drop fields onto the forms, set up combo boxes, and add frames to organize the form. Functionality should include:
1) make certain fields read-only and not editable.
2) support for 1 to many relationships via relationship classes (sub forms)
3) change the color of field backgrounds
4) data validation
5) an API that can trap events on the form
6) automatic generation of combo boxes on fields with subtypes or coded value domains
7) hide or exclude fields
😎 support versions
9) auto layout of controls on the form.
10) option to add additional combo boxes even if field isn't subtyped or part of a domain
11) user option to always keep the data entry form 'on top' of the map display, or for it to hide when interacting with the map
I believe that OpenOffice has many of these tools. Perhaps the open source code could be mined to jumpstart this project in the ESRI environment.
