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Is there a setting for file geodatabases to force column names in UPPER or LOWER CASE?

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06-26-2019 02:08 AM
TomGeo
by
Occasional Contributor III
‎06-26-2019 02:08 AM

I generate feature layers from subsets of data stored in an Oracle database. After some adjustments to the data, such as deleting columns, adding columns and calculating their values I am writing the feature classes into a file geodatabase.

Looking at the column names generated by ArcGIS Pro I am puzzled that auto-generated columns e.g. GEOMETRY_Length have mixed names. Worst, I cannot alter the field name since the field is required...

  • How to adjust/avoid mixed naming?
  • How to force column names to UPPER CASE?
- We are living in the 21st century.
GIS moved on and nobody needs a format consisting out of at least three files! No, nobody needs shapefiles, not even for the sake of an exchange format. Folks, use GeoPackage to exchange data with other GIS!
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5 Replies
George_Thompson
by Esri Frequent Contributor
Esri Frequent Contributor
‎06-26-2019 04:05 AM

I am not sure that this is possible. I know that the RDBMS's handle this differently.

https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/using-sql-with-gdbs/rules-for-creating-spati...

--- George T.
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TomGeo
by
Occasional Contributor III
‎06-26-2019 04:45 AM

I know the guidelines, and hence I find it irritating, to say the least, that Esri database formats allow such things. In our case the geodatabase serves as an exchange format and has to fulfil some naming conventions with respect to the column names before the data are written in to an RDBMS.

Guess I will have a look into Ideas and add it there if not yet existing.

- We are living in the 21st century.
GIS moved on and nobody needs a format consisting out of at least three files! No, nobody needs shapefiles, not even for the sake of an exchange format. Folks, use GeoPackage to exchange data with other GIS!
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George_Thompson
by Esri Frequent Contributor
Esri Frequent Contributor
‎06-26-2019 05:25 AM

Is the mixed case causing any issues, errors, etc?

--- George T.
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TomGeo
by
Occasional Contributor III
‎06-26-2019 06:08 AM

Not as long as we are within the environment of ArcGIS Pro. It gives us some trouble since we cannot control it with respect to the demands coming from the site of the RDBMS. The latter one is not ours and we have to live up to the column naming definition, so the data import can proceed in a standardized way.

- We are living in the 21st century.
GIS moved on and nobody needs a format consisting out of at least three files! No, nobody needs shapefiles, not even for the sake of an exchange format. Folks, use GeoPackage to exchange data with other GIS!
RobertBorchert
by
Frequent Contributor III
‎06-26-2019 07:00 AM

The names you see in Oracle are most likely and Alias.  The names that are coming out of the database are the actual names of the column in the Oracle database.

If you want to change the way the column names look you will need to create and alias. or generate  the table the way you want it as a template and load the data to that table.

To make a permanent change you would need to go into the Oracle database and change the actual names.

   I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT

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