Access Databases and Creating features in Arcmap 10.1

[Anonymous User]

Original User: dm465531

Hello,

I have two Access databases that have all the info already in them.  What I am looking to do is create a form from this data that would be created by the end user.  The end user would create a polygon in arcmap and need to output the attributes from the polygon to a pre-made form that is in Access.  Is there a way to do this?  Any help would be appreciated.

Dave

[Anonymous User]

Original User: ldonahue

Dave,

You lost me.  You have Access databases with info in them.  What info is in the polygon attributes that you want to be in the Access Database?  Are you storing the attributes in two places?

[Anonymous User]

Original User: dm465531

Sorry I re-read my original post and it did not really make much sense.  I will try and explain this better. 

As of right now we are using a proprietary program for planning purposes.  In this program it has a dumb down version of Arcmap.  When we get a new plan and go out and measure the property we come back and draw a polygon in Arcmap for the plan.  In the program it has radio buttons and the ability to create a form from the attributes that you would assign to the polygon/plan that you drew.  These radio buttons allow you to measure, cut the polygon and other things.  The database that the program goes to is Access.  Once everything is entered the program will generate a predefined form filled out with the attributes you selected for the plan.

I would like to be able to do this in Arcmap.  I have started by connecting to the database but I am a little confused on what to do next.  I have created a file geodatabase for the features to go into. I have also created domains in the geodatabase for all of the attributes.  I also have been delving into python making buttons for the tools and putting them on a toolbar I made in python.

I do not know how I will do the form but i would appreciate any guidance y'all could give.  Am I on the right track or should I start over?

Dave

[LeoDonahue]

  Am I on the right track or should I start over?
Dave

On the right track - yes.
Start over - no.

But you might be in the wrong forum, but I don't think anyone cares.

Essentially, you want to ditch this product you are using and digitize the plan feature and populate that feature attributes using a form within ArcMap?  You want to store the attributes about this plan feature in GIS, rather than in an external database, right?

Do I understand correctly?

[Anonymous User]

Original User: dm465531

Yes you are correct.  We have to be able to get the data out of arcmap and onto a form.

[LeoDonahue]

Is this display form something different than the form that you use to enter the attributes for the feature?

Since you mention plans, we developed an application that autogenerates zoning case maps in pdf format.  The GIS person digitizes the plan boundary for the zoning case, and we store only enough attributes about the feature to distinguish it spatially from other features, based on our business process.

Then we link the zoning case feature to an enterprise permittting system database to extract all the non-spatial data about that zoning case and then programmatically produce a zoning case map from all this infomation.

Is this what you are tyring to do?

[Anonymous User]

Original User: dm465531

Yes it is.  The form that is produced by the program is about 4 pages.  Everything that is entered into the attributes for the new polygon will be needed to be outputted to the form.  I set up the new feature class in the geodatabase to have only those fields fillable on the attribute table that would be created when a new polygon would be created.  The fields are drop down and the user just selects the right one.  Each one of those fields needs to be outputted to the form for the plan package.

I hope this makes sense.

[LeoDonahue]

ESRI to my knowledge doesn't have any forms designer, other than the ArcGIS Online Data Collector, which is not what you probably want.  You are going to have to dig into coding this app from scratch most likely, are you ok with that?

For our application, we made it a web app.  The user can enter a zoning case number, and in 2 seconds later, get a pdf map zoomed to that feature with attribute data on the form (map, packet, whatever you want to call it), from both the GIS attribute table as well as non-spatial data from our permitting system database.

We used the iText API to create the pdf.

I'm not sure where to help you from here, unless you have other questions.  If so, I would suggest the ArcObjects forum or one of the other coding forums (Python?) depending on the API you use to create this solution.

[Anonymous User]

Original User: dm465531

Thanks for the help.  Not really good with coding.  i will move the thread over if I can.