Thanks Vince,
I�??m not sure what you mean about a �??Desktop application�??. Is this an Arc Desktop installation?
(we were hoping to avoid the IT overhead of installing Arc on multiple desktops, where people only need it for a single task taking about 5 minutes.)
Where would I find more information about a web-based geoprocessing tool? I�??ve been investigating Feature Services and Geoprocessing Services - eventually we plan to publish Feature Services and allow editing. But at this stage it may be a step further than we require.
At this stage, we don't need to be able to edit features or attributes, or be able to visualise what we are doing.
The operator just needs to run a script or tool that:
�?� Deletes existing files (used in the geoprocessing)
�?� Creates a backup of the Databases ( 2 off)
�?� Spatial Join of eg suburbs, etc to the shapefile
�?� Calculate Field (recalculate Suburb name field)
�?� Append the new features to one of the 2 existing databases (based on a SQL WHERE statement)
�?� Compress the database
By using a script/tool, the Database Connection (containing the database server login) applies only to that instance of updating the database. Therefore the operator is not given a general Login access to the Database Server. (probably this would be the case no matter how we implemented, as you pointed out)
A copy of Arc Desktop, and the Licence Manager is held on a server. If the user runs the script/tool from their desktop, they would need an arc installation on their PC, to access the Arc Tools.
I�??ve been told that a major feature of ArcGIS Server is that with licences able to be stored on the server, this enables editing to be accessed via a web page.
We would like to be able to give access to a web page (or a folder) on the server, from where the operator could run the script/tool, using the Arc Desktop/Tools hosted on the server. Thus, we would avoid:
i) providing a desktop installation of Arc (requiring more IT support!)
ii) providing a general login access to the server holding the Arc Desktop/Tools. Access would be limited to running that script/tool
Please feel free to point out where my assumptions are incorrect.
Thanks,
Steve