How to change the precision of a field?

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08-17-2016 10:02 AM
TheodoreRakel
Occasional Contributor

I'm using arc gis desktop 10.2.1.  I have a versioned table with a field that is a short with a precision of 4 and tied to a domain.  It's also non nullable.  I'd like to change this field to have a precision of 6.  What's the best way to do this?  The fact that this attribute is non nullable seems to complicate things.  If I try to add a new attribute to the table with precision of 6 and non nullable, I find that the table must be empty in order to do this.  The table will never be empty.  I can get to state zero and unversion it, but it won't ever be empty.

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

so creating a new field and just copying the results over in the field calculator or from the original source is out of the question I guess as well, but in any event, here is what you can modify in a geodatabase

Alter Field—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop 

Modifying field properties—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS for Desktop 

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3 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

why are you reluctant to delete it and do it again? or am I missing something

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TheodoreRakel
Occasional Contributor

There are over 200,000 records in the table.  I don't want to delete the attribute.  The reason to change the precision is because the domain the attribute is tied to is getting new codes that are 6 characters long.

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

so creating a new field and just copying the results over in the field calculator or from the original source is out of the question I guess as well, but in any event, here is what you can modify in a geodatabase

Alter Field—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop 

Modifying field properties—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS for Desktop