Unregister As Versioned Tool Parameters

[ChrisStrobl]

Greetings Forum,

Could someone please explain exactly what the options shown in the unregister as versioned tool parameters with regards to preserving edits and compressing default to base tables do/mean?  The help explanations are not clear to me and I have had users lose edits due to misunderstanding of these parameters.  Examples would be helpful.  We are running ArcGIS 10 SP4 against data in ArcSDE 9.3.1.

I would like to provide users with a clear picture on exactly how this tool works so that they reduce the risks of losing edits.

My recommendation to users has always been to rec and post all versions to default and compress.  However, we have replicas and other items that frequently foil complete compresses to the base tables.  As a result I stress that users check the Delta tables to be sure they are empty before completing the unregister process.  I would like a better understanding of the unregister tool and what it is doing behind the scenes so that I can fully understand what the capabilities and limitations of this tool are.

Thanks!

[AsrujitSengupta]

A simple explanation would be, Unregistering the data as versioned, would delete the corresponding Delta Tables (a- & d- Tables). So any edits that you have in the delta tables will be lost.

As you mentioned in the initial post, to compress the geodatabase to State 0 is the best possible practice before performing these operations.

Regards,

[ChrisStrobl]

How about unregister as versioned tool parameters?  There are two options which I don't completely understand that I think can be used to push some edits from A and D tables into business tables.  Can someone please explain what these two options do.  Help on this topic leaves some ambiguity in my mind.  Examples would be nice.

For instance, what does the keep edits option do?  How can you keep edits if the A and D tables have been removed by use of this tool?  This is the most confusing option of this particular tool.

And, Compress all edits in Default.  If there is a state lock on the Default version will all edits still compress to base tables by using this option?  In other words, if I have synchronized all replicas and posted all versions to default and check this option, is it certain that the A and D tables will be empty?

Again, I always recommend that people actually look at the A and D tables to be sure they are empty, but that doesn't always happen.  I would like to educate users on proper use of the unregister as versioned tool so that they do not get unpredicted surprises.

Thanks.

[AsrujitSengupta]

Check if this answers your question:

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//0017000000pn000000

[ChrisStrobl]

I have certainly read this numerous times, but this time, I may understand.  Let me confirm that if you check the box that says keep edits, the tool will not run and the delta tables will not be removed.  Basically, the tool checks to see if there are records in the delta tables and if there are, it simply will not run and the dataset remains registered as versioned.  Do you know what sort of message is issued to indicate to the user that the unregister did not complete?

As for the second check box option, I understand that to mean that if if the schema manager successfully posts edits from all other versions to Default, and they have checked this box, the tool will compress all edits out of the delta tables and into the base tables and then removes the delta tables.  Is that correct?

Thank you.

[RussellBrennan · Accepted solution]

Chris,

The first check box is used to determine what to do if there are edits in the delta tables for the dataset that is being unregistered as versioned.

If there are edits in the delta tables that have not been compressed to the base table AND this box is checked the tool will error with the following error message ERROR 000101: The dataset <dataset name> contains edits to some versions. If there are no edits in the delta tables for the dataset and this box is checked the tool will run and will unregister the dataset as versioned. In this case the last parameter is ignored.

The second parameter is used to determine what to do if there are edits in the delta tables and the first box is unchecked. When these conditions are met the second parameter allows you to choose to compress edits from the Default version into the business table (checked box) or simply delete the delta tables and you lose any outstanding edits (unchecked).

We tried at 10.1 to update the labels on the tool to make this easier to understand as we have received feedback that it is difficult. At 10.1 the labels on these parameters now read as "Do not run if there are edits in the delta tables" and "Compress all edits in the Default version into the base table" instead of "Keep edits" and "Compress Default".

Hope this helps,

[ChrisStrobl]

Thanks Russellb.  The reply was most helpful.