Problems Using Field Calculator on Selected Field

3118
8
06-08-2011 10:49 PM
shereensharma
New Contributor
Hey
I just got Arc10, in the previous version you could use field calculator on a selected number of records in a column and it would only update only this records.

At the moment I am trying to do this in Arc10 but the whole column gets updated and not just selected records.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
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8 Replies
FrankVignati
Occasional Contributor II
are you doing this in a model?
if so, then use make feature layer tool first with the selection query and calculate the new feature layer
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shereensharma
New Contributor
are you doing this in a model?
if so, then use make feature layer tool first with the selection query and calculate the new feature layer


Hey
No I am just trying to update a attribute table.
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FrankVignati
Occasional Contributor II
at the bottom of the table there should be a button for "Show Selected Records" if you click that then update your attributes with the field calculator it should only update the selected records
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DarrenWiens2
MVP Honored Contributor
Hmmm. My field calculator only acts on selected records regardless of whether I "Show All Records" or "Show Selected Records". I'm using ArcGIS 10 SP1.
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JoeChampagne
Occasional Contributor
I'm experiencing a similar error to slsharma; I've found that the issue was resolved when I quit and re-started ArcMap. I never experienced this problem at all using 9.3 and though I should perhaps do my field calculations in an edit session, this process has been a no-brainer until recently.

Should this issue be reported as a bug or at least have more attention directed at it? This could lead to some catastrophic loss of data for someone who isn't being careful.
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PhelimLally
New Contributor
Joe Champagne has one solution; I can't get even this to work, when trying to calculate selected records in a feature class produced as a result of several geoprocessing steps (Clips, Dissolve, Unions). I never had this problem with the same type of files in ArcGIS 9. I'm now working with ArcGIS 10, SP3.
I am using the unsatisfactory solution of making a new copy of my file each time, and then the selection rules are observed. Sometimes an export also works. It's an annoyance, and as Joe suggests, it should be viewed by ESRI as a bug of some sort in ArcGIS 10
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ChrisFox3
Occasional Contributor III
If you are at 10 sp3 and performing the field calculation on a layer that participates in a join there is a bug where the field calculate will process all the rows instead of the selected row, NIM076496.
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AbelE
by
New Contributor II
In my experience with using the Field Calculator, I have observed the following:

i. When calculating all records in a field, simply make sure no record is selected/highlighted.

ii. If the calculation is to be applied to only selected records, then, it becomes necessary to commit any unsaved edits before proceeding with the calculation. For some weird reason, if edits have not been saved, the Field Calculator does not handle edits pending in the cache properly. However, once Edits are saved, the calculation is automatically applied to only the Selected records.
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