Edit Log table and dActivityType domain

[MajaMesserli]

Hello Roads & Highways User and Developer

We are the GIS Team of the Department of Transportation in Canton Aargau, Switzerland. We are currently implementing our road axes into R&H. During this process we came across a number of questions such as

• What exactly is the purpose of the Edit Log table, what does its content mean?
• dActivityType domain contains codes up to 7, but we also found codes 9, 12 and 13. What do they mean? Why are they not listed in the domain table?

Does anyone have an explanation?

We are looking forward to your answers and appreciate your help.

Regards from Switzerland
Maja & GIS Team DOT Aargau

[ScottFierro2]

The Edit log table contains records with the XML details (EDITDATA field) around edits as they occur within the database. These build the sequence of events that the system can play out and contain details about which user, made what changes and when. It's been beneficial for us at times when trying to evaluate workflows and potential troubleshooting but isn't overly easy to exploit as an audit log. It's a system table that is generally advised as a don't touch but if someone put in some good coding work I am sure it could be exploited for validations, etc.

Here's an example of the XML details

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<RouteEditModel xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" SchemaVersion="2">
  <RouteEditActivity xsi:type="RetireRouteInfo" LrsId="3ae0f120-7e23-47f2-b70d-3616cee756b4" NetworkId="1" RouteId="TCLETR00914**C" OperationTime="2018-07-03T00:00:00" FirstM="-0" LastM="0.22" IsPerformDownstreamCalibration="true" DoNotApplyEventBehaviors="false" IsUseWholeRoute="false">
    <OverlappedPortions />
    <RetiredPortion OldFromMeasure="0.165" OldToMeasure="0.22" NewFromMeasure="NaN" NewToMeasure="NaN" />
  </RouteEditActivity>
</RouteEditModel>

The ACTIVITYTYPE field within this Edit log table contains values which align with the dActivityType domain. I can't speak to your 12 & 13 values. I can say in our system a 9 = Retire Route. You say yours ends at a 7 so for us an 8 = Reassign Route, 10 = Reverse Route and 11 = Shorten Route. This one piece I can say I've not yet fully figured out. I can say, reviewing REST services of a different agencies R&H data who is at 10.5.1 (which is the same version as us) shows they only have 7 as well (details below) and these don't align with what our values are. My only hunch could be that we began using R&H at version 10.2.2 and did fairly quick upgrades to 10.3.1. We sat there for a couple years and then jumped to 10.5.1 but I can't say whether or not our values differ because they have carried through from earlier versions or not.

domain:
type: codedValue
name: dActivityType
codedValues: (7)
name: Create Route
code: 1
name: Calibrate Route
code: 2
name: Reverse Route
code: 3
name: Retire Route
code: 4
name: Extend Route
code: 5
name: Reassign Route
code: 6
name: Realign Route
code: 7

[RyanKoschatzky]

I agree with Scott. I could be misremembering but I think it was Will Isley who said the edit log wasn't really meant for human consumption/eyeballs but just for R&H.

As for "Why are they not listed in the domain table?", you should ask esri at the RHUG call tomorrow January 9th.   

For North Carolina we have the following:

Edit Type #	Edit Type Description
1	Create Route
2	Calibrate Route
3	Reverse Route
4	Retire Route
5	Extend Route
6	Reassign Route
7	Realign Route
12	Cartographic Realignment
13	Load Route

Hope this helps.

[NathanEasley]

I'll echo what Ryan mentioned about the edit log.  It's not designed to be consumed by users as they do their work within Roads and Highways and should never be edited manually.

[Ed_Conrad]

Hi @NathanEasley 

Very late to this thread, but found it very helpful for demystifying what the activity codes meant.  I understood you on your point that the  Edit_log_table should never be edited manually.  However, is it okay to create a coded-value domain and apply it to the ActivityType column documenting  the 13 Activity Codes as shown by @RyanKoschatzky?   Is there any risk to doing so?  (e.g., possibility of future activity type codes in the future?).

Thank you!
Ed

[NathanEasley]

Hi Ed,

As I mentioned in the first comment, users shouldn't be doing any editing to the edit log table (including modeling additional fields or adding coded value domains to the fields in the table).

Nathan
ArcGIS Roads and Highways team

[Ed_Conrad]

Hi Nathan,

Noted and thank you for your response!

Ed

[MajaMesserli]

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately we are not able to participate, but we are interested to know what was discussed.

[RyanKoschatzky]

The meeting is open to all, understand if you have issues on that side. You can use this board or email Erin Lesh at ealesh@ncdot.gov or Patrick Whiteford at PWhiteford@azdot.gov to help voice any issues or provide information. 

Recordings and meeting notes can be found here. 

Roads and Highways User Group (RHUG) 

You and your team can sign up for the mailing list here:

Roads and Highways User Group List 

Hope this helps

[MajaMesserli]

Thanks for the fast replies and the tips, that's very appreciated.