Latest Contributions by AZendel

Another downside to this template approach is the mess of files that it creates in every project that you create from a template: I regularly connect to SDE via a number of sde connection files.  While I use only one of these connection files 80% of the time, we do have others for test databases and to connect as a specified user for admin tasks.  We also use some SQL Express geodatabases for large datasets and that connection isn't shown above because I haven't bothered putting it into my project template yet.  Remembering the correct URLs, Oracle instances/services, usernames and passwords for all of these connections makes having to create a new connection for each project a considerable hassle.  The ArcCatalog approach is much better here. ESRI, please give us this option.   ... View more

It was good to see that ArcGIS Pro 1.4 was released while I was on vacation.  But it was disappointing to see that editing geodatabase annotation did not make it into 1.4.  The inability to create and edit geodatabase annotation is the one major hang-up that prevents our organization from using Pro for nearly all of our projects that require layouts (and most of our projects eventually necessitate layouts to communicate our work).  Not being able to customize/edit/refine the labels placed by the label engine is a show stopper.  ESRI Staff, I urge you to fast track annotation editing.  This functionality seems way more important to me than just about everything listed on the "What's new in ArcGIS Pro 1.4" page.  If this functionality becomes available before the major 1.5 release (as suggested above), I think you should push it out as a minor release (e.g., 1.4.1).   ... View more

Is there an ETA on editing annotation in Pro?  1.4? ... View more

Please put this high on the priority list, ESRI.  ETA? ... View more

Annotations cannot be created and edited in Pro:  FAQ: Can annotations be created or edited in ArcGIS Pro?  Seems a bit crazy: How can a PROfessional mapping software package not support the full use of annotations?  ESRI, please prioritize this ... View more

Ditto.  ESRI, get on this fast! ... View more

Full support of annotation creations and editing should be core functionality in any PROfessional mapping software.   I just spent a lot of time refining some maps and street labels in Pro.  I wanted to convert the labels to GDB annotations so I could edit them.  And then, BAM, ArcGIS Pro snafu.  It'd be different if I could export the layout to ArcMap or the streets layer to an ArcMap-readable layer file so I could convert the annotation there.  But I can't. I may have just lost some substantial time if I have to start over again in ArcMap. When will annotation be fully supported, ESRI?  Seems to me that this should be a top priority.   ... View more

I'm just now learning Pro.   This is crazy.  Yeah, the UNC work-around is acceptable, but why can't you connect to a root folder ?!?!?  A lot of our staff refer to \\fileserver\shared as "The G Drive".  Is there a good reason for this restriction, ESRI? ... View more

Yes, please! ... View more

Can we watch the Plenary live over the web?  If not, when and where will video recordings be posted?  Thanks. ... View more

Good to know.  I'll look into that.  But it'd still be nice if we could do the following when creating a table or feature class: AA isn't too hard to set up, but the above is just so much more convenient. Thanks.  ... View more

I did.  I just didn't want to have "Certificate Number: ad58-ger6-s8ff-g265-87s56d" on our certificates.  Some day there may be a need to label a map with the unique numbers.   "10053" would look much better on a map.  Also, this blog post says: "This should not be used for a Unique ID.  These values can change if you have to reload the data at some point or if you drop the Global ID field and re-add it. "  I don't really follow that or am having trouble interpreting it...... ... View more

This may be a slightly off topic, but I think an auto-number, auto-increment or user-defined sequence field type should be available at the geodatabase level, not just at the application level or UI level (like Attribute Assistant).  Here's a case: I programmatically insert some rows into a table that contains certified address certificates.  The ArcMap user selects address points, enters some more information into a form and then prints the certificate.  Before the print happens, I insert the certificate data into the certificate able using ArcObjects.  AA seems to be hooked into the ArcMap interface, so even though I had set up AA auto-number, it didn't populate the field.  So I worked around it by writing code to do just what AA does for autonumber: read the last number used in a setup table, add the next number to the target table and then increment the set up table by 1.  That's a considerable amount of coding and testing that could have been eliminated by an auto-number field.  Even the more 'lightweight' databases (Access, SQLite) have auto-number fields. A third-party consultant once told us that ObjectID fields are not guaranteed to always be unique, especially in multi-editor environments, though duplicates are probably very, very rare.  (That was ~8 years ago, maybe that has changed).   But the problem with ObjectID's is that they'll likely get reset when a table or feature class is moved to a separate database (or copied within one database).  That can make it hard to migrate to new versions of ArcGIS, create backup and testing databases and do regular GDB maintenance. I know a number of people who find AA very handy and there's probably going to be some AA use cases for me in the future.  But I think that auto-number should be available at the DB level.  If I have misunderstood anything about AA or GDB's, then please correct me. ... View more