Unable to check-in/edit AXF

[MatthewSchonert]

Hi,

I'm not able to check in my edits in ArcMap nor am I able to continue editing in ArcPad.

The problem might be with the way I back up my data, but I'm not sure. I'm a relatively new to GIS so much of what I do is just guessing. Since we only have ArcPad (and thus the ArcPad Data Manager) installed on one machine that is not mine, in order to back up my daily edits I've been saving the AXF file and the associated TXT and XML files to their own folder on our server.

The last time I actually checked in data to ArcMap was a couple days ago and that worked fine; since then I have backed up two AXF files from the past two days of work.

However, after my most recent back up, I was unable to edit in ArcPad. I simply copied the AXF file on my mobile device and pasted it in the backup folder, then when I went out to edit I received an error message that said "Failed to load 1 layer..." then pointed to the layer I've been editing in my AXF file.

When I tried to check in the file from the previous save, I received an error message saying something like my transaction log couldn't be found or something, but I had copied all associated files with my AXF and put them in the same location.

The only event that occurred between when I was able to make edits and wasn't able to make edits was when I copied the AXF from mobile device to desktop. Any ideas on what the underlying problem could be?

Also, is the way I copy files from mobile to desktop a legitimate way to back up my work or do I need to check in my data with ArcMap when I want to save it?

Thanks,

Matt Schonert
Rex Energy

[TimHopper]

Matt,

You're work flow is good.  I recommend that ArcPad users manually copy and paste the folder containing the axf file to and from the mobile device.  I tend to stray away from using a "sync" folder to automatically push data to and from a folder on the mobile device.  Much better just to do it manually - that way you don't accidentally overwrite any of the data.

You should be able to save multiple axf files and then check them back in at another time.

I'm not too sure what may have happened to your particular file.  Although it's rare that an axf file becomes corrupt, it's possible.

Open the problematic axf file in ArcPad Studio.  Underneath "Feature Layers" right-click on the feature class which you've been editing.  Select "Show Data".  Does any data get displayed?  Do you see a SQL error message of some type?

If you see all of your data here in tabular form, go ahead and export it to a shapefile by right-clicking the feature class underneath "Feature Layers" and selecting "Export".  At least you can manually append the data if it exports appropriately.

Do both axf files you have right now exhibit this behavior?

Did you move the location of the geodatabase since the last time you checked in?  If you did, you need to move it back to the location that it was when the export was created.  This is the file path you see next to "workspace" in the Get Data From ArcPad wizard.

If a newly exported axf works appropriately, we'll have to assume that something happened to the problematic file.  If a new export doesn't work, it's probably a data issue of some sort.

At this point:

Try exporting to axf from ArcPad Studio.

Try exporting a new axf file and see if that one works.

[JasonTipton]

I recommend that ArcPad users manually copy and paste the folder containing the axf file to and from the mobile device. I tend to stray away from using a "sync" folder to automatically push data to and from a folder on the mobile device. Much better just to do it manually

I 100% agree with this statement. I hate that you have to do this, but sync and ArcMap do not get along at all. You almost can't sync without having a problem of some kind.

[ZachEdwards]

Matt, were you able to get this resolved? Tim's response was as good as it gets based on your inquiry; however, I may be able to troubleshoot this a bit more with you if you are still stuck.

[MatthewSchonert]

Thanks a ton for the replies guys.

I ended up just exporting a new AXF file from ArcMap and redoing the work that was lost. Since then I've been checking my data into ArcMap every day just to be sure.

But today while I was out doing some editing, I had a similar problem. In the middle of my editing session something happened to the AXF file and all of the sudden I was unable to select any of the points on my map. When I zoomed out a little to let the map redraw, the layer in my AXF was no longer visible. Upon exiting I received the error message "Open error :0x80004005 E_FAIL Unspecified error".

When I tried to reopen the map, I received the same "Failed to load 1 layer..." message as before. When I get access to our PC with ArcPad on it I'll see if I can open it up or anything.

This has happened multiple times before on previous ArcPad projects of ours, and since this has happened to me personally twice this week there's got to be a problem with our GPS unit or SD card or something. I'm using a Magellan MobileMapper CX, Windows CE version 5.00, ArcPad 7.1, and ArcGIS 9.3 on our PC's.

The size of my AXF file is about 2MB. Since this is the only GIS project that I've worked on I wouldn't know if that is relatively large or not, but if it is and if it could be a problem then I can easily break my project up into smaller segments.

And our SD card is a 500MB capacity card with 155MB of it is used. I think it's the card that came stock with our GPS unit. Come to think of it, I thought I read somewhere that the maximum recommened capacity is something like 250MB, so would that be our problem?

Thank you!

[MatthewSchonert]

Also a little more info:

The AXF file size before today's editing session (when everything was working properly) was 2,324KB, and when I copied the file from the GPS unit to the PC I noticed the file size was 2,004KB. In today's editing session all I did was change the locations of about 100 points and add about 2 or 3 points.

And if it's any help, the SD card is FAT formatted. I don't believe that it has been reformatted in a long time (about 2 years).