Field Calculator doesn't work in Arc10 tables

[NicolaiBencke1]

I can't get 'Field Calculator' to work in any of my tables since going to Arc10. This applies to shapefiles, personal gdbs and file gdbs, in edit sessions and outside edit sessions. I need this function constantly in my work, and filling in records one by one doesn't work for 50,000 records. I've got Service Pack 3 loaded and an ArcInfo license. I know my syntax is correct, I've been using this function for many years. Did something change that I'm missing, or do I need to try to re-load Arc10 completely?

[Robert_LeClair]

Nicolai - by chance are you using VBA code blocks for the field calculations?  These are no longer supported in the ArcGIS v. 10 field calculator.  Possible workaround:  Use Python or VB Script code blocks in the Field Calculator.  Another possibility is to request a VBA authorization file from Esri keycodes - http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgisdesktop/archive/2009/10/28/ArcGIS-Desktop-and-VBA_3F00_.aspx

Good luck!

Robert
Esri-Denver

[NicolaiBencke1]

I'm just doing a simple statement to try to fill in a field.  I don't know any coding or scripting languages.  See attachment for an example.  The field I'm filling in is a text field with 12 characters.  The same thing happens (nothing) whether I'm in an edit session or not.  I'm hoping there's just some setting I could change or a box that needs to be checked that didn't exist in Arc9.

[HoraceShaw1]

Any solution to this issue?  I have the same problem with field calculator.

Horace Shaw
Burlington, VT

[RichardFairhurst]

I'm just doing a simple statement to try to fill in a field.  I don't know any coding or scripting languages.  See attachment for an example.  The field I'm filling in is a text field with 12 characters.  The same thing happens (nothing) whether I'm in an edit session or not.  I'm hoping there's just some setting I could change or a box that needs to be checked that didn't exist in Arc9.

The calculation you posted should work, so why it doesn't is a mystery.  I agree that the Field Calculator is indespensible and if I had a problem like this I would be on the phone with Tech Support immediately.  I have 10 SP3 on my machine and it would do this calculation without a problem.  About the only buggy behavior I have had is when a Personal Geodatabase is in an edit session I have to save after each Field Calculator operation to get it to do another calculation.  Contact Tech Support.

[KristyGuy]

I had the same problem.  I fixed the problem by resetting everything to the original defaults.  I don't know what caused the problem in the first place. 

Here's the instructions I followed from a different thread ("How can ArcMap be reset to all orginal defaults?") written by   Dean Thevaos, GIS Programmer/Analyst, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities. 


"Delete or Rename the "ESRI" directory in the registry. Go to Start > Run > type "regedit". Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software. You can try deleting or renaming the ArcMap directory first (It's inside the ESRI folder) when you open ArcMap a new directory will be created. If this doesn't restore all of ArcMap's defaults go back and delete or rename the entire ESRI directory. Make sure you do this with ArcMap and ArcCatalog closed. The benefit of renaming rather than deleting is if there are undesired effects you can delete the New ESRI or ArcMap directory and return the old one to it's original name. "

[AndrewShaw]

Hi All,

I am having the same problem with the field calculator suddenly not working.  I tried the registry edit to no avail.  Any other solutions?

[AndrewShaw]

I contacted tech support and got a solution.  Not only did I have to do the registry edit, but they had me remove/rename the esri folder in my profile at C:\Users\ajshaw\AppData\Roaming.  Apparently the cause of the field calculator issue was a corrupted normal.mxt

[NicolaiBencke1]

Thanks for finding that answer Andrew.  I had gone and deleted my normal file, but that wasn't enough.  I tried your method of both registry edit and deleting (renaming to ESRIold) the ESRI folder and now my Field Calculator works again.  Big relief.  Odd that this happened to both the PC and the laptop that I loaded 10 on, but no one else in the office had that problem.  Hopefully this will help some other people too.  Nice work, I appreciate the help.

[NicolaiBencke1]

Thanks to Kristi also for finding a solution.