Spatial ETL tool changes not persisting in ArcGIS 10

[VishApte]

Hi,

I am having a little difficulty to persist my Spatial ETL Tool in the ArcGIS 10.0 SP2 toolbox.

I created and tested a FME Workbench 2011 Workspace file using trial version. I used FME because the SchemaMapper interface is much nicer in FME 2011 than in Spatial ETL tool. I then added a Spatial ETL tool in my ArcGIS 10 toolbox, closed Spatial ETL UI and replaced the randon GUID named fmw file in %TEMP% folder with the one I created in FME workbench keeping the name same. I then tried to edit the tool again and I can see my workspace from the FME 2011 version. I made minor adjustments, ran the tool successfully, saved the tool and closed the Spatial ETL UI. If I try to re-edit it later, all the changes from the FME are gone and the tool has reverted to default at the time of creation. I thought this could be an issue with my copying FMW file from FME Workbench. But I created a new Spatial ETL tool, added readers, writers and transformers one-by-one, test ran the tool, saved and closed. If I try to re-edit the tool, all my changes are lost and the tool is defaulted to the one created first time. I hope it is not WAD. Is the Spatial ETL Tool in ArcGIS run-once only tool. Otherwise I cannot think of why the FMW file is created in %TEMP% folder with randon name. Makes the toolbox non-transportable.

Any thoughts?

-Vish

[CurtisFast]

Hello Vish,

The best solution for making use of the newer SchemaMapper is to extend ArcGIS using your 2011 FME Administrator.  Naturally, you can also expect to see this newer functionality in the upcoming Data Interoperability 10.1.

To maintain compatibility, an improvement to a transformer (such as the SchemaMapper) often requires a new transformer version.  The FME/DataInterop is designed to be backwards compatible; newer executables will work with older transformer versions, but older executables are not necessarily compatible with the newer transformer versions.  In the case of the SchemaMapper, you were fortunate that the transformer version did not change even though the GUI/Wizard did change!  So, yes, you have the opportunity to select your completed SchemaMapper transformer from your FME 2011 workspace and copy/paste it into your FME 2010-based Data Interoperability ETL Tool workspace.  And this copy/paste operation is much easier to perform than attempting to substitute those temporary workspace files!

Curtis Fast
Safe Software, Inc.

[JeanHannon]

Hello.
I am having the same problem with using the Data Interoperability extension tool (ArcGIS /ArcCatalog 10.1).  Create a Spatial ETL tool, make edits several times after each run attempting to test the output.  Work on the tool in WorkBench all afternoon.  Saved several times during the processes.  Have set the options for FME to 'Automatically save workspace before running', also 'Save recovery data every : 5 min'.  Close at the end of the session and open back up only to find all modifications gone. This has happened several times with different ETL tools created.   Reading the tool Properties tells me that the last save date and time was at noon. 

Please help!  What do I need to do to remedy this?  What is it that I do not know or understand?  Is the tool becoming corrupted?  Thank you for any assistance.


-Jean

[PatrickDonahue]

I am having similar issues with the interoperablity extension but not all of the tools are acting the same way. Some open fine when editing and others lose their connections while others lose the readers altogether.
We had no issues when not using transformers and now we are using the spatial relator and the case changer.
Could use some help with this as well.
Pat

[JeanHannon]

Great News!  There is a workaround for Spatial ETL tool changes disappearing on me.  ArcCatalog must be open anytime you are making changes in the FME WorkBench.  If ArcCatalog is not open and changes are being made in the workbench, those changes will not be saved. 

I understand this bug has been fixed in ArcGIS 10.2 version.

Tested the workaround all afternoon and happy to report everything was saved at the end of the day.   

-Jean

[KevinTientcheu2]

Hello, I know this is an old post but I have an issue similar to this where my progress in the spatial ETL tool is gone after I close it and open again despite saving numerous times.

None of the fixes above have worked. Please help!

[JohnBroecher]

Same thing is happening in 10.3.1.

[ChaseBarnard]

And in 10.5.  How are you supposed to use a tool where you can't save your work???  Original post was made over 5 years ago.

[ChristopherSmith12]

Turn off Background Geoprocessing.

In Desktop or Catalog menu, select Geoprocessing>Geoprocessing Options> then under "Background Processing" uncheck the "Enable" box. 

[KristiBarry]

I've been using Data Interop for about 8 years now and this has been a problem since the beginning.  It typically happens when I've been using the same toolbox for a while, creating a large number of DI workbenches and editing them.  My colleague and I are experiencing it again here in 10.4.1 and I can tell you that background processing has nothing to do with it.  This is a weird bug.  Also, it does not matter if you are working within My Toolboxes or create a toolbox on another drive.  It still happens.  What we do as a work-around is copy our toolbox every night to another server before exiting our ArcCatalog session.  This seems to be working but it is a pain.