Hello,
I am trying to get a better understanding of server generations on hosted feature services, which I am using in the extract changes method.
Some background- I am going to have a scheduled task that checks for recent changes, and given the nature of the changes, updates will occur across different services, emails will be triggered, and other integrated systems will be updated. We are not going the webhook route, though I believe my questions stands regardless of the method. I am able to successfully pull the server gens using the REST API and am running the ArcGIS API for Python extract changes method (linked earlier) to return the json of changes.
What do these numbers represent? In the documentation, it indicates they are "a Unix epoch time value in milliseconds", however this doesn't seem right. An example of a recent server gen number I received today is 1902150. The created time for the service is 1696607246000 (October 6). Even if that number was in seconds and is converted to milliseconds, it doesn't add up to an actual date stamp, at least not a valid one related to the service.
When are these numbers "refreshed"? Is it after ever time the changes are extracted? I need to know this due to it running from a scheduled task. Say the task runs every 12 hours, can I rely on these numbers to represent all the changes within each 12 hour period? Is there a risk some changes will be omitted?
Any insight is appreciated, thanks! I can include my current code if it would be helpful, however I don't believe it is necessary. I am experiencing no issues so far, I am just looking for clarity into these objects and the extract changes method.
