If you’re using the Attribute Assistant, we need your help!

[MikeMillerGIS]

We’re doing some research into how the Attribute Assistant is being used. We’d like to see what rules you are using and how you configured your dynamic value table. 

This information will help us plan for the future. We want to know what are the most common rules.  We also want to see your gnarly and complicated rules to see how far the Attribute Assistant is being pushed.

So please share your dynamic value table along with any comments you have in this thread. We appreciate your help on this effort!

Thanks,

Mike

ArcGIS Solutions

PS: If you don’t know what the Attribute Assistant is (or aren’t sure if you are using it already) no worries.  You can learn more about Attribute Assistant on the ArcGIS Solution site here. 

[MikeMillerGIS]

Hard to say, but open the config and ensure the log setting is set to true.  Ensure the map has the Dynamic Value table.  Can you turn the AA on and off through the toolbar?

[DarinVanDeBerg]

Hello All,

Does anyone know if it is possible to include an attribute from a field in the Generate ID value method?  For example, I have this as my value info: STREETS|0|STR_[seq]@MINNEHAHA_SD|True  Since our Streets layer includes editors from both the County and City, we want to include ownership information from our Source/Owner field in the expression.  I tried doing this as my value, but didn't work:  STREETS|0|[SOURCE]_STR_[seq]@MINNEHAHA_SD|True.  My data would be look like CityofSiouxFalls_STR_122@MINNEHAHA_SD or MinnehahaCounty_STR_123@MINNEHAHA_SD. Is this possible using the Generate ID method?  Thanks,

Darin

[MikeMillerGIS]

I think you would have to do it in 3 rules.  1 to get the base ID, 2 to calc the intersecting feature area and store that in a field, 3 use the expression to add the results from 1 and 2 to field specified in 1

[CarlaCastillo]

Hello,

I am brand new to Attribute Assistant and am running into some issues. We are going to be using the Attribute Assistant to update fields with the User Name (for who edited a feature) and the Timestamp (for when the feature was edited). We have been asked that when three different attribute fields (within the same table) are updated that each updated attribute field populates who updated that field and when it was updated. Because the data we are going to be updating is going to be done in stages, there is a chance that one attribute field will be updated at a time. For example, we will be looking at stormwater pipes. For the first run through someone will be updating the ownership of the pipe and we want to capture who updated it and when. The second run through will be updating pipe material and we want to know who updated this and when, etc. The issue I am having in my test file is that when I update just the ownership field, the who and when is updated for ownership AND pipe material.

I created a test table and a DynamicValue table in a test geodatabase just to make sure I knew what I was doing before I started working with the real data. So in my test table I have a field for the Point of Interest and a field for the Number of Parking Spots. I also have fields for "Who created POI" (for field editor username), "Who updated Parking Spots" (for field editor username), "POIupdated" (for timestamp when Point of Interest field is updated), and "ParkSpaceupdated" (for timestamp when Number of Parking Spots is updated).

The issue that I am having is that whenever someone goes in and updates the Point of Interest, the who updated fields for POI and Parking Spots BOTH update instead of only the "Who created POI" field updating. The same thing happens with my timestamp fields. When I change the "Number of Parking Spots", the timestamp for the Parking Spots AND the Point of Interest change. I don't know if it's because I have written the Value Info incorrectly, or if I have to change it to an expression or what the problem is. Any advice, tips, or help would be greatly appreciated. I have attached my test DynamicValue table for reference.

Thanks!!

[MikeMillerGIS]

The CURRENT_USER and TIMESTAMP method cannot be restricted to only fire when a certain field changes.  I think it would be a great enhancement to add it.  I have added it to our backlog.  As far as the valueInfo, the examples are incorrect on the help.  We will get them resolved

For CURRENT_USER change wParking Spaces|LASTEDITOR|w

to w.

for TIMESTAMP, the options are listed on the site.

http://solutions.arcgis.com/shared/help/attribute-assistant/tools/attribute-assistant-methods/#times...

CURRENT_USER

[MarcyLaViollette]

I'd like to use the Latitude and Longitude functions, but I'm only getting three decimal places, which isn't precise enough for my purposes.  I've confirmed that the field has enough room, that the table isn't masking the full results, and that there isn't a parameter in the function itself.  I'm using Attribute Assistant from a few updates ago, has this been fixed in a more recent version?

Otherwise, we've been very happy with Attribute Assistant, and I even gave a presentation on it to WA State Employees at last fall's GIS Day.  Thank you!

[RichardFairhurst]

I can confirm that rounding to 3 decimal places or less occurs in several functions of Attribute Assistant.  It happens when I convert a number to a string in an expression.  The original numeric field has at least 8 significant digits, but the string conversion always rounds it to 2 decimal places, making the string worthless.  It appears that either a rounding function is in the background of several methods or a conversion to a fixed floating value with 3 or fewer decimal places occurs, which makes most data stored in double fields worthless.  I believe that any expression, including one that just attempts to copy the contents of one double field to another double field will truncate the number of significant digits to 3 or less decimal places.  This makes many calculations impossible to perform within Attribute Assistant and I have to use a follow up script or manual process to complete those calculations on data that was originally created by Attribute Assistant.  If it preserved the entire number and let me explicitly apply rounding only when I need it I would be able to eliminate those steps.

[MikeMillerGIS]

Marcy,

  Which version of the AA are you using?  I just tried this with the current release and here is the result in the Location Description Field(string). 

Here is the function being used on Lat and Long to ensure we are storing as much as we can

public static string FormatValueToFieldLength(IField pFld, string value)

        {

            try

            {

                if (pFld.Type == esriFieldType.esriFieldTypeString)

                {

                    if (value.Length > pFld.Length)

                    {

                        return value.Substring(0, pFld.Length);

                    }

                    else

                    {

                        return value;

                    }

                }

                else

                {

                    return value;

                }

            }

            catch

            {

                return value;

            }

        }

[MarcyLaViollette]

Attribute Assistant Version 12.18.2014 (on ArcGIS 10.2.2).  I'll try upgrading and see what happens!  I'm hopeful!

[MikeMillerGIS]

Please do, I do recall this issue in an older version and we made a fix for it.