Nina,
As has been said, yes you can use the Attribute Assistant add-in without using any of the local government templates or the Local Government Information Model. The only thing about the templates and the LGIM is they are already configured to work with the add-in.
I agree with Sephe Fox that this location is the best place for your question, but only because these folks would be better able to answer your question. I think anyone doing a lot of editing and data production could greatly benefit from learning how to configure the Attribute Assistant. It is a huge time saver.
If I were to utilize it without the use of a template I would set it up this way
Download one of the templates from the Local Government solutions site. I think the Address Data Management template is as good as any. Unzip the contents of that folder to a folder on your hard drive. I would then copy the DynamicValue table from the LocalGovernment file geodatabase in the MapsandGeodatabase folder to your SDE instance. This way the table is set up properly with the correct field names and types as well as the domains for the fields. You might want to do the same with the GenerateID table. The trouble with the GenerateID table is it can't be versioned. The GenerateID table contains records that keep track of ID numbers for new features. It can't be versioned or you would end up with duplicate IDs if there are multiple editors.
Familiarize yourself with the DynamicValue table and the toolbar. You can then start setting up the methods on the fields you want to be automated. Here is a reference to the methods with samples for each method. I have found that when you enter a table name in the Table Name field it needs to be the actual feature class name not the alias or the layer name in the TOC. Same goes for the field names in the Field Name field. (wow, the word field showed up a lot in that last sentence) I found it causes a lot less pain if I just go to the layer properties and copy the feature class name from the source tab and the field name from the fields tab. That way I am less likely to have the method fail because of typos.
You can actually open up the map template and open the DynamicValue table to see all of the different ways the Local Government team has set things up. This can help you when you get stuck on something. Their DynamicValue table has records for the entire Local Government Information Model. You may notice that they have * entries in the Table Name field - they act as a wildcard so that any feature class with that field name will have that method applied to it. Fields like LastEditor or LastUpdate are prevalent throughout the LGIM so these are taken care of with one entry in the DynamicValue table.
One other point of advice, as you are figuring out your methods you need to save your edits and stop and start the Attribute Assistant after you make changes to the DynamicValue table.
The log file is also handy to help you figure out why something isn't working. There is a button on the AA toolbar that tells you where the log file is located.
The Attribute Assistant has saved me a lot of time in manual field entry. I think it's the best thing to be developed by Esri in a long time.
I blogged about setting it up here. That entry is a bit dated, but still useful.
Thanks,
Jeff
Jeff Ward
Summit County, Utah
