ArcSDE Geodatabase – How to Autonumber Fields in a Versioned ArcSDE Geodatabase

Question

I want to have a field with autonumbering in ArcGIS.

I have a versioned ArcSDE for SQL Server geodatabase.

Thus, using the identity seed attribute in the SQL Server is not an option.

Is it not possible to autonumber your own columns in ArcSDE?

Answer 1

Classic problem :(

I can give you a db-specific solution:

• Create a Sequence in your db
• Listen to the OnCreate event and assign a value from the sequence by querying through the SQL cursor interface.

The downside of this approach is that if rows get created in child versions and subsequently not posted, you will have gaps in the numbers. You can listen to post events and reassign ids if this is really an issue though.

Until ESRI has a native sequence type, this is the one of the few options you have.