ArcGIS Desktop – Export to Shapefile and Maintain Domain Coded Values

arcgis-desktopdomainsesri-geodatabaseparcelshapefile

I maintain a complex parcel fabric that uses coded value domains for a few fields. These are short integer fields with values from 1 – 6. These values represent say 1:Integrated Registered Survey Plan, 2:Survey Plan, 3:Geo-Referenced Air Photography, 4:Government Provided, 5:Expert Knowledge, 6:Unknown.

So I have several data requests and they need to be provided in Shapefile's. When I export my parcel fabric the fields obviously make no sense since they are numeric values representing accuracy codes from domains.

Is there any way to convert this field from a coded numeric field to its domain value? I know I can do this with some python programming, but I wonder if ESRI already has a solution for this.

Also I am managing the Parcel Fabric in a File Geodatabase.

Best Answer

I'm not sure which version of ArcGIS you are working with, or if you've come across this since posting, but in version 10.1 there is an environment setting under "Fields" called "Transfer Field Domain Descriptions". I've used it on occasion in the Feature Class to Feature Class tool to export to shapefile and it seems to do the trick (if you don't mind your output data having additional fields added for the descriptions).

In version 10.0 the same tool, Feature Class to Feature Class, apparently did it automatically (the last dot point under Usage). Not sure about earlier ArcGIS versions though.

Related Solutions

[GIS] Coded value domains, Allow Null Values = no. Why does it default to zero

The behaviour you describe is correct. All because you give a field a domain and set field to not allow NULLS does not mean that ArcMap will capture the fact they the user may not touch that field during editing. So when they save edits they can insert a nothing even though you have a domain.

There are 2 routes here:

Accept this odd behaviour then do some post edit validation through the Validate Features button on the Editor tool bar.
Add to your domain list an "Unknown" value lets say UNK code and set that to be the default value for the field. Thus a user can create a feature, not touch that field but it has a valid domain value (in this case UNK). It would be up to you/them to then search for UNK values and resolve.

SQL Domains – List All Fields and Domains for Each Table Using SQL

Refer to the XML in the DEFINITION field in SDE.GDB_ITEMS_VW.

select
    i.name as table_name,
    extractvalue(definition_xml.column_value, 'GPFieldInfoEx/Name') as field_name,
    extractvalue(definition_xml.column_value, 'GPFieldInfoEx/DomainName') as domain_name,
    it.name as object_type
from        
     sde.gdb_items_vw i 
inner join sde.gdb_itemtypes it 
    on i.type = it.uuid
cross join 
    xmlsequence(xmltype(definition).extract('/DETableInfo/GPFieldInfoExs/GPFieldInfoEx')) definition_xml
where        
    i.name is not null 
    and extractvalue(definition_xml.column_value, 'GPFieldInfoEx/DomainName') is not null 
order by
    i.name

Notes:

This query is only designed to get domains for non-spatial tables. To get domains for feature classes, change /DETableInfo to /DEFeatureClassInfo.
The string literals are case-sensitive. Example: GPFieldInfoEx/DomainName works, but gpfieldinfoex/domainname wouldn't work. It wouldn't throw an error, but the values would be null.
The performance of the query could likely be improved by creating a materialized view on sde.gdb_items that uses the same logic as sde.gdb_items_vw (and basing the domain query on the materialized view).
It's also possible to extract other XML objects like a subtype's codes, descriptions, fields, and domains.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[GIS] Coded value domains, Allow Null Values = no. Why does it default to zero

SQL Domains – List All Fields and Domains for Each Table Using SQL

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