We are an EGIS group using Arc Desktop 10.3.1 and ArcGIS Online as well as the collector app. With ArcDesktop we use the ArcGIS Local Govt Attribute Assistant
We are seeking to allow users to enter service request point data using either the collector app or ArcGIS online yet still retain the functionality of the Attribute Assistant we are using in the desktop version.
Specifically we wish to use the AutoIncrement Number option to give each new service request that has been dropped in the field using the collector or arcgis online a sequentially incremented service request number. Additionally when a point is dropped in the field using the app or online we would like the zip, map page, map block, zones, etc automatically pulled through and populated so the field user only needs to drop a point and enter the problem. (Basically we would like Attribute Assistant to behave in ArcGIS Online/Collector just the way we have it behaving in ArcDesktop)
I have done a decent amount of research here and located this article
http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2015/01/29/collector-for-arcgis-v10-3-is-out-and-its-a-big-deal/
that seems to say that in 10.3 there will be this functionality, but I can not find out how any one has implemented them in the past. Is this true that is functionality exists? and has anyone had any experience using Attribute Assistant in the Collector or ArcGIS Online environments? And if so how did you go about it?
Best Answer
My understanding is that the ArcGIS Attribute Assistant (AA) tool is an ArcGIS Desktop Add-In, that requires ArcGIS Desktop and .NET framework to run: http://solutions.arcgis.com/shared/help/attribute-assistant/#requirements
I do not think you can use AA in conjunction with ArcGIS Online. I was searching for similar thing a few months back and did not find anything. In my reading of the ESRI blog post you linked to I also didn't see anything that suggested ESRI was adding support for Attribute Assistant (AA) in ArcGIS Online, other than that someone asked about this in the comment section and the author responded that it was a good question and asked for additional use cases so he could understand how it would be used. So perhaps there may be something along the lines of this in future...
I can outline an approach we are currently implementing that would provide similar functionality as what you are looking for, but only for scenario where you are using Collector/ArcGIS Online in conjunction with editable feature services hosted from your own ArcGIS Server and ArcSDE database. If you are in control of the database to which Collector is writing data, you can set up database triggers that would run stored procedures whenever new row(s) are inserted/updated into the table that hold your editable feature layer. For example, a stored procedure can be used to assign an auto-incrementing ID field and then could also use SQL Spatial queries to lookup and assign the zip, map block, etc.... In our case, we wanted to make sure that data edited/added via web applications like (Collector, Web App Builder, etc..) would share same auto-populated fields rules that we had when editing the same layers using Desktop tools, and this database trigger approach offers this.
These were some examples on MS SQL Server approaches for stored procedures to create auto-incrementing ID with prefixes:
http://www.sqlteam.com/article/custom-auto-generated-sequences-with-sql-serverenter link description here
I don't have a quick link to examples of the type of SQL spatial queries you would need to use to look up the other attributes from other layers, but you could find examples elsewhere.