Attribute Editor

The Attribute Editor is ArcFM's most powerful editing tool. Because editors and designers spend so much time performing tasks that involve setting attribute values for new features and updating existing features, they require a tool that presents applicable fields and makes them easy to update.

This section discusses navigating the Attribute Editor as well as its various tabs.

• Navigating the Attribute Editor

• Attribute Editor Options

• Targets Tab: Used to edit features and favorites before placing them on the map. The tab is visible only if you have an editing session started.

• Selection Tab: Displays any features you have currently selected on the map.

• Design Tab: Displays the features that have been added to the current design. If you do not have Designer installed, this tab will not appear. If you have Designer installed but do not see the tab, check your license settings in Desktop Administrator. 

• QA/QC Tab: Displays results provided by the QA/QC tool and the QA/QC Version Difference tool.

The Attribute Editor is dockable.

The ArcFM Display Field is the value of a specific field displayed on the Attribute Editor, as shown below. If the ArcFM Display Field hasn't been changed, the ObjectID is shown in parentheses. Administrators can change the Display Field at the Field Display tab of the ArcFM Properties Manager in ArcCatalog.

Users can view relationship classes and expand related objects that are indicated by the plus icon.

With the Attribute Editor, users can edit appropriate attribute field values before placing a feature on the map.

Colors have different meanings:

• Black text indicates that the field has not been updated and does not present an error.

• Blue text indicates names of attribute fields that have been edited but not updated. Or, if the subtype changes and a field value no longer matches its domain, the value changes to the default and the field name is indicated in blue.  

• On the Targets tab, red text indicates a required value.

• On the Selection tab, red text indicates a value that is not in the domain. 

• On the Selection tab, bold red text indicates a value that is modified to null but cannot be null.

• If a field does not accept a Null value and no value is assigned, it is highlighted in yellow.

  

You can access ArcFM utility tools by right-clicking features in the Attribute Editor. When using the Locator tool, you can use Add to Selection to add features listed in the search results to the Attribute Editor Selection tab.

Notes about joins and relates: The ArcFM Attribute Editor supports one or more joins when there is a one-to-one or many-to-one relationship between the data in the layer's attribute table and the table containing the information you want to join.

It also contains additional support for joined data:

• In many scenarios, the ArcFM Attribute Editor displays joined data that contains a map relate.

• You can use it to edit joined data in the source table (the layer's attribute table, not the table containing the information you want to join).

• It respects the attributes of joined data, including field order, visibility, and primary display fields.

• The ArcFM Attribute Editor supports joining to data tables from multiple workspaces. You can join to non-ArcFM tables, as well as external sources such as spreadsheets and other geodatabases.

Consult the ArcGIS Resource Center for more information about Esri's join and relate functionality.