Composite Favorites

Use a composite favorite to place multiple features on the map with a single click. For example, you can create a switch cabinet that contains a switching facility, bus bars, switches, and fuses. Once you create this composite favorite, you only need to click once on the map to place all of those features.

IMPORTANT: Composite Favorites comprise many different feature classes. Even if a Composite Favorite’s component feature classes (in other words, its children feature classes) are not present in your Table of Contents, the application still sketches the entire favorite, including all its feature class parts. This is different than a single feature favorite. If a single feature favorite is not present in the Table of Contents, the application does not sketch it (as explained in the topic Place Feature or Favorite. Thus, it is recommended to have all feature classes that compose a Composite Favorite symbolized in the Table of Content so that you may see them on the map while sketching.

Create

If you want to create a composite favorite in ArcMap, you must have an Edit session started. Ensure that any layers you want to include in your composite favorite are selectable. Use the table of contents' List by Selection view to define selectable layers. For more information, refer to Esri's documentation.

Designer users: If you want to create a composite favorite that you can add to a design, use compatible units (CUs) from the CU list in the table of contents to create your favorite rather than features. You can also convert an existing ArcFM composite favorite to use CUs in Designer.

With an Edit session started, place features on the map you want to include in the composite favorite. They must appear the way you want them to appear when placed. You can also find the correct features (in the correct configuration) if they already exist on the map.

Select the features on the map you want to include in the composite favorite. This creates a selected set on the Selection tab of the Attribute Editor. To remove unwanted layers from the selected set, right-click the feature on the Selection tab and select Remove from Selection.

Insertion point: The insertion point is marked with an X to indicate the center of all selected features on the map, as shown below. The insertion point moves when one of the features moves. If the insertion point does not appear to be in the middle of your selected features, you may have another feature selected in another part of the map.

With your features still selected, right-click a category in the System Favorites or User Favorites on the Features list and select Create Composite Favorite.
The Create Composite Favorite dialog displays your selected features in the top window. Use the up and down arrows to arrange the order, as needed. You can select any feature in the list and view or edit its attributes. You can also assign it a Description.

NOTE: A composite favorite must have at least one point feature.
Initially, the tool lists all features as individual nodes in the tree. ArcFM places the features on the map in the order listed in the tree. To take advantage of ArcFM autoupdaters, you can change the order with the up/down arrows so that ArcFM initiates the autoupdaters in correct order.
Enter a name for the favorite in the Description field. This name appears on the Features list in the favorite category you selected.
Select a feature for your favorite to inherit snapping and rotating properties. The field is populated with point features that appear in your composite favorite.
Select an Edit Task. "Create ArcFM Feature" is the default value.
Click Apply to save your changes. Click Create to add the composite favorite to the selected favorite category on the Features list. Each time you click Create, another composite favorite is added to the Features list.
Click Close to dismiss the Create Composite Favorite dialog.

Edit

Edit Composite Favorite is available when you right-click an existing composite favorite. You can add related objects to existing composite favorites, edit them, or remove them. You can also edit attributes of the composite including Edit Task and properties such as snapping.

Right-click a composite favorite on the Features list and select Edit.

You can edit the name of the favorite using the Description field. Modify attributes using the object editor grid. Edited attributes have field labels displayed in blue. If a field does not accept a null value and no value is assigned, it is highlighted in yellow.

When you've finished making changes, click OK to save edits and dismiss the window. Click Apply to save changes and retain the window for further changes. Click Cancel to close the dialog without saving changes. The Create Copy button is explained in the Create Copy topic.

Delete

To remove an existing composite favorite, right-click it in the Features list and select Delete.