Software

• NPS Midwest Region GIS Custom Controls
  MaintainRelationships
  Overview

  MaintainRelationships is an ArcCatalog custom control that helps maintain synchronization between relations defined with Access in a Geodatabase and relationship classes defined with ArcCatalog in the same Geodatabase.

  ArcCatalog does not "see" or in any way keep track of relations between tables that have been defined using MS Access. If you want to establish relationships between tables in a Geodatabase, you must define a relationship class using ArcCatalog. You cannot take advantage of any relations that you may have already defined using MS Access

  Similarly, MS Access does not "see" or keep track of relationship classes defined using ArcCatalog. Relationship classes are stored as records in a table in the Geodatabase and while it is possible to open that table from within MS Access and edit those records, it is not recommended.

  This tool is an attempt to bridge that gap. When a geodatabase is selected in the ArcCatalog browser pane, the control will become active. When clicked on, it will open a window displaying all the relations between tables that have been defined by Access for that Geodatabase. On the right-side of the window, it will display all the relationship classes that have been defined. The user is able to manually select and create relations out of the relationship classes and create relationship classes out of the relations. When creating relations or relationship classes, the tool attempts to maintain all setting with regard to table and relationship names, cardinality and referential integrity constraints. The tool does not allow the user to view or edit information about either relations or relationship classes. That must be done with the respective applications.
  
  Requirements
  This control was written in VisualBasic 6.0 on Windows XP. It has been tested and runs with ArcCatalog 8.3 and ArcCatalog 9.0 running Windows XP. It has not been tested on any other versions of ArcCatalog or Windows. If you have troubles installing or using this custom control please use the links below to contact the author.
  
  Download
  The link below is to a zipped folder that contains the full source code of the CreateLines Visual Basic project as well as the compiled .dll and detailed installation instructions in PDF format. Click the link below and then choose "Save to disk" to obtain this folder.

  • MaintainRelationships

  Getting Started

  Download the zipped folder from the link above.
  Once downloaded, unzip the folder and save the contents to a location of your choosing.
  Add the MaintainRelationships.dll to the toolbar of your choice by using the standard procedure for customizing toolbars in ArcCatalog.
  For more detailed instructions, see the Customizing ArcCatalog web-page for general instructions on how to install a custom control in ArcCatalog.
  There are also detailed instructions in PDF format on how to install the MaintainRelationships custom control included in the downloaded folder.

Questions, Comments or Concerns?
You might wish to try visiting the Custom Controls Troubleshooting web-page for assistance.