Toolboxes in geodatabases in SQL Server

You can create new toolboxes in your geodatabase by right-clicking the geodatabase in the Catalog tree, pointing to New, and clicking Toolbox.

Tooboxes in ArcGIS Desktop

If you have created a toolbox in your geodatabase, it would appear in the Catalog tree with the following icon:

The name of a toolbox in a geodatabase in SQL Server contains the database name, the name of the owner of the locator, and the name of the locator itself.

For example, a toolbox, MoveData, owned by a dbo user, in a geodatabase named bu_42606 would be listed as bu_42606.DBO.MoveData in the Catalog tree.

Toolboxes in a Microsoft SQL Server database

Toolboxes are represented in a DBMS as a business table to store information about the tools in the toolbox and the GDB_ITEMS and GDB_ITEMTYPES system tables to keep track of both the toolboxes and tools.

The following are the tables for the MoveData toolbox:

The business table and GDB_ITEMS table are associated by the name—the value in the name field of the GDB_ITEMS table corresponds to the business table name. The GDB_ITEMTYPES table identifies the toolbox object as a toolbox and the tools in it as tools.

The GDB_ITEMS and GDB_ITEMTYPES tables reside in the ArcSDE administrator's schema (sde) and the business table resides in the user's schema. The GDB_ITEMS and GDB_ITEMTYPES tables are created when you create the geodatabase; the business table does not get created until you create the toolbox.

For a definition of the GDB_ITEMS and GDB_ITEMTYPES tables, see System tables of a geodatabase in SQL Server.

The following is the definition for a toolbox business table:

Toolbox tables in SQL Server

Dashed lines indicate implicit relationships between columns.

A toolbox business table

Field name

Field type

Description

Null?

OBJECTID

integer

Unique identifier of the tool

NOT NULL

type

smallint

Code that indicates the type of tool: 1 = function tool, 2 = model tool, 3 = script tool, or 4 = custom tool

NOT NULL

name

nvarchar(255)

Name of the tool

NOT NULL

displayname

nvarchar(255)

The label for the tool

NOT NULL

description

nvarchar(255)

Description of the tool

category

nvarchar(255)

Name of the toolset in which tools are grouped; this includes the path to the toolset if it is a toolset nested inside another toolset.

tool

nvarchar(255)

All other properties of the tool

Toolboxes in an XML document

Toolboxes are data elements and, therefore, are prefaced with a DataElement tag. The data element type will be esri.DEToolbox.

The following is the XML (including metadata) for a toolbox named MoveData:

<DataElement xsi:type="esri:DEToolbox">
  <CatalogPath>/V=dbo.DEFAULT/TB=bu_42606.DBO.MoveData</CatalogPath> 
  <Name>bu_42606.DBO.MoveData</Name> 
  <MetadataRetrieved>true</MetadataRetrieved>
 <Metadata xsi:type="esri:XmlPropertySet">
  <XmlDoc><?xml version="1.0"?> <metadata xml:lang="en"><Esri><MetaID>{AE214421-4877-4FEB-96A5-8668EBAA9326}</MetaID><CreaDate>20060426</CreaDate><CreaTime>11473700</CreaTime><SyncOnce>TRUE</SyncOnce><ModDate>20060426</ModDate><ModTime>114737</ModTime></Esri><toolbox name="bu_42606.DBO.MoveData" alias=""><arcToolboxHelpPath>C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Help\gp</arcToolboxHelpPath><toolsets/></toolbox><dataIdInfo><idCitation><resTitle>bu_42606.DBO.MoveData</resTitle></idCitation></dataIdInfo><distInfo><distributor><distorFormat><formatName>ArcToolbox Toolbox</formatName></distorFormat></distributor></distInfo></metadata></XmlDoc> 
  </Metadata>
  <DatasetType>esriDTToolbox</DatasetType> 
  <DSID>-1</DSID> 
  <Versioned>false</Versioned> 
  <CanVersion>false</CanVersion> 
</DataElement>

8/19/2013