Saving edits to a version

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

When you start editing a version, you start working with your own representation of the version. Other users who are connected to the same version cannot see any of your changes until you save them. While you are editing, other users may be editing the same version.

Suppose since you started editing a version, another user has saved edits to the same version. What happens when you save your edits? When this happens, ArcGIS must reconcile the two representations of the version. You control how this takes place with the following settings:

• How conflicts are defined

  You have the following options:

  Define conflicts at this level	To detect cases where
  Row	A second user edits the same row or feature or topologically related features as you did. The conflict occurs even if you edited different attributes. This is the default.
  Column	A second user edits the same attribute of a feature or record.

  Options for defining a conflict

• How you want ArcGIS to initially resolve conflicts—in favor of your edit session or the database representation

  If you choose to resolve conflicts in favor of your edit session, all conflicting features in your edit session take precedence over the representations in the database.If you choose to resolve in favor of the database, all conflicting features in your edit session are replaced by their representations in the database. If multiple users are editing the same version and conflicts are detected, the feature that was first saved replaces the edit session's representation.

• Whether you want to be notified of the other user's edits when you save

  You have these options:

  • Do not automatically save changes—This notifies you of the other user's edits but does not save. This allows you to review the results of the merge before you try saving again.
  • Automatically save changes only if there are not conflicts—This notifies you of the other user's edits only if there are conflicts; if there are no conflicts, the two representations of the version are merged.
  • Automatically save changes in all cases—With this option, you are never notified of the other user's edits, the two representations of the version are always merged, and conflicts are resolved according to the conflict resolution rule, which states whether conflicts resolve in favor of the edit session or the database.

If there are conflicts, you can initially resolve all of them either in favor of the edit session or the database representation of the version. Once they have been initially resolved, you can choose to review them one at a time, manually resolving each with an interactive dialog. For more information on manually resolving conflicts, see Reviewing conflicts.

You can work on a version over as many edit sessions as needed. Once you finish editing and want to merge your changes into a target version, the next step is to reconcile.

Set how conflicts are defined and resolved by default at the beginning of an edit session by doing the following:

Steps:

1. Start ArcMap by clicking Start > All Programs > ArcGIS > ArcMap 10.
2. If the Editor toolbar is not already open, click Customize on the main menu, point to Toolbars, and click Editor.
3. Click the Editor drop-down menu on the Editor toolbar.
4. Click Start Editing.

   This starts an edit session.

5. Click the Editor drop-down menu on the Editor toolbar.
6. Click Options.
7. Click the Versioning tab in the Editing Options dialog box.
8. Specify how you want to define conflicts during autoreconciliation by doing one of the following:
   • Click By object (by row) if you want any edits to the same row or feature to be considered a conflict.
   • Click By attribute (by column) if you want edits to the same column of the dataset to be considered a conflict.
9. Specify how to initially resolve all conflicts by doing one of the following:
   • Click In favor of the database if you want the information in the database to take precedence.
   • Click In favor of the edit session if you want your edits to take precedence.
10. Specify how to save changes after autoreconciliation by doing one of the following:
    • Click Do not automatically save changes if you do not want changes to be saved after autoreconciliation. You can review any conflicts detected before saving again.
    • Click Automatically save changes only if there are no conflicts if you want to be notified of any detected conflicts. If there are no conflicts, the two representations of the version will be merged without any messages or additional input from you.
    • Click Automatically save changes in all cases if you do not want to be notified of other user's conflicting edits, but rather want the two representations of the versions to always be merged, with any detected conflicts being resolved according to the conflict resolution rule.
11. Click OK.