Dirty areas in versioned feature classes

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

A number of editors can simultaneously edit a feature dataset and its topology.

• Each editor would follow a workflow to validate his or her edited topology and to find and repair errors (or set them as exceptions) for the individual edit version.
• Typically, multiple edit versions are merged into a common master version (usually referred to as Default).
• It's worth noting that new topology errors may occur when versions are reconciled and potential conflicts occur, even if each edit version has been validated and is free of errors.
• To manage such errors, versioned topologies have special error handling and conflict detection rules that influence the reconciliation process.

The following sections describe the results of reconciling dirty areas, errors, exceptions, and potential conflicts. In each case, the results are based on reconciliation in which a parent and child version have both been updated since the child version was created. If the parent version is not edited before the child version is reconciled, the results of reconciliation will be the contents of the child version. In each example, Version2 is created as a child of Version1. Both versions are then edited in the manner described in the example; then Version2 is reconciled against Version1. For the illustrations in the following examples, use the following as a legend:

Example 1

• Any dirty areas present in the parent or child version that did not exist before the parent and child version were created will remain dirty as a result of reconciling.

  

• Any dirty area that was present in the parent version and validated in the child version will become dirty as a result of reconciling.

  

• Any dirty area introduced and validated in the parent version, whether or not it was present in the child version, will remain validated as a result of reconciling.

  

As shown above, the original state of the parent (no dirty area) is maintained after reconciling. However, other dirty areas may be created as a result of updates performed against the child version.

Examples 2 and 3 below illustrate other scenarios in which any dirty area introduced and validated in the parent version will remain validated as a result of reconciling.

Example 2

Example 3

Any edits made to topology features in the child version will result in a dirty area after reconciling, even if the dirty area resulting from the edit is validated in the child version. This is also the case when the original edit did not result in a dirty area, such as an attribute update. This is illustrated in the following examples:

Note:

In the following example, both Version1 and Version2 have been edited; however, the polygon shape in the example has only been modified in Version2.

Example 4

Example 5