Feature layer configuration properties
Once you have chosen an operational layer map layer, you can configure properties for each feature layer in the map. Layer property settings determine how each map layer behaves inside the mobile project that you are building. It is important to note that the map service honors certain properties of the map layer that you set when designing the ArcMap map document (layer name, field visibility, field alias name, and so forth). It is recommended that you spend the time to properly design the map.
When authoring operational map layer content in ArcMap, there are certain map layer properties that affect your mobile project:
- Full extent and current extent of the map—The full extent defines not only the smallest scale of the map but also the precision associated with the mobile cache that is created. The initial extent is displayed when the project is opened.
- Map layer symbology—Consider the environment and size of the device when choosing layer symbology and scale dependencies for map layers. If you use a unique value renderer or graduated symbol renderer, each unique value is identified as a feature type in the Collect Features and Search Features tasks.
- Map layer field settings—The mobile project honors layer field settings, so ensure that only the fields that are important to the field-worker are visible in the map document, and set appropriate alias names.
When defining mobile projects and your operational map layer content, you should consider limiting the number of maps that are authored and published and rather leverage the ability to configure the feature layers for each project.
For example, you might have both a water facilities inspection project and a water valve maintenance project that leverage the same map. In the inspection project, the water valves feature layer should not be edited, yet it can be edited in the water valve maintenance project. Leveraging the ability of the Mobile Project Center to configure the properties of a feature layer in a mobile service, you can "unlock" the editing capabilities in the inspection project and lock the editing capabilities in the maintenance project.
There are a number of properties that you can define for feature layers within an operational map layer. The following list general properties that are available to all feature layers. Point, line and polygon feature layers contain additional properties that can be configured:
- Fields—you can configure the visibility and order of fields within both the View and Edit tabs.
- GPS Settings—if you plan to edit using a GPS device you can set default properties for collection using a GPS receiver.
General Properties
To change the feature layer properties, choose a feature layer in the contents and click the General tab. The feature layer configuration properties include the following:
- Make Layer Viewable by Default—This property is checked by default. When you display the map inside the application, this layer is visible by default. If you uncheck this option, the layer is not visible. This can be useful when including certain map layers that are only checked in certain circumstances. For example, you might include parcel boundaries in your mobile service but don't need to see them until you want to measure a distance from the property line to the corner of a building.
- Make Layer Searchable—This property is checked by default. If you choose to use the Search task in your mobile project, this property determines whether or not all feature types from this feature layer can be searched. Note that this affects the Identify tool.
- Make Layer Editable—This property is checked if your feature layer resides inside a single-user or multi-user geodatabase and contains a GlobalID field.
- Make Layer Hidden—Hidden layers are not visible in the field application, do not appear in any task. You may want to mark layers such as the field crew logging layer as hidden so that it does not obstruct the workflow of the field worker.