Making configuration keywords available in ArcGIS

You can specify configuration keywords when you create datasets in ArcGIS Desktop or when using ArcObjects. To make configuration keywords accessible to ArcGIS Desktop and ArcObjects users, you must have a user interface (UI) storage parameter in the configuration keyword's parameter group. Any configuration keywords that do not have a UI storage parameter will not be available to the ArcGIS users.

The UI storage parameters are

UI_TEXT—General user interface storage parameter; to be used with any keyword, other than network or topology keywords, you want to make available to users

UI_NETWORK_TEXT—User interface storage parameter for a parent network keyword

UI_TOPOLOGY_TEXT—User interface storage parameter for a parent topology keyword

UI_TERRAIN_TEXT—User interface storage parameter for a parent terrain keyword

These parameters are present in most of the keyword parameter lists of the default dbtune.sde file. However, if you create your own keywords that you want to be available to ArcGIS users, you should add the appropriate UI storage parameter to the keyword's parameter list.

Note:

A UI storage parameter is not needed and should not be added to the DATA_DICTIONARY configuration keyword parameter list. The DATA_DICTIONARY configuration keyword is used to specify storage of the ArcSDE geodatabase system tables and cannot be used for datasets.

Some rules about adding user interface storage parameters

• If there are no UI storage parameters in a configuration keyword parameter group, the configuration keyword will not be recognized by ArcGIS or ArcObjects.
• You should not have more than one UI parameter per configuration keyword. For example, you shouldn't have both UI_TEXT and UI_NETWORK_TEXT in the same configuration keyword parameter group.
• If multiple UI storage parameters are present, ArcGIS will only recognize one of them. If UI_TEXT and UI_NETWORK_TEXT or UI_TOPOLOGY_TEXT or UI_TERRAIN_TEXT are in the same group, UI_TEXT will be ignored and the other parameter will be recognized. For example:

  ##SDO_GEOMETRY
  GEOMETRY_STORAGE    "SDO_GEOMETRY"
  ATTRIBUTE_BINARY    "BLOB"
  RASTER_STORAGE	  "SDO_GEORASTER"
  SDO_COMMIT_INTERVAL  1000
  UI_TEXT             "User Interface text description for SDO_GEOMETRY"
  
  UI_NETWORK_TEXT     "User Interface network text description for
                       SDO_GEOMETRY keyword"
  
  END

  In this case, UI_NETWORK_TEXT will be used, mistakenly indicating this is a parent network keyword.

  If more than one of the following is present in the same group: UI_NETWORK_TEXT, UI_TOPOLOGY_TEXT, and UI_TERRAIN_TEXT, the first UI parameter encountered for that keyword in the DBTUNE table will be used and the subsequent UI parameter ignored. For example:

  ##NETWORK_DEFAULTS
  ATTRIBUTE_BINARY    "BLOB"
  UI_TOPOLOGY_TEXT	 "User Interface topology default configuration"
  UI_NETWORK_TEXT     "User Interface network default configuration"       
  B_STORAGE           "PCTFREE 0 INITRANS 4"
  #                    TABLESPACE <Network default business table tablespace name>
  <additional parameters>

  Here, UI_TOPOLOGY_TEXT will be read first, mistakenly indicating this is a parent topology keyword.

To add a UI configuration parameter to the DBTUNE table, do the following:

Steps:

1. Export the DBTUNE table to the dbtune.sde file using the sdedbtune –o export command.
2. Open the dbtune.sde file in a text editor.
3. Locate or create the configuration keyword that you want to make available in the ArcGIS user interface.
4. If the keyword is used to build tables, feature classes, and indexes, add the UI_TEXT storage parameter to the parameter list. If the keyword is a parent network keyword, add the UI_NETWORK_TEXT storage parameter. If the keyword is a parent topology keyword, add the UI_TOPOLOGY_TEXT storage parameter.
5. Overwrite the DBTUNE table with the new information by importing the altered dbtune.sde file using the sdedbtune –o import command.