Toolboxes in geodatabases in PostgreSQL

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 PostgreSQL contains the database name, the name of the owner of the locator, and the name of the locator itself.

For example, a toolbox, mytools, owned by user emily, in a geodatabase named posty would be listed as posty.emily.mytools in the Catalog tree.

Toolboxes in a PostgreSQL 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 MyTools toolbox:

Dashed lines indicate implicit relationships between columns.

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 PostgreSQL.

The following is the definition for a toolbox business table:

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	varchar(255)	Name of the tool	NOT NULL
displayname	varchar(255)	The label for the tool
description	varchar(255)	Description of the tool
category	varchar(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	bytea	All other properties of the tool

Toolboxes in an XML workspace 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 MyTools:

<DataElement xsi:type="esri:DEToolbox">
  <CatalogPath>/V=sde.DEFAULT/TB=posty.emily.mytools</CatalogPath> 
  <Name>db.sch.mytools</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>