Using feature services in a client application
There are a variety of ArcGIS clients available that you can use to edit (or view) the features in your feature service. Clients can consume feature services using either a web client or ArcGIS for Desktop.
Out-of-the-box ArcGIS web clients
The ArcGIS.com map viewer, ArcGIS Viewer for Flex, and ArcGIS Viewer for Silverlight provide basic out-of-the-box functionality for editing feature services. Without programming, you can quickly create a web editing application that allows users to add, update, and delete geographic features from a database.
For example, when using the out-of-the-box applications, you can:
- Edit selection-only layers
- Track edits
- Control access to features using ownership-based access control
- Prevent users from editing feature geometry
About the ArcGIS.com map viewer
The ArcGIS.com map viewer is hosted on ArcGIS.com and is deployable directly through the ArcGIS Server Services Directory. Once you create an application, you can share it with others on ArcGIS Online, embed it in a website, or paste a link (URL) to the application into an email, blog, or website. Applications you create can also be deployed on your organization's web server by downloading the ArcGIS.com application templates. These templates are fully customizable.
The following tutorials use a feature service in conjunction with the ArcGIS.com map viewer to edit features in an enterprise geodatabase. To learn more, see:
- Tutorial: Performing web editing using data from an enterprise geodatabase
- Tutorial: Performing web editing using replicated data from an enterprise geodatabase
For more information about using the ArcGIS.com map viewer with feature services, see the following topics in ArcGIS.com help:
For more information, see Editing feature service layers in the ArcGIS.com help.
About the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex and ArcGIS Viewer for Silverlight
To use the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex and ArcGIS Viewer for Silverlight with your feature service, you'll need to download the application, deploy it on your organization's web server, and configure it for use. Once deployed, these applications can be customized to provide a focused editing environment for your users. To learn more, see:
ArcGIS web API clients
The ArcGIS web APIs for JavaScript, Flex, and Silverlight offer the most advanced web editing capabilities and customization options. If you're comfortable programming using any one of these APIs, you can create a sophisticated experience for your users on the web by tailoring your editing scenario to a specific purpose, goal, or organizational strategy. For example, with the ArcGIS web APIs, you can:
- Edit selection-only layers
- Track edits
- Control access to features using ownership-based access control
- Prevent users from editing feature geometry
- Create, delete, and change geodatabases versions on-the-fly
- Edit cartographic representations
To learn more about each of the ArcGIS web APIs, see:
Obtaining the REST endpoint of a feature service
You can obtain the REST endpoint, or URL, of a feature service by browsing to the service in the ArcGIS Server Services Directory. For example, the default URL to a feature service in the Services Directory is http://<server name>:<port number>/arcgis/rest/services/<feature service name>/FeatureServer. A zero-based integer can be appended to the URL to reference a particular layer in the service. For example, ending a URL with /0 gives you the first layer in the service.
ArcGIS for Desktop
ArcGIS for Desktop allows you to edit the data in feature services. The workflow for editing in ArcGIS for Desktop is fundamentally different than editing a feature service through a web application. To learn more, see About editing data from feature services.
Disconnected editing with feature services
Feature services include operations that support disconnected editing workflows. In a disconnected environment, the client (e.g. a mobile device) can make edits locally and then synchronize the changes with the server when the client is re-connected to the feature service.
For more information about disconnected editing with feature services, see the ArcGIS Server REST API Help for feature services.
Entering HTML into text fields
When editing a feature service in a client application, you can enter HTML into text fields. For example, when editing a feature in a web client, you can enter styled HTML into a comments field. By default, only the HTML entities and attributes listed in the table below can be entered into feature service text fields. If you attempt to add an unsupported entity or attribute, an error is returned.
If your feature service workflow requires unsupported HTML entities and attributes, you'll need to disable the Filter web content property. This property can be accessed through the feature service Advanced Options dialog in ArcGIS for Desktop or ArcGIS Server Manager. For more information, see:
HTML entity | HTML attribute |
|---|---|
<a?> | href, target, style |
<b> | |
<br> | |
<div> | style, align |
<em> | |
<font> | size, color, style, face |
http, https protocol | src, href |
<i> | |
<img?> | src, width, height, alt, border, style |
<li> | |
mailto: protocol | src, href |
<ol> | |
<span> | style |
<strong> | |
<table> | width, height, cellpadding, cellspacing, border, style |
<tbody> | |
<td> | height, width, valign, align, colspan, rowspan, nowrap, style |
<tr> | height, valign, align, style |
<u> | |
<ul> |