Exercise 7: Review edits and restore a geodatabase

This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.

Complexity: Beginner Data Requirement: ArcGIS Tutorial Data for Desktop Goal: Connect as a database server administrator and restore a geodatabase to a database server.

As a result of soil studies in the area, it was determined unsafe to build the new school across from Wspolnoty Park. To return the schools feature class to its preedited state, restore the buildings08 geodatabase.

You must be connected as a database server administrator to restore the buildings08 geodatabase.

Since the school will not be built, the street name needs to be changed back to Sunray St. You will see who made the edit to the street and notify that person to change the name back.

Logging in as a database server administrator

Log in to the computer with your regular Windows login. Since you are the database server administrator, logging in with your login connects you to the database server as the administrator, allowing you to restore a geodatabase.

Viewing the current state of the buildings08 geodatabase

To see what the schools feature class looks like now, open it in ArcMap.

Steps:

1. Start ArcMap.
2. In the Catalog window, expand the buildings08 geodatabase.
3. Click the schools feature class and drag it into the ArcMap table of contents.
4. Click Selection on the ArcMap Main menu and click Select By Attributes.
5. Choose schools from the Layers drop-down list.
6. Double-click "sch_name" in the list of attributes.
7. Click the equals sign (=) button.
8. Click Get Unique Values.
9. Double-click "Roy Rogers".
10. Click OK to make the selection.

    The new school is highlighted.

Restoring the buildings08 geodatabase

Since the edits to the schools feature class have already been saved to the geodatabase, but no other edits have been made since the geodatabase was created, you can restore the geodatabase from the backup file you created at the end of Exercise 4.

Before you can restore the geodatabase, you should disconnect from the database server to clear your connection to the buildings08 geodatabase.

Steps:

1. Close ArcMap.
2. Start ArcCatalog by clicking Start > All Programs > ArcGIS > ArcCatalog 10.2.1..
3. Expand the Database Servers folder in the Catalog tree.
4. Double-click your database server to connect to it, but do not connect to any of the geodatabases.
5. Right-click the database server and click Restore.
6. Click the ellipsis button next to the Backup file text box.
7. Browse to the location of your buildings_bu2 backup file.

   This should be in the DatabaseServers folder in the ArcTutor directory.

8. The Restore to folder text box is automatically populated with the current location of the buildings08 geodatabase. Leave this location; you will restore over the top of the existing geodatabase.
9. Click OK to restore the geodatabase.
You will be prompted to confirm that you are overwriting the geodatabase.
10. Click Yes to continue.

Previewing the restored geodatabase

To make sure the geodatabase was restored, preview the schools feature class to make sure the Roy Rogers school is no longer there.

Steps:

1. Expand the buildings08 geodatabase.
2. Click the schools feature class.
3. Click the Preview tab.
4. Preview the attribute table by choosing Table from the Preview drop-down list.
5. Check the sch_names column; you will see that the Roy Rogers feature is no longer present.
6. Close ArcCatalog.

Checking for edits

Since editor tracking was enabled on the streets feature class, you can open the streets attribute table to see who edited the street next to the proposed school site.

Steps:

1. Start ArcMap.
2. Connect to the database server.
3. Connect to the Osokopf geodatabase.
4. Drag the streets feature class onto the map.
5. Drag the park_areas feature class onto the map for reference.
6. Right-click the park_areas layer in the table of contents and click Open Attribute Table.
7. Select the Wspolnoty Park record.

   The record in the table and the feature on the map are both highlighted.

8. Close the attribute table.
9. Zoom in to the selected feature on the map.
10. Click the Select Features By Rectangle button on the Tools toolbar.
11. Click the street immediately to the east of the selected park.

    The street is highlighted.

12. Right-click the streets layer in the table of contents and click Open Attribute Table.
13. Click the Show Selected Records button at the bottom of the Table window.

    The selected record is now the only record shown.

You can see that editor2 made the changes to the street record next to the proposed school site. If editor2 were actually another user, you could contact that user and tell him or her that the street name must be changed back to Sunray St.
14. Close the attribute table.
15. Close ArcMap.

To return the data to an earlier state, you restored over the top of the buildings08 geodatabase. You then checked to see who had edited the street next to the proposed school site in the streets feature class of the Osokopf geodatabase so you could contact the user to change the street name back to Sunray St.