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HowtoUseArcCatalogandArcMaptoEditorAddFieldstotheAttributeTableThenameanddatatypeofanexistingfieldintheAttributeTablecannotbemodified;instead,youmust

addanewfieldwiththeappropriatenameanddatatypeusingArcCatalogAdding

a

field

in

ArcCatalog

1. OpenArcCatalogbyclickingontheiconinthetoolbar,orfromtheArcGISmenulistedunder AllProgramsinthe StartMenuonyourdesktop.

ItmaytakeafewmomentsforArcCatalogtoload.Onceitopens,youcanbrowse,copy,paste

anddeletefilesyouwouldonyourdesktop.NotethatonceyoudeletesomethinginArcCatalog,itisgoneforever.ItdoesnotgototheRecycleBin.Browsetotheshapefileorlone.dbffileyouwouldliketoeditandselectit.

Noticethatshapefilesarelistedasonefilehere,unlike4or5filesonyourdesktop.Ifyou

changethenameofafilehere,itwillautomaticallychangethenameofallthefilesthat

composetheshapefile.

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2. UndertheFilemenu,selectProperties.3. ClicktheFieldstab.

4. ScrolldowntotheemptyrowbelowthelastentryunderFieldNameandtypethenameofthenewfield.

5. ClickunderDataTypenexttothenewfieldnameandselecttheappropriatedatatypeinthelist.Typicallyyouwillwanttextorshortinteger(numericentries)Thepropertiesthatareappropriatetothenewfield'sdatatypewillappearintheFieldPropertiesboxbelow.

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6. Customizethefieldthatislistedbasedonthedatatypeyouchose:Propertiesmayinclude:

o PrecisionThenumberofdigitsthatcanbestoredinanumberfield.Forexample,thenumber56.78hasaprecisionof4.

o ScaleThenumberofdigitstotherightofthedecimalpointinanumberinafieldoftypeFloatorDouble.Forexample,thenumber56.78hasascaleof2.Scaleisonlyused

forFloatandDoublefieldtypes.

o LengthThelengthofatextfieldspecifiedincharacters.

7. ClickOK.

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AddingafieldinArcMap1. InArcMap,rightclicktheshapefilelayerinthetableofcontentsandselectOpenAttributeTable.

2. ClicktheOptionsbuttonandselectAddField.3. TypeafieldnameintheAddFieldwindow.4. ClicktheTypedropdownarrowandselectatype.

Thepropertiesthatareappropriatetothenewfield'sdatatypeappearintheFieldPropertieslist.

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5. Customizethefieldthatislistedbasedonthedatatypeyouchose:Propertiesmayinclude:

o PrecisionThenumberofdigitsthatcanbestoredinanumberfield.Forexample,thenumber56.78hasaprecisionof4.

o ScaleThenumberofdigitstotherightofthedecimalpointinanumberinafieldoftypeFloatorDouble.Forexample,thenumber56.78hasascaleof2.Scaleisonlyused

forFloatandDoublefieldtypes.

o LengthThelengthofatextfieldspecifiedincharacters.

6. ClickOK.

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EditingAttributesTheAttributesdialogboxallowsyoutoviewandeditattributesoffeaturesyou'veselectedinyourmap

whenyou'reinaneditsession.YoucanopenitbyclickingtheAttributesbuttonontheEditortoolbar.

Theattributesbuttonlookslikethis:

Theleftsideofthedialogboxliststhefeaturesyou'veselected.Featuresarelistedbytheirprimary

displayfieldandgroupedbylayername.Thenumberoffeaturesselectedisdisplayedatthebottomof

thedialogbox.

TherightsideoftheAttributesdialogboxcontainstwocolumns:theattributefieldsofthelayeryou're

viewing,andthevaluesofthoseattributeproperties.Theattributefields,suchasZONINGand

PARCEL_ID,arelistedunderthePropertycolumn,andtheirvaluesareintheValuecolumn.

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EnteringattributesaftercreatinganewfeatureYoucanturnonasettingontheAttributestaboftheEditingOptionsdialogboxsoyouwillbeprompted

toenterattributesintotheAttributesdialogboxafteranyeditingoperationthatresultsinnewfeatures,

ineitheralllayersorspecificonesinyourmap.Assoonasyoucompleteasketchoranoperation

resultingin

new

features,

the

Attributes

dialog

box

will

appear.

You

will

need

to

close

the

dialog

box

beforeyoucandoanythingelsewithArcMap.

Turningonthissettingwillbemostusefulwhen:

Yourgeodatabasedoesnotallowfeaturestohavenullattributevalues.Whenprompted,youcaneditandreplacenullvaluesbeforethenewfeatureisstoredinthegeodatabase.

Youarecreatingnewfeaturesandwanttoattributethemimmediately.Thisisespeciallytruewhenyouarecreatingafewnewfeaturesatatime,andtheyhaveknownattributesor

subtypes.

EditingattributesinthetablewindowYoucanalsoeditattributesinthetablewindow.Anattributetablewindowcanshowyouthevaluesfor

allfeaturesinalayer,notjustthoseselected.Editingattributesthroughthetablewindowallowsyouto

quicklymakechangestoseveralfeatures(records)atonceusingthefieldcalculator.Inaddition,the

tablewindowallowsyoutoaddanddeletefieldsandcustomizehowthefieldsappearbysettingupfield

aliases,hidingfields,andsoon.SelecttheOptionsbuttontoaccessthesefeatures.

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