Web tool settings

The parameter settings you choose when sharing a tool as a web tool define how they are consumed by client applications. The most common and frequently changed tool parameters can be set while sharing. Less common settings can be changed in ArcGIS Server Manager after the tool has been shared. A few advanced settings can only be set on the ArcGIS Server Administrator REST API. Few web tools (geoprocessing services) will ever need the advanced settings changed.

Settings

The subsections below describe the settings you can use when sharing a web tool.

General

The following general parameter settings are available:

Parameter	Description
Name	The name of the web tool that will be shared to your portal. This name must be unique on your portal and cannot contain spaces or special characters. This parameter inherits from the tool metadata.
Summary	The summary and tags that help describe the document and make the web tool searchable. These parameters inherit from the tool metadata. A summary and tags are required when sharing to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 or earlier portal. You can use a maximum of 128 tags.
Tags
Version	The version of ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Server that you will share to. This parameter is only enabled when you save an offline service definition for a web tool or geoprocessing service.
Data	Specifies what will happen to the data: Non-URL Data—Controls whether the data is copied to the server (becoming static) or remains referenced by the web tool. A matching entry in the server data store must be set up for the data to use the Reference registered data option. If the server data store does not set up the data, it will be copied during publishing. This is only applicable when publishing as a web tool or saving as a connected service definition. If you save the result as an offline service definition, ensure that all the data from the parameter can be referenced if you choose the Reference data option as there is no alternative to copy the data if the server data store does not set up the data. URL Data—Controls whether the data remains as a URL or is converted to another data type during publishing. This option is provided in ArcGIS Pro 3.2 or later. URL data refers to the URL of different types of web layers or services. Only feature layers, feature services, and feature sublayers of web image layers can be configured. When the Convert feature layer check box is checked, the feature layer or service of the parameter or project data is converted to a feature class during publishing. If unchecked, the feature layer URL is preserved. There is no option to convert the URL of web image layers, since a URL will always be preserved during publishing. This option is checked by default. Learn more about copying, referencing, and using URL data
Location	Specifies where the web tool item will be created: Folder—Select or create a portal folder where the web tool item will be created. The default is the root of the portal. Server and Folder—For the server, web tools must be shared to a portal with one or more federated servers. If your portal has more than one federated server, you can designate the server where the web tool will be published. For the folder, you can either select an existing folder or create a folder on the ArcGIS Server site. The default is the root of the ArcGIS Server site.
Share with	Specifies to whom and which groups the web tool will be shared. A web tool is always shared to My Content. Sharing a web tool to Everyone makes the item public; anyone who has access to the portal website can find and use it, and group owners can include it in their group content. Sharing a web tool to ArcGIS Enterprise shares the web tool with all members of your portal who have access to an item. You can share to any group to which you currently belong.

Configuration

The following configuration parameter settings are available:

Parameter	Description
Upload	Controls whether a client can upload a file to your server to use as input for the web tool. The upload operation is typically used by web clients that need a way to send a file to the server for processing. The upload operation returns a unique ID for the file after the upload completes, which the web app can pass to the web tool. This option is turned off by default. Allowing uploads to your service can possibly pose a security risk. Turn this on only if needed.
Execution mode	Specifies how the client (the application using the web tool) interacts with the web tool and gets the output. When a web tool is set to Synchronous, the client waits for the task to finish. Typically, a synchronous service runs quickly (within a few seconds). When set to Asynchronous, the service usually takes longer to run, and the client must periodically check the server to determine if the service has finished and, if it has finished, get the result. A web app using an asynchronous service must have logic implemented to check the status and handle the result once it is finished running.
View output in map image layer	When publishing a web tool, you can view the output as a map image. The map image is created on the server and transported back to the client as an image (a .tiff file with style information). Symbology, labeling, transparency, and other properties of the map image are the same as the output layer from the ArcGIS Pro session when you originally published. The following are reasons you would use View output in map image layer: If the tool outputs a large number of features that the client must symbolize and draw, it will be faster for the client to receive a map image. For data distribution reasons, you don't want to send the client any features, only a map image. The result of the tool is a dataset that is not transportable, such as a network or topology. The only way to send output to the client is using a map image. Note: An output map image can only be used when the web tool is set to Asynchronous. This parameter is not supported when publishing a web tool to Kubernetes.
Message Level	You can return messages of varying levels to the client that ran your web tool as follows: None—No geoprocessing messages are returned to the client, only an indication of whether the operation was successful or failed. This is the default. Error—Only tool messages that produce an error are returned to the client. Warning—All tool error and warning messages are returned to the client. Info—All tool messages from the operation are returned to the client. Caution: All messages, regardless of level, may contain dataset paths and names, which may pose a security risk. The Info level is verbose and typically contains references to dataset paths and names. In general, return messages during development, but turn them off in production.
Maximum number of records returned	The maximum number of results the service can return to a client. Setting this value to a large number means the GIS server can handle sending many individual records or features to the client. If you don't want to return any features, set this value to 0 (zero). Typically, you set this value to zero only when you enable View output in map image layer.

The previously mentioned parameter settings can be modified in ArcGIS Server Manager after the web tool has been shared, with the exception of the summary and tags. This description information can be updated on the shared web tool's item page in your portal.

Content

The following settings can only be modified at the time of publishing a web tool.

Add Tool

To add tools from the geoprocessing history to an existing web tool, click the Add Tool button on the Content tab. To remove tools, click the tool name and choose Remove.

Configure tool properties

To configure the tool properties, click the edit button next to the tool name.

Property	Description
Name	The name of the tool. The default is based on the tool metadata.
Description	The description of the tool. The description does not inherit from the tool metadata. If blank, provide a description and it will remain each time you share from history.

The following properties can be configured for each parameter:

Property	Description
Name	The name and description of the parameter. Both properties inherit from the parameter name and description from the tool metadata. You can modify them here and not affect the original tool metadata.
Description
Type	The parameter type defines whether the client must supply a value for the tool to run successfully. On the Content tab, you can only change optional parameters to required. To change a required parameter to an optional parameter, exit the sharing pane, edit the properties of the tool, and run the tool again to create a new result.
Keep data type as Composite	This property is only available when the parameter is a composite data type. It specifies whether the parameter will be published as a composite data type (checked). The default is unchecked.
Input Mode	Specifies how clients will input features to the task. For the GUI design and usage, see Input mode of a parameter. User defined value—The client provides a value for the parameter. Choice list—A list of strings (the choice list) is provided and the client must choose one or more of the strings from the choice list. Depending on the data type of the input, the strings can be the names of layers or simple keyword options. Constant—The value you supplied for the parameter when you created the result will be used. Since the value is constant, the client cannot change it, so it will not become a task parameter when the service is published. Mix Mode: user defined and choice list—Only available for composite or value table parameters. You can configure the input mode for each data type in the composite, or each data type for each column in the value table. If any data type does not support the choice list, only the user defined option will be available for configuration.
Convert data type to String	This property only applies to the areal unit data type. It specifies whether the areal unit will be converted to the string data type (checked) or published as an areal unit (unchecked). The default is unchecked.
Remove default value	Starting at ArcGIS Pro 3.3, when checked, the default value used when running the tool will be removed during the publishing process. The default is unchecked.
Default Value	The default value of the tool is determined by the parameter value specified when the tool is running. To add or change the default value of a parameter, run the tool again with the corresponding parameter.
Only use default layers	This property applies to choice list input mode only. It specifies whether only the options that are used when running the tool will be checked in the list view under this check box (checked). The default is unchecked.
Geometry Type	This property applies to features only. The geometry type comes from the input and output features that are used to create the result. It cannot be modified on the Content tab. You must rerun the tool using features of the specified geometry type, and share the result created by that operation.
Schema	This property applies to features and tables only. The schema is a list of fields (attributes) that must be supplied by the client when they construct the features for input to the tool. This list of fields is the same as the layer or dataset that was used as input or output to the tool that created the result.

The following configuration parameters apply to the entire tool:

Parameter	Description
Add optional output feature service parameter	An optional output parameter that specifies whether the output can be saved as a feature service when consuming the web tool (checked). This parameter is only supported when publishing as a web tool with asynchronous mode. It is not available for configuration otherwise. The default is checked.
Remove all default values	Starting at ArcGIS Pro 3.3, when checked, all the default values used when running the tool will be removed, and the Remove default value check box in the tool parameter configuration above will be automatically checked. The default is unchecked

ArcGIS Server Manager settings

The parameter settings in the subsections below can only be modified inArcGIS Server Manager. The previously mentioned configuration settings can also be modified in ArcGIS Server Manager after the service has been published.

Note:

Modifying any of the following settings causes the service to be restarted.

Parameters

The following parameter settings are available:

Parameter	Description
Cluster	The cluster the service will run under. This setting can only be modified if ArcGIS Server participates in a cluster.
Directories	The directories used by the server to write files when running the tool.

Capabilities

The following capabilities parameter setting is available:

Parameter	Description
WPS	Enables WPS capabilities on geoprocessing services, allowing other clients to connect to and consume tools through OGC standard protocols. Learn more about WPS

Pooling

The following pooling parameter settings are available:

Parameter	Description
Number of instances	The minimum and maximum number of instances of the service. The default values are 1 (minimum) and 2 (maximum). Setting a minimum value of 0 reduces system resources; an instance will start on a client request.
The maximum time a client can use a service	The maximum time, in seconds, that a service can be used. You may need to increase the default of 600 seconds (10 minutes) for long-running geoprocessing tasks. Alternatively, you can reduce this time to ensure a client will not take advantage of the services.
The maximum time a client will wait to get a service	The maximum time, in seconds, that a client will wait to connect to an instance before timing out. When all instances are busy processing requests, subsequent requests are queued. If this time-out elapses before an instance becomes available, the task will fail. The default is 60 seconds (1 minute).
The maximum time an idle instance can be kept running	The maximum time, in seconds, that an instance will continue to be active before pool shrinking occurs. Any instances above the minimum number of instances that have not been used are shut down once the idle maximum time value has elapsed.

Processes

The following processes parameter setting is available:

Parameter	Description
Recycling	Controls how often and when a service is recycled. The default is once every 24 hours starting at midnight. Geoprocessing services only run in high isolation, unlike some other service types that can run in either low or high isolation.