This workflow explains how to modify the default configuration of a web feature layer. To begin the sharing process, set general properties, and finish sharing, see Share a web feature layer.
You can configure a web feature layer to allow users to edit the underlying data, sync changes back to the database, and export data to other formats. A number of service level parameters can also be configured.
The properties that can be configured depend on whether you are sharing to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise. If you are sharing to ArcGIS Enterprise, configurable properties also depend on your software version and whether your web feature layer references registered data or copies all data to the server. If the following steps don't match your experience exactly, use the table at the bottom of the page to see which properties are configurable for the portal you are sharing to.
Configure layers
- If necessary, open the Share As Web Layer pane.
On the General tab, confirm that Feature is selected.
- Click the Configuration tab. If necessary, click the Configure Layers tab
below it. - Under Layer(s), next to Feature, click the Configure Web Layer Properties button
. - Under Operations, check the Approve for Public Data Collection check box to allow public editing on a web feature layer that copies all data. You must approve the layer for public data collection before you can enable editing if the web layer is shared with everyone.
This option does not appear when you share a web feature layer that references registered data or share to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 or earlier portal.
Caution:
If editing is enabled on a layer that is shared with the public, anyone can edit it without signing in to your organization. For optimal performance and to prevent data loss or corruption, disable editing or share the layer only with your organization. For more information, see Allow editing on public layers.
- Check the Enable editing and allow editors to check box to enable web feature layer editing and choose which editing operations are permitted.
Add, update, and delete features
Editors can update and delete feature geometry and alter the attributes of features. This is the default.
Update feature attributes only
Editors can enter attribute information for existing features. They cannot add new features or modify or delete existing feature geometry.
Add features only
Editors can add new features and enter attribute information for these new features only. They cannot modify or delete existing feature geometry or attribute information.
If you are sharing a web feature layer that references registered data to ArcGIS Enterprise, editing is enabled by default. If you are sharing a web feature layer that copies all data to ArcGIS Enterprise, or if you are sharing to ArcGIS Online, editing is not enabled by default.
Caution:
If you share a web feature layer that references registered data, editing operations cannot be modified through the website for your ArcGIS organization; use ArcGIS Server Manager instead. For more information, see Edit service properties in Server Manager in the ArcGIS Enterprise help.
- Check the Enable Sync box to allow users to work with a local copy of the data when they are offline and to synchronize changes when they are online.
- Check the Export Data check box to allow others to export the data to different formats.
- Under Properties, check the Allow geometry updates check box to allow edits to the geometry of a feature.
The option to allow geometry updates appears only when you share a web feature layer that references registered data to ArcGIS Enterprise.
The Allow update of true curves check box is enabled by default to allow web clients to update the true curve geometry of a feature with densified geometry.
The Only allow true curve updates by true curve clients check box is enabled by default to only allow clients that support true curves, such as ArcGIS Pro, to update true curve geometries.
When sharing to servers earlier than 10.5, the options to allow update of true curves and only allow true curve updates by true curve clients are not checked by default.
- Check the Apply default to features with z-value check box to allow editors to add or update features through clients that don't allow a z-value to be given.
- Specify a value for Default z-value when inserting or updating features.
- Check the Allow geometry updates without m-value check box to allow geometry updates to m-enabled features without specifying an m-value.
- Optionally, check the Preserve editor tracking info check box.
This option does not appear when you share a web feature layer that references registered data to ArcGIS Enterprise.
Not checked
Editor tracking information is not preserved. Attribute values in editor tracking fields are overwritten with the account credentials (user name) of the user sharing the web layer and the web layer publishing timestamp. This is the default.
Checked
Editor tracking information is preserved. Attribute values are not overwritten.
Note:
Features created before the layer is shared may store names in editor tracking fields that don't match user names in your ArcGIS organization. For example, they may store a user name from a desktop computer or database. When you subsequently manage the web layer in your portal, you may want to restrict editing privileges so that editors can edit only features they have created themselves. (On the web layer's item details page, on the Settings tab, this option is called What features can editors edit?) If you make this restriction, and if you also chose to preserve editor tracking information, no one in your organization—except administrators—can edit existing features in the web layer because no one is recognized as the creator of those features. This is the main reason to consider not preserving editor tracking information.
- If you are sharing branch versioned data with a topology layer that references registered data, Include topology layer is checked by default. Optionally, uncheck the box to not include the topology layer in the web feature layer.
This option does not appear when you share to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8 or earlier portal.
- Optionally, choose a Sync option. Additional sync options are available if you checked the Enable Sync check box and are sharing a web feature layer that references registered data to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 or later portal. A default selection is provided based on the data's versioning type.
Create a version for each downloaded map
Create a version from the published version each time a map is taken offline. This is the default if your data's versioning type is traditional.
Create a version for each user
Create a version for each user who downloads the map.
None
No version is created when the map is downloaded. This is the default if branch versioned data is present.
The following table shows valid sync options for each versioning type. Choose the sync option that best suits your offline work.
Branch
- Create a version for each downloaded map
- None
Traditional
- Create a version for each downloaded map
- Create a version for each user
- At the top of the pane, click the Back button
to return to the list of layers and additional layers. - Optionally, under Additional Layers, check the WFS box to create a WFS layer.
Note:
Include a WFS layer when an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)-compliant layer is needed to serve features with geometry and attributes that clients can use in any type of geospatial analysis. If you share a web feature layer that references registered data to ArcGIS Enterprise, there are additional requirements for WFS layers.
For a list of WFS properties that can be configured, see Available WFS service properties in the ArcGIS Enterprise help. If you share a web feature layer that copies all data to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise, Enable transactions cannot be set. Also, the service properties are set by the metadata of the content being shared and cannot be changed.
You may also configure a web feature layer when you configure a web map or configure a web scene. The information in this topic applies in those situations also.
Follow these steps to configure operations and properties for your web feature layer:
Configure parameters
- At the top of the pane, under the Configuration tab, click Configure Parameters
. - Under Properties, specify a value for Maximum records returned by server.
This property appears if you are sharing to ArcGIS Enterprise. It specifies the number of records that can be returned by a user query. A large number may result in slower performance. The default value is 2,000.
- Optionally, under Date Fields, click the Time zone drop-down arrow and choose the time zone in which your date values are stored.
If your feature layer contains date fields, specifying the time zone allows date and time values to be converted correctly when users interact with the feature layer. If you choose a time zone other than UTC (coordinated universal time) and you want the time zone to account for daylight saving time, check Adjust For Daylight Saving.
This option does not appear when you share a web feature layer that copies all data to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5 or earlier portal.
Note:
If you don't specify a time zone, date values are assumed to be stored in UTC.
- Optionally, under Settings, uncheck the Ensure map is set to allow assignment of unique IDs check box. If the box is checked (the default), the map is analyzed to confirm that the Allow assignment of unique numeric IDs for sharing web layers option in Map Properties is enabled. If the box is unchecked, the analyzer is skipped. If the option in Map Properties is not enabled, unique IDs are automatically assigned to layers and tables when the web layer is published.
Note:
Checking the check box does not automatically enable any option in Map Properties. Authoring the map with assigned layer and table IDs ensures they remain static if the contents or layer ordering in your map change. When overwriting the web layer, assigned IDs must match existing service sublayer IDs to maintain references to them in web maps.
Learn more about assigning layer IDs
Complete the following steps to configure parameters for your web feature layer. For more information, see Service parameters.
Configurable web feature layer properties
| Active portal | ArcGIS Online | ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 and later | ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 and later | ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8 and later | ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5.1 through 10.8 | ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5.1 through 10.7.1 | ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5 | Portal for ArcGIS 10.4 and 10.4.1 | Portal for ArcGIS 10.3.1 or earlier | ||
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Data Type | Copy all data | Reference registered data | Copy all data | Reference registered data | Copy all data | Reference registered data | Copy all data | Reference registered data | Copy all data | ||
Approve for Public Data Collection |
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Enable Sync |
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Export Data |
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Allow geometry updates |
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Allow update of true curves |
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| Only allow true curve updates by true curve clients |
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| Apply default to features with z-value |
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| Default z-value when inserting or updating features |
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Allow geometry updates without m-values |
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| Preserve editor tracking info |
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Include topology layer |
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Sync Options |
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