Available with Standard or Advanced license.
If your database contains a geodatabase and also contains tables created outside ArcGIS, you can register the tables with the geodatabase. Views created outside ArcGIS or created with the Create Database View geoprocessing tool can also be registered with the geodatabase. Registering a table or view with the geodatabase records information about the table or view in geodatabase system tables, including (for spatial tables and views) the extent, the spatial reference, and the feature type (such as point, line, or polygon).
Having spatial information stored in geodatabase system tables improves performance times when adding the table or view to a map.
Registering a table with the geodatabase allows the table to participate in geodatabase functionality, such as adding subtypes to it, defining domains for fields in the table, and placing the table in a relationship class. If it is a spatial table (a feature class), you can also move it into a feature dataset so it can be used in topologies, networks, terrains, and other feature dataset constructs.
Registering a view with the geodatabase allows the view to be included in read-only feature services.
Your table or view must meet the following criteria to register it with the geodatabase:
- The field data types used in the table or view you register with the geodatabase must map to ArcGIS data types. If they do not, registration will fail. See DBMS data types supported in ArcGIS for a list of data types you can use.
- The table or view can contain only one spatial field.
- If the table or view contains a spatial field, it can store only one geometry type (such as point, line, or polygon).
- If the table or view contains a spatial field, all features must use the same coordinate system.
- The table or view must contain a not null, unique, integer field to be used as an ObjectID field.
If you register a table, you can specify an existing field for the ObjectID. If you do not specify an existing field for the ObjectID when registering a table, ArcGIS will add an ObjectID field to the table.
Once a table is registered with the geodatabase, the geodatabase populates the ObjectID field with unique ID numbers.
If you register a view, you must specify a qualifying field to be used as an ObjectID field. If the field you choose does not contain existing unique values, you will see inconsistent behavior when viewing or querying the view from ArcGIS. As views are not editable from ArcGIS, the geodatabase will not add values to the ObjectID field, so the field must be prepopulated with not null, unique numbers.
There can be only one field with an ArcGIS data type of ObjectID in a table or view registered with the geodatabase.
The data in registered or unregistered views cannot be edited from ArcGIS. Once you register a view with the geodatabase, you should not edit its definition or the data it contains outside ArcGIS.
Follow these steps to register a table or view with the geodatabase using the Register With Geodatabase geoprocessing tool:
- Start an ArcGIS Desktop client and connect to the enterprise geodatabase that contains the table or view you want to register.
Connect as the owner of the table or view, as only the owner can register it with the geodatabase.
- Open the Register with Geodatabase tool.
You can either search for the tool, open it in the Geodatabase Administration toolset of the Data Management toolbox, or, in the Catalog tree in ArcMap, right-click the table or view under the database connection and click Register with Geodatabase.
- Specify an ObjectID Field.
- If you register a table, either choose an existing integer column to be used as the ObjectID field or empty the ObjectID Field and the tool will add an ObjectID field to the table.
- If you register a view, choose an existing integer field that contains not null, unique values to be used as the ObjectID field.
- If the table or view contains a spatial field, provide the following information:
- Choose the spatial field name from the Shape Field drop-down list.
- From the Geometry Type drop-down list, choose the type of geometry stored in the shape field.
- Choose the coordinate system of the shape field from the Coordinate System drop-down list.
- Specify the spatial extent of the data in the table.
- Click OK (ArcMap) or Run (ArcGIS Pro) to run the tool and register the table or view with the geodatabase.