Modifying data

Editing data

If your Web application has this feature enabled, the Editor task allows you to edit data on the server.

In this section:

Start and stop editing

Setting the edit layer

Edit functions

Edit buttons just below the edit layer name enable actions common to all edit operations:

Tool Description
Select Feature Click on this tool, then click or click and drag a rectangle on the map. Features clicked on, or within the drawn rectangle, will be selected. Selection is shown with a cyan (blue-green) color (see Settings to change selection color). Features must be selected before they can be modified or deleted.
Clear Feature(s) Clears any selected features so that no features are selected.
Show Vertices If feature(s) are selected, displays their vertices in red. Vertices are the points that define the shape of a feature.
Undo If available, this button reverses the last editing operation. If pressed again, works its way backward to undo actions done. Once you do a Save of your work, you cannot undo operations done before the save.
Redo If available, this button reinstates the action that had been reversed with the Undo button.
Save Edit(s) If available, this button saves all changes to the data in the edit session. You must do a Save before exiting the browser in order to preserve your changes to the data. If this button is not present, then any edits are saved immediately.
Enter XY value(s) Creates a new feature by entering coordinates of vertices in the feature. Clicking this button opens a new window to input the coordinates. For lines and polygons, you can enter multiple vertices by clicking the Continue Adding button. When you enter the last vertex, click Add Final to finish the feature.

Creating a new feature

  1. In the section of the Editor tools window labeled Create <layer name>, click a button for the type of feature to create. One or more buttons will be available. If the layer has multiple classes defined for the map display, a button will display for each class. You can hover over the button, and the name of the class type will pop up next to the button. After you click a button, it will have a pressed appearance.
  2. Click on the map to create the feature. For lines, click once at each vertex (point), and double-click at the last vertex. For polygons, click at each vertex, then double-click to finish. Do not click back on the original vertex, as the polygon will automatically close. Press and hold the "s" key to temporarily show a red marker at the location to which the cursor will snap if you click to add a vertex. It also shows the layer to which snapping will occur.
  3. You can also enable snapping options while adding vertices: see Settings options below.
  4. After finishing the feature, it will be highlighted on the map, and the attribute fields will display in the Editor window. Attributes may be entered for the feature and the feature's shape may be edited at this point.
  5. You can continue adding features by clicking on the map. Remember to save your edits if necessary.

Selecting features

Before modifying or deleting a feature, it must be selected.

  1. Click the Select tool.
  2. With the select tool active, click on the map to select the feature. You can also draw a rectangle to select features within the rectangle.
  3. After a few moments, the selected features are highlighted. These features can then be modified or deleted.

Modifying and deleting features

After features are selected, they can be modified using the editing tools. The set of tools displayed differs for point, line and polygon layers.

Attributes can also be modified in the Editor task window. If an attribute is entered that does not match the data type, a message will display and the value will be erased. For example, if an attribute field is a numeric type and a value of "Test" is entered, the value will not be allowed.

Tool Action
Move feature Moves the feature to a new location. Click first on some point in the feature. As you move the cursor to the new location, a line follows the cursor to indicate the move. Click the second time on the new location. The feature is moved, with the point on the feature click first moved to the location clicked second.
Copy feature To copy a selected feature, click once on the feature, then move the cursor to the new location and click again. The feature is copied, with the point on the feature clicked first located at the point clicked second.
Split feature
Splits a selected line or polygon feature into two features. For a line, click the tool, then click once at the location to split the line. For a polygon, click to draw a line to define the split. At the last point in the line for splitting the polygon, double-click on the map to finish and split the polygon. Each feature takes the attributes of the existing feature.
Merge features
Merges two or more selected lines or polygons into a single feature. If polygons overlap, the boundary between them is dissolved so that they form a single polygon. Note that this does not snap vertices. The merged feature takes the attributes of the first feature selected.
Delete feature Deletes the entire point, line or polygon feature(s) that are selected. No warning message is shown, but if the Undo button is available, you can use it to undo the delete.
Add vertex For a line or polygon, adds a vertex along the edge where you click.
Delete vertex For a line or polygon, deletes the vertex clicked on. You cannot delete the last two vertices of a line, or the last three vertices of a polygon.
Move vertex For a line or polygon, moves a vertex. First click on the vertex to move. After clicking, a line follows the cursor, indicating the move action. Click on the new location for the vertex.

Settings options

Settings options modify how selection and snapping occur. Click the Settings link in the lower right of the Editor tools window to open the Settings options. Click the down arrows within the Settings window to display sections of the options. The administrator of the website may limit the options that you can set.

Snapping settings

When you draw a line or polygon, you may want vertices (points) to fall exactly along other existing features. Snapping forces a click to take the precise coordinate of a feature, if the feature falls within the Snapping Tolerance of the click.

Snap tips are automatically available when editing. When adding or moving vertices, press and hold the 's' key to show a marker at the location to which the cursor will be snapped:
Snap tip illustration
The cursor does not actually snap to this location while drawing a line or polygon. But once you finish adding the feature, the snapped locations will be the ones used and displayed.

Select Features settings