Working with Geodatabase Attachments
What are attachments?
Attachments are files, of any type, that a user would like to “connect” to an existing record or a newly-submitted record in a database. This allows you to effectively staple an attachment to a record, such as a PDF version of a report attached to the database row that represents it.
In IMSMAng, attachments were managed as a simple One to Many relationship from any feature in the database, a user could attach one or more files, and references to those files would be saved in a table, with the file saved on disk in a single folder on the IMSMAng host server.
Attachments are often used to store photographs of objects, evidence, devices or hazards in the field
What are Geodatabase Attachments?
In an ArcGIS Geodatabase, Attachments refer to “geodatabase attachments,” which are files that are stored inside the database, related to specific rows in a feature class or table in the geodatabase. This is different from the IMSMAng method of storing attachments on disk and simply storing a link to the feature in the database itself. Geodatabase attachments are stored as binary objects in a column in the database, also known as BLOBs (Binary Large Objects).
Attachments provide a flexible way to manage additional information that is related to your features. Attachments allow you to add files to individual features and can be images, PDFs, text documents, or any other type of file. For example, if you have a feature representing a building, you could use attachments to add multiple photographs of the building taken from several angles, along with PDF files containing the building's deed and tax information.
To add file attachments, you first need to enable attachments on the feature class or table. When you enable attachments, ArcGIS creates a new table to contain the attachment files and a new relationship class to relate the features to the attached files. You add attachments to the features during an edit session or by using the Add Attachments geoprocessing tool.
Attachments are similar to hyperlinks but allow you to associate multiple files to a feature, store the attached files in the geodatabase, and access the files in more ways. You can view attachments from the Identify window, from the Attributes window (when editing), in the attribute table window, and through HTML pop-up windows.
How are Geodatabase Attachments used in IMSMA Core?
One of the primary ways that IMSMA core differs from IMSMAng is that it allows users to submit photographs from the field using Survey123. These features are stored as geodatabase attachments when they are first submitted, allowing a full web service based submission and query process for these files.
In order to access these attachments for future use, a user must view the feature class through a web service or directly from ArcGIS Desktop.