Login Database

If using a login for a database through Designer, see here for instructions.

When ArcFM starts, the user is prompted to log in to a database. The ArcFM Login database is one that contains the ArcFM System Tables which house the various snapping settings, stored displays, page templates, and favorites. As its name implies, the Login database is the database to which mobile users will log in.

On the enterprise, the ArcFM Login database is typically the same SDE database that hosts the enterprise geodatabase. However, on field machines the Login database is a separate personal geodatabase. The mobile login database will not contain any feature or object classes since it is never going to be edited. The sole purpose of the mobile Login database is to store feature favorites, graphic favorites, stored displays, and other standard items managed by ArcFM.

In the steps below, you will copy stored displays from your enterprise database into your Login database. You may wish to create on the enterprise a stored display that contains only the layers that the field user will require.

The Login database is created on the Administrator machine so that you can use the Data Source Wizard to connect the stored display layers to the Backdrop geodatabase. Because the directory structure on your Administrator machine is exactly the same as the directory structure on your field machines, the stored display layers will remain connected for field users.

Create the Login Datatabase

In ArcCatalog, browse to the directory in which the login database will reside. If you're using Geodatabase Replication to maintain the login database in the field, the database should reside in a sub-directory in the Base Path on the Replication Server. Because Geodatabase Replication uses a Directory replica to maintain the login, it will likely be the only database in the directory.
Right-click the file folder, select new, then File Geodatabase.
Name the database to indicate it is a Login database (for example, LoginDB).
Select the Login database in ArcCatalog and run the Create/Update ArcFM Solution System Tables tool.
Select the Login database in ArcCatalog and run the Upgrade ArcFM Solution Database tool.
Select the Login database in ArcCatalog and run the ArcFM Solution Object Converter tool, set to convert to ArcFM.
Delete MM_SYSTEM_STORED_DISPLAYS and MM_SYSTEM_PACKAGES from the sample login database.
In ArcCatalog, copy MM_SYSTEM_STORED_DISPLAYS and MM_SYSTEM_PACKAGES from your Enterprise database and paste them into the sample login database.
Select the Login database and click the Data Source Wizard button on the ArcFM Solution toolbar in ArcCatalog. In the next few steps you will use this tool to connect the stored display layers in the login database to the backdrop geodatabase.
Read the information provided on the first screen and click Next.
Select the stored display(s) and/or document(s) you'd like the mobile user to access in the field. All unnecessary stored displays and documents will be removed later. Click Next.
You will need to set all data sources, so accept the default setting on the next screen. Click Next.
Browse to the Backdrop geodatabase when selecting the destination data source. This connects the layers in the selected stored displays/documents to the backdrop. Click Next.
Review the Summary and click Next to connect the stored display/document layers to the Backdrop geodatabase.
Next, open the Login database in ArcMap and delete any stored displays and/or documents that the user will not require in the field. This will likely include any stored displays you chose not to connect to the Backdrop using the Data Source Wizard.

Stored Displays in the Field

You may need to create or modify stored displays for use in the field. When doing this, keep the following in mind:

Modify the size and color of symbology to make map features easily viewed on a small screen in the field.
Remove extraneous layers from stored displays to decrease the amount of time it takes to load.
Use simple symbology to increase performance.
Do not use Definition Queries (unless absolutely necessary) to increase performance.
If the stored display(s) and/or document(s) to be accessed by the field user have any broken data sources, you may delete those layers and re-save the stored display. This just means that the stored display/document contains layers that the backdrop does not. These layers can be removed from the stored display/document.

Geodatabase Replication: Copy the finished Login database to the appropriate sub-directory in the Base Path directory on the Replication Server. It is from this location that the Login database will be initially distributed (and permanently maintained) to client machines using a Directory Replica. Refer to the Geodatabase Replication section.