Creating a data source

As an administrator, you can use the data sources tool to create and configure a data source.

Before you begin

Ensure that your data source contains data in a format that can be received by the system, and that can be processed and updated as required.

If you want to configure data sources that acquire data from an Esri server, you must set the value of the EnableEsriDatasource system property to true. If you want to configure data sources that acquire data from a secured Esri feature service, you must also import the certificate for either the ArcGIS server, or for ArcGIS Online. For more information, see the related links. If your data source acquires data from an Esri server, the styling metadata that is defined at the ArcGIS feature service URL is used to display data items on the map.

If you want to configure data sources that connect to a database view, you must set the value of the EnableViewDatasource system property to true. The default value is false.

About this task

The following topic gives the general steps for creating a data source. For more information about each step, see the child topics. For more information about creating specific types of data sources, see the later topics in this section.

Fields that are marked with an asterisk in the data sources tool are always required.

You can specify translated text options for any field that contains text to be displayed as a label in the user interface. Enter the default text for the label. Then, enter text for any language that you require from the languages that are supported. The language that is displayed depends on the locale that is selected either in the user profile, or in the browser. If a language preference is set, the user profile setting overrides the browser language setting.

If you select the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as the format for acquiring data, you can specify that CAP messages that are received through the data source are displayed either on the geospatial map, or on the location map. The elements that are defined in the CAP specification are mapped to data source properties. Some data source options are preselected, and some data source properties are mapped to CAP elements automatically. You cannot change these automatic settings. For more information about the CAP specification, see the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol Version 1.2.

Procedure

  1. To access the data sources configuration tool, in the navigation menu, click Administration > Configuration Tools > Data Sources.
  2. To create a data source, click Create and select a data source definition type from the list. Choose a data source definition type according to whether you want to either map the properties yourself, or use a predefined mapping. The data source definition type affects the data source acquisition methods that you can select.
  3. In the Create Data Source window, enter values for Data source label, and Data source unique text identifier. You cannot reuse the unique text identifier for any other data source.
  4. If you want the data source to be a boundary area, select Yes from the Boundary area list.
  5. Choose a value from the Acquisition method list.
  6. Select a value from the Geometry format list. The options that are displayed depend on the acquisition method and on the value that you selected for Boundary area. Select All for data sources that contain data items of multiple geometry types, for example, polygons, points and lines.
    Note: If you select All, point data items are displayed only as single points on the map and not as clusters, even if the data source contains many point data items, or only point data items.
  7. Choose the appropriate option depending on the value that you selected for Data source definition:
    • If you chose Manual data item entry with predefined property mapping, click OK to save the data source, and go straight to step 10.
    • If you chose From a third-party source with predefined property mapping, click Next to go to Step 2 of 2: Connection Information, and enter the appropriate information for your chosen acquisition method. Then click Finish to finish creating the data source; further configuration is not required.
    • If you chose From my own source with my own property mapping, click Next to go to Step 2 of 3: Connection Information, and then enter the appropriate information for your chosen acquisition method.
  8. Click Next to go to Step 3 of 3: Data Ingestion, and choose which properties you want to be imported into your data source. All the properties are selected by default. For a data source that connects to a database view, you cannot change the default setting. The properties are not imported into the data source, but you can view all the properties for data items that are in the remote database table view.
  9. Click OK to save the data source.
  10. In the list of data sources, click the name of the data source that you created.
  11. On the Minimal Properties tab, configure the settings as appropriate. If you used any of the user-defined source to database mappings except for a database view connection, the data source is not started until you complete the settings on the Minimal Properties tab. However, if you used either a database view connection mapping, or any of the predefined property mappings, the data source is automatically started.
  12. Optional: Configure the settings on the Security, Routing, and Appearance tabs according to your requirements.
    Note: If you do not configure security for your data source, the default is that only you, the sysadmin user, and the SystemAdmins group, have access to view the data items.

Results

When a green arrow in a circle icon is displayed next to the name of a data source, the data source has been started.

Icons that are displayed next to each data source indicate the status of the data source.
Green arrow in a circle
This icon indicates that the data source has started.
Black pencil in a circle
This icon indicates that the data source has not started because the data source is being edited and configuration is not complete. You must complete configuration of the minimal property mappings before the data source can be started.
Yellow pause symbol in a circle
This icon indicates that the data source has been paused.

What to do next

You can assign actions to data sources by using the component customization tool.

Use the filter configuration tool to add your data source to a pane in the filter so that you can view data items from the data source in the Operations view. Click Configuration Tools > Filter. For more information about filter configuration options, see the link at the end of the topic.