Geodatabases

FEFLOW 8.0 supports the import of information from Geodatabases PostGIS, Oracle and ESRI. Connecting to ESRI Geodatabases is only possible with the 32-bit version of FEFLOW and with an adequate ESRI license.

 

Export into an existing table/feature class erases all previous content of the table/feature class. The export option cannot be used to append information to existing tables!

Database Connection

The connection to a Geodatabase is managed through a FEFLOW Database Connection File (*.fedb). The connection file contains all settings for the con­nection to a specific geographic database, i.e., information on the host, port name of the database, user name and password.

Connect to a Database

An existing connection file can be opened via  Add Map (s). in the context menu of the Maps panel or by clicking on the search icon in the panel. Creat­ing a new connection file or editing an existing one is possible via the file-selection dialog evoked via Add Map or the search option in the  Maps panel. Make sure that the displayed file types in the file-selection dialog include the format *.fedb.

After this step, the procedure differs depending on the type of database:

PostGIS and Oracle

For PostGIS and Oracle databases, the Open PostGIS Table and Open Oracle Table dialogs are opened. In the upper part, it provides an overview of the Connection Properties. In its lower part, there are two options:

• Via Open existing table one of the database tables can be selected for opening.
• Alternatively, a User-defined query can be specified to derive data from the database. The first line defines a query name (used as the feature name for display in the Maps panel), the second line is for the SQL query itself. The syntax is SQL and the Verify button is used to check the syntax and to list the available columns for choosing the one with geometry information. To obtain geometries from the database, a Geometry column needs to be chosen, specifying which column in the query results shall be used as geometry information.

Open PostGIS Table dialog.

ESRI Geodatabase

For ESRI Geodatabases, the standard Open ARCGIS Table or Feature Class dialog is brought up after opening a FEFLOW Database Connection File. Here, it is possible to select a feature class from the database.

Create a new Database Connection

The file selection dialog brought up when choosing Add map from within the  Maps panel provides functionality to create and edit FEFLOW Database Connection (*.fedb) files:

 

	Add database connection. Active when FEFLOW Database Connections (*.fedb) format or All Maps is selected in the Files of type line.
	Edit database connection. Active when FEFLOW Database Connections (*.fedb) format or All Maps is selected in the Files of type line and an existing database connection file is selected in the file list.

 

 Adding a database connection.

When creating or editing a connection file, the available options differ according to the database type:

PostGIS Connection

Property	Description
Host	Hostname or IP adress of the host the DB is running on, 'localhost' for local DB
Port	DB port
Database	Name of the DB
User	DB user name
Password	DB user password
Connect	Test connection
Save Password	Check to save the password in the *.fedb file

 

Creating a *.fedb file for PostGIS.

Oracle Connection

Connections to Oracle databases with Oracle Spatial can be established either directly or via a Net Service connection.

 

Direct Connection	Host	Hostname or IP adress of the host the DB is running on, 'localhost' for local DB
	Port	DB port
	Service	Name of the DB Servce
Net Service Connection	Net Service Name	Name of the Net Service to be used for connection
User	DB user name
Password	DB user password
Connect	Test connection
Save Password	Check to save the password in the *.fedb file

ESRI Geodatabase

The import of maps from different kinds of ESRI Geodatabases (Personal GDB, File-based GDB, ArcSDE systems) is based on ESRI components and thus requires an adequate ESRI license. It is only supported in 32-bit FEFLOW as the corresponding ESRI components are only available in 32-bit. Export into ESRI Geodatabase is currently not supported.

Creating or editing the database connection, the Path to an ESRI Workspace has to be provided. The Type is determined automatically. To input a workspace location, the standard Open ARCGIS Workspace dialog can be opened through the ... button.

Export to a Database

The export to a Geodatabase, for example from within the Data or View Components panels, is very similar to the import, also relying on *.fedb files containing the connection properties.

Within the Save Oracle Table and Save PostGIS Table dialogs, an existing table/feature class has to be selected, or a new name has to be input to create a new table.

 

Export into an existing table / feature class erases all previous content of this! The export option cannot be used to append information to existing tables. In ESRI geodatabases, existing attribute columns will be maintained, but all existing features will be deleted