Feature Class Name

This field contains the name of the custom or standard feature class. You'll follow different naming conventions based on your database platform (SQL Server, Oracle, or Personal Geodatabase). These are all described below.

Note: This field can also be used to Rename Feature Classes. Follow the link for additional information.

SQL Server

If you use SQL Server and your feature classes are loaded into your geodatabase with dbo as the database owner, this field should contain the feature class name only, and should not include dbo.[featureclassname].

If you use SQL Server and your data is loaded into your database as a different user than dbo, this feature class name should be entered in this format: [owner].[featureclassname].

If you are unsure, go to ArcCatalog, make a connection to your ArcSDE geodatabase, and look at the feature classes listed. They will be listed in ArcCatalog with their fully qualified name.

If they are listed [database].DBO.[featureclassname], then you should only enter the [featureclassname] in this field.
If they are listed [database].[some different user].[featureclassname], then you should enter [some different user].[featureclassname] as it appears in ArcCatalog. ArcCatalog also includes the database name; do not include the database name when entering the feature class name here.

Oracle

If you are using Oracle for your geodatabase, the feature class name should be entered as follows [SchemaName].[featureclassname], or you should create a public synonym for your feature classes, in which case you can just enter the [featureclassname].

Personal Geodatabases

If you are using personal geodatabases, this should only be the feature class name and should not include any owner or database name qualifiers.

In This Section

Renaming Feature Classes