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Migrating geoprocessing services from version 10 to 10.1

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This topic provides information specific to migrating geoprocessing services from 10 to 10.1.

To migrate a pre-10.1 service to ArcGIS Server 10.1, you create a new 10.1 service with the tools you authored in the previous version of ArcGIS for Desktop. You do not need to alter your existing geoprocessing tools.

Prior to 10.1, there were three different methods for publishing geoprocessing services:

  • You could publish a toolbox; each tool in the toolbox would become a task.
  • You could publish a map document containing tool layers; each tool layer would become a task, and each task could access layers in the table of contents.
  • You could publish a map document containing tool layers as above, but additionally specify that the output layer was to be drawn by a result map service.

The sections below provide more details about migrating a service created with these three methods to ArcGIS 10.1 for Server. If you haven't done so already, read A quick tour of publishing a geoprocessing service for instructions on publishing to a 10.1 server.

Publish a toolbox

In 10, you could publish a toolbox by right-clicking it in ArcCatalog or the Catalog window. All tools within the toolbox became geoprocessing tasks.

To publish a toolbox to 10.1, you need to be in an ArcMap session. You can start a new session with an empty document or open an existing document. You may already have an existing map document that you used for testing your tools at 10. If so, open this existing document as it likely has layers you can use as inputs to the tools.

  1. In the Catalog window, navigate to the location of the toolbox and expand the toolbox. For each tool in the toolbox, right-click the tool and choose Item Description. The contents of the item description become the documentation for your tasks. Review each part of the item description for the tool. Make changes if necessary and save your changes.
  2. Execute each of the tools in the toolbox to create a new result in the Results window.
    • If the Results window is not already open, you can open it by choosing Geoprocessing > Results from the ArcMap main menu.
  3. Right-click one of the results and choose Share As > Geoprocessing Service. The Share as Service wizard opens. It is here that you'll choose a 10.1 server to publish to and the name of your service.
  4. The Service Editor dialog box opens. You provide much the same information here that you provided when publishing to a 10 server. Review the service settings and make changes as necessary. Most of the changes you'll need to make are the service's Parameters settings, which is where you choose Synchronous versus Asynchronous, choose an appropriate Message Level, and enter a value for Maximum number of records returned by the server. You should not have to change the task settings.
  5. If you have additional tasks to add to the service, click the Add Result button Add Result to choose another result to add to the service. Each result becomes a task in the service.
  6. Once you have added all results, click the Analyze button Analyze. The Prepare window opens and displays any errors and warnings about the service. You need to fix any errors before you can publish.
  7. Publish the service by clicking the Publish button Publish.

Publish a map document containing tool layers (no result map service)

In 10, you could publish a map document containing tool layers, and each tool layer in the map became a task in the service. Any additional layers in the map document were available for the task to use.

  1. Make a backup copy of the map document containing the tool layers. In one of the steps below, it is recommended that you remove the existing tool layers from the map document. Making a copy of the original map document allows you to preserve these tool layers for later inspection or, if you're maintaining a pre-10.1 server, to republish the pre-10.1 service.
  2. Open the map document. In the Catalog window, navigate to the location of the toolbox containing the tools used to create the tool layers and expand the toolbox. For each tool in the toolbox, right-click the tool and choose Item Description. The contents of the item description become the documentation for your tasks. Review each part of the item description for the tool. Make changes if necessary and save your changes.
  3. It is recommended that you remove all existing tool layers from the map document so that you don't confuse the sublayers of a tool layer with other layers in the map document. However, the existing tool layers contain a sublayer for each output of your tool, and these output layers may have symbology that you'll want to apply after you run the tool to create a new result. If this is the case, save the sublayer to a layer (.lyr) file before removing the tool layer. To do so, right-click the sublayer and click Save As Layer File.
  4. Execute each of the tools in the toolbox to create a new result in the Results window.
    • If the Results window is not already open, you can open it by choosing Geoprocessing > Results from the ArcMap main menu.
  5. If your tools add new layers to the table of contents (it is likely they do), you might want to define new symbology for the outputs, perhaps using categories or quantities. In step 3 above, you may have saved a layer (.lyr) file containing the symbology of a tool layer's sublayer. If so, you can use this layer file to update the symbology of the new output layers, as follows:
    1. Right-click an output layer and choose Properties.
    2. On the Layer Properties dialog box, click the Symbology tab.
    3. Click the Import button. The Import Symbology dialog box opens.
    4. Choose Import symbology definition from another layer in the map or from a layer file.
    5. Click the Open button Open and choose the layer file you saved previously.
    6. Click OK.
  6. Once you're satisfied with the output symbology, right-click one of the results and choose Share As > Geoprocessing Service. The Share as Service wizard opens. It is here that you'll choose a 10.1 server to publish to and the name of your service.
  7. The Geoprocessing Service Editor dialog box opens. You provide much the same information here that you provided when publishing to a 10 server. Review the service settings and make changes as necessary. Most of the changes you'll need to make are the service's Parameters settings, which is where you choose Synchronous versus Asynchronous, choose an appropriate Message Level, and enter a value for Maximum number of records returned by the server.
  8. If you have additional tasks to add to the service, click the Add Result button Add Result to choose another result to add to the service. Each result becomes a task in the service.
  9. Once you have added all results, click the Analyze button Analyze. The Prepare window opens and displays any errors and warnings about the service. You need to fix any errors before you can publish.
  10. Publish the service by clicking the Publish button Publish.

Publish a map document containing tool layers (with result map service)

Follow the instructions above for publishing a map document containing tool layers (no result map service). In the Service Editor window, click Parameters in the left-hand pane. Choose Asynchronous and then check the View results with a map service check box.

Note:

The symbology set on the layers as they appear in your current ArcMap session will determine how your results are drawn as a service. If you have not created layer files to set the symbology, change how the output layers are displayed in your current ArcMap session before publishing the service.

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