Creating Multiple Tables

From the connection details page, you can create a batch of named tables that use that connection. This is particularly useful right after you have created a new connection and want to quickly create named tables for it. Spatial Manager prompts you to select all the datasources for which you want to create named tables and to specify a location for them in the repository. All types of named tables can be created, with the exception of view tables (which do not use a connection) and XY tables.

When creating a batch of named tables, Spatial Manager uses the name of the datasource as the default name for the new table. For shapefiles, Spatial Manager will use the character set and coordinate system from the shapefile's .dbf or .cpg file if available. Volatility is set to True by default for all applicable datasources.

All hierarchy is preserved when creating a batch of named tables; for example, if you selected London.TAB and Paris.TAB as datasources from a folder named Europe, the new London and Paris named tables will also be created in a folder named Europe in the repository location that you specified.

  1. From the bottom of the connection details page (which appears when you select a connection or after you create a connection), click Create Tables.
    The Create Tables page appears.
  2. Select one or more datasources (for example, for a file-based connection you could select a combination of .TAB files and shapefiles). If you want to select all the datasources in a folder, simply select the folder. You can also select the connection itself to select all datasources at every level under the connection.
  3. Select a folder in the repository where you want the named tables to be saved.
  4. Select Skip existing tables if you want to avoid creating duplicate named tables.
  5. Click Create Tables.
    The Create Tables Results page appears, listing named tables that were successfully created, ones that were created with errors (for example, shapefiles that were missing the character set and coordinate system in their .dbf or .cpg files), and ones that could not be created. You can click the new table path to go to the details page for the named table, where you can view or modify it.