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Esri ArcGIS Feature Service writer fails for nonnullable fields

  • September 30, 2026
  • 1 reply
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jakethepainter
Contributor
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Esri ArcGIS Connector package 3.22.0

I want to update a single attribute on an existing feature layer using the newer ArcGIS Feature Writer. ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. I am passing the writer the primary key for the row and the attribute I want to update. This is how I used to do it in the old feature service writer. But now I get a warning that it’s skipping the feature (actually all of them) because a different attribute in the featureclass is set to nonnullable and the value is null, missing, or empty. In this case, it’s missing. 

For example, I wanted to update an attribute on a utility network featureclass and got a warning that the feature update would be skipped because the associationstatus field is nonnullable. But that is a UN maintained field.

Also, does this mean if I don’t pass an attribute that already exists into the writer it will null it out if it is nullable? 

It seems like this means I need to read the features in and pass all the existing attributes even if I know which row I want to update only a single attribute for. For utility network featureclasses, this is hundreds of attributes that I don’t actually want to mess with (and shouldn’t because they are managed by the database and attribute rules). 

    1 reply

    veronikaatsafe
    Safer
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    Hi @jakethepainter,

    It seems like you are hitting a known issue with the new Esri ArcGIS Feature Service writer, (internal ref: FMEENGINE-99132). The writer currently validates every nonnullable field defined on the target layer's schema whenever it writes a feature, even for an Update, and even when that field is not included in your feature or exposed on the writer at all. So if a field like 'associationstatus' is marked nonnullable on the server and is not part of the data you are sending, the writer logs a warning along the lines of "The field has a NotNull constraint, but it is NULL, missing, or empty. Skipping feature", and the whole feature gets skipped rather than just that attribute.

    Esri's underlying applyEdits REST operation does support true partial updates, so the plan is to loosen this validation so fields that are not part of your user attributes are not checked at all. We have also seen this behavior confirmed on package versions newer than 3.22.0 as well, so upgrading the Esri ArcGIS Connector package by itself is unlikely to resolve it.

    You will likely need to work around the schema wide check rather than relying on a true partial update. For utility network layers specifically, our support article on updating, inserting, and deleting features in ArcGIS Utility Network Data walks through a similar situation with Asset Group and Asset Type fields using an AttributeManager or AttributeRemover. It will not fully bypass the nonnullable check described above, but it is worth reviewing if you are running into related friction on the same layers.

    Hope this helps! I will keep an eye on the internal issue and will update this thread once there are any changes in the status.

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