Error: Items Do Not Match

Solution or Workaround

Summary

APPEND and MAPJOIN sometimes return the following message:

     ** Items don't match in Coverage X **
        (where X is the coverage name).

CauseThere are three possible causes, each is covered below.

Solution

1. "Items don't match" usually means that one or more of the items in the feature attribute tables (FATs) are defined differently in each of the input coverages. Make sure the items are defined identically and in the same order by selecting one of the tables and using the INFO ITEMS LONG command.

The command creates a listing of all the items, redefined items, and hidden items for the coverage. Below is a sample listing:

Code:
 ENTER COMMAND >IT LONG
 DATAFILE NAME: SEWERS.AAT                                          07/02/1993
   11 ITEMS: STARTING IN POSITION    1
 COL  ITEM NAME         WDTH OPUT TYP N.DEC PROT KEY OCCRS  INDX CNLV  CC CN
UN
    1  FNODE#              4    5  B    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
    5  TNODE#              4    5  B    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
    9  LPOLY#              4    5  B    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   13  RPOLY#              4    5  B    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   17  LENGTH              4   12  F    3    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   21  SEWERS#             4    5  B    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   25  SEWERS-ID           4    5  B    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   29  DIAMETER            2    2  I    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   31  SYMBOL              3    3  I    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   34  JUNK               20   20  C    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -
   54  NEWITEM             5    5  C    -    4    -     -     -    -   -  -  -

Perform ITEMS LONG for each of the coverages to be appended. Compare the item definitions and their order of appearance in the table. For example, a particular item may be defined exactly the same way in each table except for its protection (PROT) level. Item protection levels are often altered if another operation is performed on them within INFO (e.g., MODIFYING a REDEFINED item changes its protection level from 4 to 0). Use the ALTER command to change the protection level so that it matches the value of the item in the other coverage.

Item mismatch can also occur if the items are ordered differently in each table, or if any of the items appear before the COVER-ID. Use ARC PULLITEMS to reorder items in the attribute tables so that all user-defined attributes appear in the same order after the COVER-ID.

2. For some older coverages, the feature attribute tables may have bad external pathnames. Try ARC EXTERNAL <cover> to re-establish the correct external path to the INFO files in the coverage directory.

3. The coverage name is longer than thirteen characters. Use ARC COPY or ALTER to change the name of the coverage to a shorter character string.

4. Make sure the item names are in the same case for both coverages.

5. No user defined items should exist before the COVER-ID item.

For more information about Protection Level, see the DEFINE command in the INFO Reference Manual.

An alternate approach to append coverages, you may use the ArcView script view.merges.

Article ID:000001403

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Items do not match

Solution or Workaround

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