Deleting required field from ArcGIS Diagrammer?

Question

while creating a feature class in ArcGIS Diagrammer I set the field id_feature_class as required and as type= text now I want to change text to integer but I can't it's telling me id_feature_class is required

how can I delete a required field in ArcGIS or change the field type from text to integer?

Answer 1

According to Add Field tool help:

Fields set as required are permanent and you will not be able to delete them with future processing. To allow for deletion at a later time set the field to non-required (the default).

I think you can try to make a copy of your feature class to convert required field to non required and then create a new integer field using data from text field.

Please, do the following:

1. Create new short integer field.
2. Right click on the integer field and call Field calculator.
3. Check Python box
4. Enter this code in field calculator (replace TEXT_FIELD with your field name, see pic for more details): def convert(text): try: return int(text) except: return -9999

convert(!TEXT_FIELD!)

5. Click OK