Create a structural attachment association

In a network, assets that provide pathways for a resource, such as water or electricity, are attached to structures such as pads, towers, and poles. In a utility network, this relationship is modeled as a structural attachment association between the attached feature (for example, a transformer) and the structure feature (for example, a pole).

You can use the Modify Associations pane or Python to create a structural attachment between two features. If a rule does not exist, the feature selected on the map is not added to the pane.

Structural attachment associations cannot be made directly to a line or edge object; a point or junction object must be present. To attach the midspan of a line to a structure (for example, conductor and pole), an intermediate point or junction object placed midspan is used. The structural attachment association is then established between the structure and the intermediate point or junction object.

Requirements

The following are requirements for creating a structural attachment association:

• The structure feature has the Structure association role assigned.
• A structural attachment association rule exists to support the relationship.

Use the Modify Associations pane to create a structural attachment association

Follow these steps to create a structural attachment association between features:

1. Click the Utility Network tab.
2. In the Association group, click Modify .

   The Modify Associations pane appears.

3. In the Modify Associations pane, select one of the features you want to establish a structural attachment association between.
   1. Click the Add features tool and click one of the features on the map, for example, a pole.

      Once you've added a feature, it appears in the Modify Associations pane as the active item. If there are existing structural attachment associations to other features, they also appear.

      For nonspatial objects, use the Load selected tool to populate the Active Item parameter in the Modify Associations pane with the selected rows.

      When the Active Item parameter is populated, the Connectivity, Containment, and Attachment tabs are displayed with an indicator that communicates the number of associations for the active item in each type.

   2. Click the Attachment tab.
   3. Use the Add features tool under either the Attachments or Attached To section of the pane to select other features on the map that will participate in the structural attachment association. The section you choose will depend on whether the active item is a structure feature or will serve as an attachment.

      For junction or edge objects, use the Add selected tool to populate the appropriate section with selected rows from the attribute table.

   New features are added to the pane with a green indicator to designate the creation of an association.

4. Click Apply.

The specified features and structure are now associated. See Control association visibility for information on viewing the structural attachment associations between features. Validate the network topology to incorporate the new association or associations.

Use Python scripting to create a connectivity association

Editors can use Python scripting to perform edit operations which include the creation of structural attachment associations between features. To do this, you must first import arcpy and start an edit operation to run the AddStructuralAttachmentAssociation function.