Join Features expressions

The Join Features tool uses ArcGIS Arcade expressions to specify join conditions. In some cases, you may want to specify a condition to select features that should be included in the join. You can perform simple join conditions (such as field a > field c) as well as advanced conditions. The conditions are tested on each feature to determine what is analyzed. Calculations are performed when the analysis runs on ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server.

At ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6 and later, expressions are formatted using Arcade. In Arcade, field names in Join Features are formatted as $target["field name"] and $join["field name"] or $target.fieldname and $join.fieldname. The first option, $target["field name"] and $join["field name"], is required when a field name includes a space. All examples below use this option.

Note:

Join Features requires two inputs, a target layer and a join layer. Accordingly, any Arcade expression in Join Features must outline the dataset being used. For example, an operation to calculate whether a field in the target layer named field1 is greater than a field in the join layer named field2 would be expressed as $target["field1"] > $join["field2"]. This is different from expressions in other GeoAnalytics Tools, which use the format $feature["fieldname"].

Learn more about Arcade expressions

The following tools use Arcade expressions in GeoAnalytics Server:

Reconstruct Tracks—Buffer expressions.
Create Buffers—Buffer expressions.
Join Features—Join features using start and end expressions.
Calculate Field—Calculate field values.

Legacy:

The ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server extension is being deprecated in ArcGIS Enterprise. The final release of GeoAnalytics Server was included with ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. These tools are available through ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 and earlier versions.

Mathematical operator and function examples

Expressions can mathematically process numbers. The following table shows examples of available operations:

Learn more about mathematical operations and functions in Arcade


Operator	Explanation	Example	Result
`a + b`	a plus b.	`fieldname` contains a value of 1.5 `$target["fieldname"] + 2.5`	4.0
`a - b`	a minus b.	`fieldname` contains a value of 3.3 `$target["fieldname"]- 2.2`	1.1
`a * b`	a times b.	`fieldname` contains a value of 2.0 `$join["fieldname"] * 2.2`	4.4
`a / b`	a divided by b.	`fieldname` contains a value of 4.0 `$join["fieldname"] / 1.25`	3.2
`abs( a )`	Returns the absolute (positive) value of a.	`fieldname` contains a value of -1.5 `abs($target["fieldname"])`	1.5
`log( a )`	Returns the natural logarithm (base E) of a.	`fieldname` contains a value of 1 `log($join["fieldname"])`	0
`sin( a )`	Returns the trigonometric sine of a. The input is assumed to be an angle in radians.	`fieldname` contains a value of 1.5707 `sin($target["fieldname"])`	1
`cos( a )`	Returns the trigonometric cosine of a. The input is assumed to be an angle in radians.	`fieldname` contains a value of 0 `cos($join["fieldname"])`	1
`tan( a )`	Returns the tangent of a. The input is assumed to be an angle in radians.	`fieldname` contains a value of 0 `tan($target["fieldname"])`	0
`sqrt( a )`	Returns the square root of a.	`fieldname` contains a value of 9 `sqrt($join["fieldname"])`	3
`min( a, b )`	Returns the lowest-valued number between a and b.	`fieldname` contains a value of 1.5 and a value of -3 `min($join["fieldname"], -3)`	-3
`max( a, b )`	Returns the highest-valued number between a and b.	`fieldname1` contains a value of 1.5, and `fieldname2` contains a value of -3 `max($target["fieldname1"], $join["fieldname2"])`	1.5
`constrain(<value>,<low>,<high>)`	Returns the input value if it's within the constraining bounds. If the input value is less than the low value, it returns the low value. If the input value is greater than the high value, it returns the high value.	`constrain($target["distance"], 0, 10)` `constrain($join['Store dist'], 6, distance)`	Returns 0 if `distance` is less than 0, 10 if `distance` is greater than 10, and `distance` otherwise. Returns 6 if `Store dist` is less than 6, `distance` if `Store dist` is greater than `distance`, and `Store dist` otherwise.

Multiplication example for a join condition expression using a field from the target dataset.

$target["Distance"] * 2 > $join["DistField"]

Text function examples

Join condition expressions can process text. The following table shows examples of available operations:

Learn more about text functions in Arcade


Operator	Explanation	Example	Result
`concatenate( <values>, <separator>)`	Concatenates values together and returns a string. `values`—An array of string values to concatenate. `separator` (optional)—A separator to use for concatenation if the `values` parameter is an array, or a string to concatenate if a single value is provided for the first parameter. If not provided, it will be empty.	`fieldname` contains a value of `GeoAnalytics` `Concatenate ([$target["fieldname"], "is", "great!"], ' ')`	GeoAnalytics is great!
`find(<searchText>, <text>, <startPos>)`	Finds a string within a string. Wildcards are not supported. `searchText`—The substring to search for. `text`—The text to search. `startPos` (optional)—The zero-based index of the location in the string to search from.	`fieldname1` contains a value of `14NorthStreet` and `fieldname2` contains a value of `North` `find($target["fieldname2"], $join["fieldname1"])`	2
`lower(<value>)`	Makes a string lowercase. `value`—The string to be made lowercase.	`fieldname` contains a value of `GEOANALYTICS` `lower($join["fieldname"])`	geoanalytics

Text example using find and lower.

find(("north"), lower("146NorthStreet")) == False

Date function examples

Join expressions can process dates. The table below shows examples of available operations.

Learn more about date functions in Arcade

In Arcade, month values range from 0 (January) to 11 (December), day values from 1 to 31, hour values from 0 (12:00 a.m.) to 23 (11:00 p.m.), minute and second values from 0 to 59, and millisecond values from 0 to 999. Arcade dates return time values for the GeoAnalytics Server location.


Operator	Explanation	Example	Result
`date(<value>, <month>, <day>, <hour>, <minute>)`	Parses a value or set of values into a date string. `value` (optional)— Either the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, UTC or a number representing a year. If a year is specified, the month and day must also be provided in subsequent parameters. This value can also be a date string or an ISO 8601 string to be converted to a date. `month` (optional)—The month (0–11), where 0 is January and 11 is December. `day` (optional)—The day of the month (1–31). `hour` (optional)—The hour of the day (0–23). `minute` (optional)—The minute of the hour (0–59). `second` (optional)—The second of the minute (0–59). `millisecond` (optional)—The millisecond of the second (0–999).	`fieldname` contains a value of `1476987783555` Example 1: `Date($target["fieldname"])` Example 2: `Date(2017,0,14,0)` Example 3: `Date()`	Example 1: 20 Oct 2016 11:23:03 am Example 2: 14 Jan 2017 12:00:00 am Example 3: Returns the current time
`DateDiff(<date1>, <date2>, <units>)`	Subtracts two dates and returns the difference in the specified units. `date1`—The date value from which to subtract a second date. `date2`—The date value to subtract from the first given date. `units` (optional)—The units used to return the difference of the two given dates. The supported unit types are `milliseconds`, `seconds`, `minutes`, `hours`, `days`, `months`, and `years`. The default value is `milliseconds`.	Example 1: `DateDiff(Date(2017,1,14,0), Date())` Example 2: `DateDiff(Date(2017,1,14,0), Date(), "Years")`	Result will vary depending on when you run this command. Example 1: -20532129137 Example 2: -0.6546783768647119
`Year(<dateValue>)`	Returns the year of the given date `value`—A date value identifying the year.	Example 1: `fieldname` is a field of type `Date` with a value of value of `09 Oct 2017 04:30:43 pm` `Year($join["fieldname"])` Example 2: `fieldname` is a string field formatted as an ISO 8601 string with a value of `2012-09-27` Example 2: `fieldname` is a string field formatted as an ISO 8601 string with a value of `Year(Date($target["fieldname"]))`	Example 1: 2017 Example 2: 2012

Conditional operators

Conditional statements can use the following operators:


Operator	Explanation	Example	Results
`a > b` `a < b`	a is greater than b a is less than b	`10 > 2`	False
`a >= b` `a <= b`	a is greater than or equal to b a is less than or equal to b	`abs(-10) >= 10`	True
`a != b`	a is not equal to b	`abs(-3) != -3`	True
`a == b`	a is equal to b	`abs(-5) == 5`	True
`<condition1> \|\| <condition2>`	Condition 1 or condition 2 is met.	`(abs(-5) == 5) \|\| (10 < 2)`	True
`<condition1> && <condition2>`	Condition 1 and condition 2 are met.	`(abs(-5) == 5) && (10 < 2)`	False

Logical operator examples

In addition to the conditional operators, more advanced logical operators, shown in the following table, can be used to join features:

Learn more about logical functions in Arcade


Function	Explanation	Example	Result
`constrain(<value>,<low>,<high>)`	Returns the input value if it's within the constraining bounds. If the input value is less than the low value, it returns the low value. If the input value is greater than the high value, it returns the high value.	`constrain( $target["distance"], 0, 10)` `constrain($join['Store dist'], 6, distance)`	Returns 0 if `distance` is less than 0, 10 if `distance` is greater than 10, and `distance` otherwise. Returns 6 if `Store dist` is less than 6, `distance` if `Store dist` is greater than `distance`, and `Store dist` otherwise.
`iif(<condition>,<true value>,<false value>)`	Returns one value if a condition evaluates to `true` and returns another value if the condition evaluates to `false`. `<true value>` and `<false value>` can be the following: A numeric field. If there is a space in the field name, use square brackets. A number. A function.	`iif($target["field1"] > $join["field2"], $join["field1"], 0)` `iif($target["field1"] > $join["field2"], iif($target["field2"] = 0, $join["field3"], $target["field4"]), 0)`	Returns `field1` if `field1` is greater than `field2`, and `0` otherwise. Returns the result of the second `iif` function if `field1` is greater than `field2`, and `0` otherwise.
`when(<expression1> , <result1> , <expression2> , <result2> , ... , <expressionN> , <resultN>, <default>)`	Evaluates a series of expressions in order until one evaluates to `true`. `expression`—An expression. `result`—The result of the expression. It can be a number or field. `default`—An optional value if none of the expressions match.	`when(($target["field1"] + 10) > 1, 1,($join["field2"] + 10) > 2 , 2, $target["field3"])`	If `field1 + 10` is greater than 1, it returns 1. If not, it checks if `field2 + 10` is greater than 2. If it is, it returns 2. If not, it returns `field3`.
`decode(<conditional val> , <case1> , <result1>, <case2>, <result2>, ... <caseN>, <resultN>, <defaultValue> )`	Evaluates an expression and compares its value with subsequent parameters. If the expression matches, it returns the next parameter value. If none match, there is the option for the last parameter to be a default return value. `conditional val`—A conditional value. It can be a field or an expression. `case`—A value to be compared to the `conditional val`. `result`—The result if the corresponding case matches the `conditional val`. `defaultValue`—An optional value if no other values are `true`.	`decode($target["field1"] + 3 , $join["field1"], 1, $target["field2"], 2, 0)`	Compares equality between the conditional val `field1 + 3` and case1 `field1`. If `true`, it returns 1. If `false`, it compares the equality between `field1 + 3` and `field2`. If `true`, it returns 2; otherwise, it returns 0.

Join Features