Value Type Converter

A field's type cannot be changed in place. The way to turn a text field of numbers into a real numeric field is to create a numeric field and convert the values across — which is what this tool does.

• Source Field supplies the values; Target Field receives the converted ones. The source is left untouched, so the original values remain available if the conversion is not what you expected.
• Create the target field first, with the type you want, using Add multiple Fields.
• Overwrite existing target values governs what happens where the target already holds data:
  • Checked — existing target values are replaced.
  • Unchecked — populated target values are left alone, so only empty ones are filled.
• Treat empty text as null decides how an empty string is handled. Checked, an empty text value becomes null in the target rather than a zero or an empty string — which is usually what you want, since a genuine blank is not the number zero.
• Use selected features only limits the conversion to the current map selection. Use it to test the conversion on a handful of features before committing to the whole layer.
• Values that cannot be converted — letters in a field destined to be numeric, for example — are reported rather than silently written as zero. Review the report; those rows need cleaning before a second pass.
• Converting from a wider type to a narrower one loses precision: a double into a long integer truncates the decimals irrecoverably in the target. The source field still holds the original, so check the result before deleting it.

1. Create the target field with the type you want, using Add multiple Fields.
2. On the KGA Toolbox tab, in the Data Management group, open the VectorIQ menu, point to Manage, and click Value Type Converter.
3. Set Target Layer, Source Field, and Target Field.
4. Check Treat empty text as null so blanks do not become zeros.
5. Select a few features in the map and check Use selected features only for a trial run.
6. Click Convert Values and inspect the result in the attribute table.
7. Clear the selection, uncheck Use selected features only, check Overwrite existing target values, and run again for the whole layer.
8. Review the report for values that could not be converted, clean those rows, and run again.

Requires an active KGA Toolbox license. The tool validates the license before running.