Custom feature inspectors
The ArcMap Attributes dialog box contains two panels: the left panel lists the features in the focus map that are selected and editable, and the right panel houses a feature inspector. ArcMap ships with a standard feature inspector, which enables attribute editing.
The Attributes dialog box can be customized by replacing the right panel with your own custom feature inspector.
For any feature class that resides in a geodatabase, you can replace the default feature inspector with a custom feature inspector. Custom feature inspectors can be assigned to specific feature classes. Selecting a feature in the left panel of the Attributes dialog box activates the associated feature inspector in the right panel.
Because feature inspectors are implemented on a feature class extension, you can only apply a custom feature inspector to geodatabase feature classes, not shapefiles or coverages.
Remember, after you have implemented a custom feature inspector, a user can still choose to edit attributes in the standard way by using the table window of the feature class.
A common reason for implementing a custom feature inspector is to provide a more controlled editing experience for particular feature classes. With specific knowledge of the business data, you can provide sophisticated user interface facilities to enable better editing; for example, you might prefer to use a calendar control to enter dates.
The alternative to a custom feature inspector is to implement an editing form outside the context of the Attributes dialog box. The advantage here is that you have more complete control over the user interface, since you are not restricted by the interaction with the left panel of the standard dialog box. The disadvantage is that you would be presenting users with a more mixed environment. The Attributes dialog box caters to all feature classes from a single map selection event, but implementing a separate dialog box would complicate the user interface with alternative methods of editing and interaction with map selections. In this case, you may prefer to reimplement the entire Attributes dialog box; for an example of this see the 'Feature Inspector' sample in the ArcGIS Developer Help.
Note: The terms feature inspector and object inspector are often used interchangeably. You cannot use the Attributes dialog box for inspecting nonspatial objects, so feature inspector is the most appropriate usage.
See Also Extending the Editing Framework and Tabbed Feature Inspector Example.