IWorkspaceFactory Interface

Provides access to members that create and open workspaces and supply workspace factory information.

Product Availability

Available with ArcGIS Engine, ArcGIS Desktop, and ArcGIS Server.

When To Use

Use IWorkspaceFactory when you need to create a new workspace, connect to an existing workspace or find information about a workspace.

Members

		Description
	ContainsWorkspace	Indicates if parentDirectory contains a valid workspace, or is a valid file-system workspace.
	Copy	Copies a workspace to the specified destination folder.
	Create	Creates a new workspace specified by the directory, file name, and connection properties.
	GetClassID	The class ID of the WorkspaceFactory.
	GetWorkspaceName	Retrieves the workspace name of a workspace from the given list of file names.
	IsWorkspace	True if the specified file identifies a workspace supported by the workspace factory.
	Move	Moves a workspace to the specified destination folder.
	Open	Opens the workspace specified by the connection properties.
	OpenFromFile	Opens the workspace specified by the given file name.
	ReadConnectionPropertiesFromFile	The connection properties from the specified file.
	WorkspaceDescription	A singular or plural description of the type of workspace the workspace factory opens/creates.
	WorkspaceType	The type of workspace the workspace factory opens/creates.

CoClasses that implement IWorkspaceFactory

CoClasses and Classes	Description
AccessWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesGDB)	ESRI Access Workspace Factory.
AMSWorkspaceFactory (esriTrackingAnalyst)	Controls functionality for the tracking workspace factory.
ArcInfoWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	Workspace factory used to create workspace objects for ArcInfo coverages and Info tables.
CadWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI Cad Workspace Factory.
ExcelWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesOleDB)	Excel Workspace Factory.
FileGDBWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesGDB)	File GeoDatabase Workspace Factory.
IMSWorkspaceFactory (esriGISClient)	The IMS Workspace Factory.
InMemoryWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesGDB)
NetCDFWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesNetCDF)	Provides access to members that control creation of NetCDF workspaces.
OLEDBWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesOleDB)	OleDB Workspace Factory.
PCCoverageWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI PC ARC/INFO Workspace Factory.
PlugInWorkspaceFactory	ESRI Plug-In Workspace Factory.
RasterWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesRaster)	Provides access to members that control creation of raster workspaces.
SDCWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI SDC workspace factory.
SdeWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesGDB)	ESRI SDE Workspace Factory.
ShapefileWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI Shapefile Workspace Factory.
StreetMapWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI StreetMap workspace factory.
TextFileWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesOleDB)	Text File Workspace Factory.
TinWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI TIN workspace factory is used to access TINs on disk.
ToolboxWorkspaceFactory (esriGeoprocessing)	Workspace Factory used to open toolbox workspaces.
VpfWorkspaceFactory (esriDataSourcesFile)	ESRI VPF Workspace Factory
WorkspaceFactory	WorkspaceFactory Object.

Remarks

A WorkspaceFactory is a dispenser of workspaces and allows a client to connect to a workspace specified by a set of connection properties. A workspace represents a database or a datasource that contains one or more datasets. Examples of datasets include tables, feature classes and relationship classes. A WorkspaceFactory is a cocreatable, singleton object. Connection properties are specified using a PropertySet object and can be saved to a connection file. A WorkspaceFactory also supports methods that can be used to browse and manage file system workspaces, and methods to manage connection files for remote database workspaces.

Each workspace factory maintains a pool of currently connected, active workspaces that are referenced by the application. When any of the Open* methods is called, the workspace factory first checks to see if a workspace has previously been opened with a matching set of properties. If so, a reference to the existing instance is returned. In the case of ArcSDE workspaces, when an application connects to a workspace but omits some connection properties (such as username, password, or version), the workspace factory will check a set of "core" properties - SERVER, INSTANCE, and AUTHENTICATION_MODE - to see they match any open workspaces. If so, the workspace factory will return a reference to the matching workspace.

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