Memory Indicator

Whilst developing ArcPad 7.1 we found that we were beginning to push the memory limits of some of our devices. To assist with testing and diagnosis, we introduced a memory indicator which monitors the remaining memory available for ArcPad to use.

The memory indicator can be accessed at any time from within ArcPad by double clicking/tapping the 'rocker status'... i.e. the 'Z' on the right hand side of the status bar.

You may see 1 or 2 bar graphs.

You will see 1 bar graph if the physical available memory is greater than the memory required by ArcPad. That is there is more memory than the current ArcPad design can use. (ie more than 32MB free memory).

If you see 2 bar graphs ( the 2nd will have a ‘V’ for ’virtual’ on the icon), then you see how much physical memory is available and how much virtual memory is available. The physical will be less than the virtual. The “Lo Mem” indicator will automatically appear (even if memory status is off) under the follow 3 conditions :
Less than 1MB free : RED bar
Less than 2MB free : Orange bar
Less than 3MB free : Yellow bar



Red indicates critical level due to low memory and efforts should be made to make more memory available i.e close other applications.

To see what your total memory is, look in the System Info of the About page in ArcPad:



You should note that on a CE device the total virtual memory for a process (ie ArcPad) is always currently 32MB.

Check Out or Copy Out?

You have two choices when using the ArcPad Data Manager in ArcMap to prepare data for ArcPad, Check Out or Copy Out. ‘What’s the difference?’ I hear you ask.

Check Out

Choosing Check Out means that an single AXF file will be created for all selected vector layers and their related tables. These layers can be edited in arcpad, and the edits can be checked back into the geodatabase. The AXF file created during check out contains data tables, feature tables, feature layers, forms, symbology, scripts, icons. You add and edit features to an AXF file in ArcPad in just the same way you do for a shapefile however, ArcPad’s default feature properties dialog box has been improved in ArcPad 7.1 so that it can automatically display subtypes, domains and relationship classes that were defined in the source geodatabase. a new tab has also been added to the feature properties dialog to represent related tables, where you can view, add, edit, delete related records.

Copy Out

Choosing Copy Out means that a shapefile will be created for that layer. Read only shapefiles are very fast to draw on low memory devices and are recommended for large vector layers used as background information eg: contour files or cadastre. Edits made to shapefiles can not be checked in to a geodatabase in ArcPad 7.1 reaffirming that the copy out feature should only be used for read only layers. You will see that Copy Out is the only option available for raster layers, as these are not edited in ArcPad. If you have multiple raster layers to copy out (along with some vector layers to check out), it is recommended that you first ‘select all for copy out’ and then immediately click ‘select all for check out’. This will leave the raster layers selected and reselect the vector layers for check out rather than copy out.