Description

The find operation is performed on a map service resource. The result of this operation is a find results resource. Each result includes its value, feature ID, field name, layer ID, layer name, geometry, geometry type, and attributes in the form of name-value pairs.

Note: find operation is not supported on standalone tables.

You can provide arguments to the find operation as query parameters as defined in the parameters table below.

New in 10.1

• Support for dynamic layers was added with the dynamicLayers parameter. If dynamicLayers is used in a find operation request then layerDefs and layers (find operation) parameters are ignored. Instead use definitionExpression availabe within dynamicLayers to specify these values in the find operation. Only those layers that are defined in dynamicLayers are used in the find operation.
• gdbVersion parameter was introduced. Use this parameter to switch the geodatabase version of the map layers data source.
• geometryPrecision parameter was introduced. This option can be used to specify the number of decimal places in the response geometries returned by the identify operation.
• JSON response contains an optional property exceededTransferLimit. This property will be true only if the number of records exceeds the maximum number configured by the server administrator.

New in 10.0

• Support for generalizing geometries returned by the find operation was added.

Parameters

[
  {
    "id": <layerOrTableId>,
    "source": <layer source>,
    "definitionExpression": "<definitionExpression>"
  },
  {
    "id": <layerOrTableId>,
    "source": <layer source>,
    "definitionExpression": "<definitionExpression>"
  }
]

[
  {
    "id": 501,
    "source":
    {
      "type": "mapLayer",
      "mapLayerId": 0
    }
  },
  //add a new layer from registered workspace
  {
    "id": 502,
    "source":
    {
      "type": "dataLayer",
      "dataSource":
      {
        "type": "table",
        "workspaceId": "MAP",
        "dataSourceName": "MAP.user1.Taxlots"
      }
    }
  },
  //change the Version of existing map service layer
  {
    "id": 503,
    "source":
    {
      "type": "mapLayer",
      "mapLayerId": 1,
      "version": "USER1"
    },
    "definitionExpression": "neighborhood = 'French Quarter'"
  }
]

Example Usage

Example 1: Find operation that includes search text and a layer. The response is in HTML format:
http://sampleserver1.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Specialty/ESRI_StatesCitiesRivers_USA/MapServer/find?searchText=island&contains=true&searchFields=&sr=&layers=0,2&returnGeometry=true

Example 2: Find operation with dynamicLayer:
http://servicesbeta2.esri.com/arcgis/rest/services/Census/MapServer/find?searchText=Calif&contains=true&searchFields=state_name&sr=&layers=&layerDefs=&returnGeometry=true&maxAllowableOffset=&dynamicLayers=[{"id":101,"source":{"type":"mapLayer","mapLayerId":3}}]&returnZ=false&returnM=false&gdbVersion=&f=html

JSON Response Syntax

{
"results" : [
 {
 "layerId" : <layerId1>,
 "layerName" : "<layerName1>",
 "displayFieldName" : "<displayFieldName1>"
 "foundFieldName" : "<foundFieldName1>",
 "value" : "<value1>",
 "attributes" : {
 "<fieldName11>" : <fieldValue11>,
 "<fieldName12>" : <fieldValue12>
 },
 "geometryType" : "<geometryType1>",
"hasZ" : <true|false>, //added in 10.1
"hasM" : <true|false>, //added in 10.1
 "geometry" : {<geometry1>}
 },
 {
 "layerId" : <layerId2>,
 "layerName" : "<layerName2>", 
 "displayFieldName" : "<displayFieldName2>"
 "foundFieldName" : "<foundFieldName2>",
 "value" : "<value2>",
 "attributes" : {
 "<fieldName21>" : <fieldValue21>,
 "<fieldName22>" : <fieldValue22>
 },
 "geometryType" : "<geometryType2>",
"hasZ" : <true|false>, //added in 10.1
"hasM" : <true|false>, //added in 10.1
  "geometry" : {<geometry2>}
 }
]
}

JSON Response Example

{
"results" : [
 {
 "layerId" : 3,
 "layerName" : "Cities", 
 "displayFieldName" : "City Name"
 "foundFieldName" : "City Name",
 "value" : "Joe City",
 "attributes" : {
 "City Name" : "Joe City",
 "CLASS" : "city",
 "ST" : "CA"
 },
 "geometryType" : "esriGeometryPoint",
 "geometry" : { "x" : -118.375, "y" : 34.086, "spatialReference" : {"wkid" : 4326} }
 },
 {
 "layerId" : 59,
 "layerName" : "Parcel",
 "displayFieldName" : "NAME"
 "foundFieldName" : "NAME",
 "value" : "Joe's Parcel",
 "attributes" : {
 "NAME" : "Parcel 649",
 "SUB_REGION" : "Pacific",
 "STATE_ABBR" : "CA"
 },
 "geometryType" : "esriGeometryPolygon",
 "geometry" : { "spatialReference" : {"wkid" : 4326}, "rings" : [[[-118.35,32.81],[-118.42.806],[-118.511,32.892],[-118.35,32.81]]]}
 }
]
}