Which is stronger workspace or TOC

Question

Hello

When you run a script in ArcMap (Python window or tool) and you have a workspace set but a different layer with the same name exists in the TOC, which will be used?

I did a test with get_count, it takes the one in the TOC and ignore the workspace. When I delete the layer from the TOC I got the correct layer from the workspace.

Is this a bug??

bixb0012 · Answer

This doesn't have to do with the TOC, per se, it is a matter of layers and views being searched before data sources. When a full path is not specified, ArcPy searches feature layers and table views for a name match first. If a name match isn't found there, the workspace is searched for a data source with the matching name. This same situation can be replicated in a stand alone script outside of ArcGIS Desktop: >>> import arcpy >>> import os >>> >>> gdb = # path to gdb with test tables >>> arcpy.env.workspace = gdb >>> >>> # table "test_1" has 1,000,000 records while "test_ovr" has 11 records >>> arcpy.MakeTableView_management("test_ovr", "test_1") >>> arcpy.GetCount_management(os.path.join(gdb, "test_1")) <Result '1000000'> >>> arcpy.GetCount_management("test_1") <Result '11'> >>> arcpy.Delete_management("test_1") <Result 'true'> >>> arcpy.GetCount_management("test_1") <Result '1000000'> >>> ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

DanPatterson_Retired · Answer

Your observation is correct in your first question and it has been my experience TOC rules.

When using tools and defining input parameters, I always use the featurelayer option (or rasterlayer etc) so that the user has the option to accept the layers in the ToC or to navigate to a file on disk (with or without the same name), The selection is never populated with anything from any preset path.  If I am running a standalone script with arcmap closed, then you have to set an arcpy.env.workspace if you plan to use any of arcpy's *list* features.

RandyBurton · Answer

Perhaps this may help: Using the current and scratch workspace environments